Okay so I have been trying to power 9 120mm 5v fans (these fans are designed for use with a raspberry pi gpio pin connection; furthermore, it has LEDs in it; the fan is designed such that the LEDs and fan are separately powered; meaning two 5v wires and two ground wires to plug in) I am using a 12 port pwm fan hub chassis plugged to a PSU to power them. This hub has 10 fan ports (one for cpu fan, and 9 non-controlled ports for fans; the 9 will only be able to mimic speed control of the cpu fan port.
Each of these 10 ports are 4 pin mini molex ports designed for 3 and 4 pin fan connections), the other port is for 4 pin mini molex and only labeled pwm (meant to plug to the motherboard). The last port is 4 pin molex meant to plug to the power supply. I have the fan hub powered to a PSU just fine, I can easily power the LEDs off of the 5v and ground of the mini molex on input pin 1 and 2 (with the 5v and ground wires for the LEDs) to the fan hub. I can easily power the fan with the pwm and speed data input pins 3 and 4 on the mini molex of the fan hub, using the 5v and ground wires for the fan motor, ( for each of the 9 fans).
THE PROBLEM: the fans will only pulse on and off, I NEED continuous spinning of the fans (I have temporarily been able to connect the 5v wire and ground wire, that controls the fan motor, to the GPIO pins of the raspberry pi and it works just fine and continuously, while still powering the LEDs from the fan hub ports v and ground inputs. I do NOT want to power the fans or LEDs off of the gpio pins of the raspberry pi (I need all of these pins for i2c and spi interfaces, also I do not want be be powering anymore than that on the raspberry pi). I am also trying to bypass the need of using a motherboard connected to the fan hub.
My understanding is that I just lose the ability to control the speed based on temp readings from the cpu (I don’t need this as the fans will run as 100% all the time; it is only like 600 rpm fans). I have everything running with the exception that the fans will only pulse on and off when plugged to the fan hub, this is what I need help with (all WITHOUT connecting to a motherboard).
My initial thought is to ground out the pwm and speed data pins on the “pwm labeled” port that goes to the motherboard (though not able to test at the moment because I am at work), would this do anything?
My next thought was to figure a way to program a pi zero or rpi4 as a “fill in motherboard”, just to have the circuit completed. I am sure there is also some way to actually control the fans from a pi as well, but this is far beyond my own knowledge to build a program to do this (I am also very lazy and want a simple quick solution).
Lastly, please understand I am a noob and new to pc hardware and software related projects (though I am a learning hobbyist); that being said, if something I said in this post sounds silly (ie, calling something the wrong name, etc.), then it probably is. For this, I apologize and hope that I have reached those more knowledgeable than me, such that you are able to piece together what I am talking about, enough to help me figure this out. I will link the fan hub and the fans that I am using. I will try to post pictures of how it looks once I have stimulated discussion (and have the time off; which will be much later today, just getting off a 16 hour shift). Please help me?!
fans:
GeeekPi New Raspberry Pi Cluster Case, Raspberry Pi Rack Case Stackable Case with Cooling Fan 120mm RGB LED 5V Fan for Raspberry Pi 4B/3B+/3B/2B/B+ and Jetson Nano (12-Layers) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08FH3V6GV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_FA8FN4YC84HQJPJDDXTW
fan hub:
Electop PC Chassis Fan Hub CPU Cooling HUB 10 Port 12V 4 Pin Fan PWM Hub Molex Controller https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071KNT7F...abc_431FPDGK2T9F3W9XEAA6?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Each of these 10 ports are 4 pin mini molex ports designed for 3 and 4 pin fan connections), the other port is for 4 pin mini molex and only labeled pwm (meant to plug to the motherboard). The last port is 4 pin molex meant to plug to the power supply. I have the fan hub powered to a PSU just fine, I can easily power the LEDs off of the 5v and ground of the mini molex on input pin 1 and 2 (with the 5v and ground wires for the LEDs) to the fan hub. I can easily power the fan with the pwm and speed data input pins 3 and 4 on the mini molex of the fan hub, using the 5v and ground wires for the fan motor, ( for each of the 9 fans).
THE PROBLEM: the fans will only pulse on and off, I NEED continuous spinning of the fans (I have temporarily been able to connect the 5v wire and ground wire, that controls the fan motor, to the GPIO pins of the raspberry pi and it works just fine and continuously, while still powering the LEDs from the fan hub ports v and ground inputs. I do NOT want to power the fans or LEDs off of the gpio pins of the raspberry pi (I need all of these pins for i2c and spi interfaces, also I do not want be be powering anymore than that on the raspberry pi). I am also trying to bypass the need of using a motherboard connected to the fan hub.
My understanding is that I just lose the ability to control the speed based on temp readings from the cpu (I don’t need this as the fans will run as 100% all the time; it is only like 600 rpm fans). I have everything running with the exception that the fans will only pulse on and off when plugged to the fan hub, this is what I need help with (all WITHOUT connecting to a motherboard).
My initial thought is to ground out the pwm and speed data pins on the “pwm labeled” port that goes to the motherboard (though not able to test at the moment because I am at work), would this do anything?
My next thought was to figure a way to program a pi zero or rpi4 as a “fill in motherboard”, just to have the circuit completed. I am sure there is also some way to actually control the fans from a pi as well, but this is far beyond my own knowledge to build a program to do this (I am also very lazy and want a simple quick solution).
Lastly, please understand I am a noob and new to pc hardware and software related projects (though I am a learning hobbyist); that being said, if something I said in this post sounds silly (ie, calling something the wrong name, etc.), then it probably is. For this, I apologize and hope that I have reached those more knowledgeable than me, such that you are able to piece together what I am talking about, enough to help me figure this out. I will link the fan hub and the fans that I am using. I will try to post pictures of how it looks once I have stimulated discussion (and have the time off; which will be much later today, just getting off a 16 hour shift). Please help me?!
fans:
GeeekPi New Raspberry Pi Cluster Case, Raspberry Pi Rack Case Stackable Case with Cooling Fan 120mm RGB LED 5V Fan for Raspberry Pi 4B/3B+/3B/2B/B+ and Jetson Nano (12-Layers) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08FH3V6GV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_FA8FN4YC84HQJPJDDXTW
fan hub:
Electop PC Chassis Fan Hub CPU Cooling HUB 10 Port 12V 4 Pin Fan PWM Hub Molex Controller https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071KNT7F...abc_431FPDGK2T9F3W9XEAA6?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1