[SOLVED] Questions about wattage and a fan controller.

MOS_6502

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May 2, 2014
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Hello.

First of all, excuse me for my ignorance about this matter, but I have some doubts about a NZXT Sentry Mix 2, wich product page is here:

https://www.nzxt.com/products/sentry-mix-2

ant this is the relevant info for this post (copy and pasted from the webpage):

  • "30 watts per channel brings enormous potential and power to the Sentry Mix 2."
  • "Maximum Combined Wattage: 180 Watts"
With all of this said, I have three questions, could you answer them?:


  1. It states that it will draw 30W at maximum per line, but it will draw 30W even if I have the slider at the minimum?. For example, I want to purchase 6 Noctua NF-P12 Redux-1300, wich draws 0.6W at 12V, so:

    3,6W for all fans plus a bit more to power the fan controller, or 180W for all the fans?.

  2. Related to the previous one: this fan controller is powered by two 4-pin molex connectors, this design is for surpass the wattage limit of one molex cable or it have other purpouse?.

  3. The power load would distribute between the two molex connectors? (for example, if the wattage draw is low, it would only need one molex connector)

That's all, many thanks for your time.
 
Last edited:
Solution
The specs mean: the MAX power from ONE channel is 30 W, when that channel is set to full output and you have several fans connected to it. (Full output is 12 VDC.) The actual power consumed depends on the fan design, but nost fans will draw no more than 0.3 A at 12 VDC, which is 3.6 W. This allows you to use Splitters to connect more than one fan to a channel output connector.

The MAX total output to ALL fans on ALL ports together cannot exceed 180 W - that's 15 A at 12 VDC, if you had LOTS of fans connected and all running full speed.
"but it will draw 30W even if I have the slider at the minimum? "

I don't see where you are getting that from.

I'm seeing minimum power to fans is 40%....but I think they misspoke....I think they mean minimum voltage. I doubt they are monitoring power.

I think the two molex are probably required for the currents involved...and I think the load is probably shared somewhat equally between the connectors.
 

MOS_6502

Honorable
May 2, 2014
68
0
10,640
"but it will draw 30W even if I have the slider at the minimum? "

I don't see where you are getting that from.

I'm seeing minimum power to fans is 40%....but I think they misspoke....I think they mean minimum voltage. I doubt they are monitoring power.

I think the two molex are probably required for the currents involved...and I think the load is probably shared somewhat equally between the connectors.


Hello, thanks for the response.


jay32267 said:
I don't see where you are getting that from.


My apologies, but I think that my english level isn't too good. The question continues after that, and I show an example:

1- If I use 6 fans that uses 0.6W (per unit), then the fan controller will use 3.6W (with all the sliders up)? or

2- The fan controller will use 30W per line anyway?.



jay32267 said:
I think the two molex are probably required for the currents involved...and I think the load is probably shared somewhat equally between the connectors.


I see, many thanks for the information, I will anotate it.
 
Hello, thanks for the response.





My apologies, but I think that my english level isn't too good. The question continues after that, and I show an example:

1- If I use 6 fans that uses 0.6W (per unit), then the fan controller will use 3.6W (with all the sliders up)? or

2- The fan controller will use 30W per line anyway?.






I see, many thanks for the information, I will anotate it.
I think
1 is true....
2 is false.
I think most likely the fan controller controls voltage and the fan will only draw what they can.
 

Paperdoc

Polypheme
Ambassador
The specs mean: the MAX power from ONE channel is 30 W, when that channel is set to full output and you have several fans connected to it. (Full output is 12 VDC.) The actual power consumed depends on the fan design, but nost fans will draw no more than 0.3 A at 12 VDC, which is 3.6 W. This allows you to use Splitters to connect more than one fan to a channel output connector.

The MAX total output to ALL fans on ALL ports together cannot exceed 180 W - that's 15 A at 12 VDC, if you had LOTS of fans connected and all running full speed.
 
Solution