[SOLVED] RGB Fan splitter

[toleary96]

So I just finished my first build. The case I have is a Corsair SPEC-DELTA RGB, and the MoBo I have is an MSI A320M-A PRO. It has four case fans in total, with the three front fans being RGB. The motherboard however doesn't have the 12V connector for the RGB fans, and it also only has one fan connector. I was going to just go ahead and buy a splitter to connect all four fans but I was wondering if it was possible to get a splitter which would support the RGB too. Sorry if this doesn't make a lot of sense, I'm pretty new to building. Thanks in advance.

 

[Paperdoc]

First thing to do is examine the four case fan for labels.The single SYS_FAN header you have normally can supply up to 1.0 A to the total connected load. So on each fan look for its max AMP rating. If the total for all four is less than 1.0 A, you are OK to use the Splitter. Otherwise you'd have to go for a Hub. In that case, post back her for a bit more info.

You should have seen that the three front fans with the RGB feature have TWO cables for them. The smaller is for the fan motor. The wider one is for the lights, and the case came with an RGB Splitter for use to connect the to a single plain RGB Controller output. As you say, your mobo does not have one of those. So you would need to buy a third-party plain RGB controller to power the lights in those three front fans AND to control their displays. The rear fan with no lights is not part of this.

You should understand that these days the market is dominated by two types of lighting systems (including lights built into fan frames). The simpler system is called just plain RGB and uses a 4- pin connector that supplies 12 VDC power and three control lines. The more complex one that can do certain fancier types of displays is called Addressable RGB (ADDR RGB, ARGB, Digital RGB)and uses 3-pin connector (looks like the 4-pin one with a missing pin) that supplies 5 VDC power and a single control line carrying addressed data packets. You can NOT mix the two types together on one circuit., Since your case came with the simpler plain RGB lights in its front fans, you MUST get a Controller of that type.

You could just ignore the lights. But if you want to use them and want help looking for a Controller (there are a few types with different convenience features), post back here.

 

[toleary96]

First thing to do is examine the four case fan for labels.The single SYS_FAN header you have normally can supply up to 1.0 A to the total connected load. So on each fan look for its max AMP rating. If the total for all four is less than 1.0 A, you are OK to use the Splitter. Otherwise you'd have to go for a Hub. In that case, post back her for a bit more info.

You should have seen that the three front fans with the RGB feature have TWO cables for them. The smaller is for the fan motor. The wider one is for the lights, and the case came with an RGB Splitter for use to connect the to a single plain RGB Controller output. As you say, your mobo does not have one of those. So you would need to buy a third-party plain RGB controller to power the lights in those three front fans AND to control their displays. The rear fan with no lights is not part of this.

You should understand that these days the market is dominated by two types of lighting systems (including lights built into fan frames). The simpler system is called just plain RGB and uses a 4- pin connector that supplies 12 VDC power and three control lines. The more complex one that can do certain fancier types of displays is called Addressable RGB (ADDR RGB, ARGB, Digital RGB)and uses 3-pin connector (looks like the 4-pin one with a missing pin) that supplies 5 VDC power and a single control line carrying addressed data packets. You can NOT mix the two types together on one circuit., Since your case came with the simpler plain RGB lights in its front fans, you MUST get a Controller of that type.

You could just ignore the lights. But if you want to use them and want help looking for a Controller (there are a few types with different convenience features), post back here.

Thanks for the reply. Altogether they rack up at about 1.5A, guess I need a hub. Are there any which will support both the fans and RGB, or would I need to get two?