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Thermaltake Commander FT touchscreen brightness issue


Ashus

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Hi all,

 

i'm new to the forum and would like to thank you all (especially the devs) for the informative subjects regarding all thermaltake issues, been following the community as a guest for sometime.

 

However, i just created an account to add my issue to the topic as I did not find an answer for my problem.

 

I bought the Thermaltake FT fan controller (5 fans to control) for my Phantek Enthoo Luxe case to control 4 corsair AF 140mm (quiet edition) in my case, at first everything we smoothly (apart from my fan 4 connector is not working, but that did not bother me as i used the 5th one for a total of 4 fans).

 

on the second day when i started my PC, after 1 hour i realised that the touchscreen brightness got dimmer (especially on the right-side) still didnt bother me as i can just make out the number "5" and the "+/-" signs.

 

now on third day (today) the screen got way more dimmer that the right side of the screen almost disappeared (including the number 5 and the signs) and kept getting dimmer the longer the pc is running.

 

I tried fiddling with it, played with the brightness lamp icon, holding it 3 secs to switch off the screen, then back on to no avail.

I tried restarting PC, nothing.

 

Then I opened the case to see any loose wiring, checked all wiring correctly plugged in (and they were). waited a while before turning it on.

 

started the pc after around 30-45mins of leaving it off, the screen went back to its original brightness, but then after 10-15mins it went very dim same as before.

 

PS: I also noticed whenever I switch from auto to manual mode, the brightness re-adjusts but still dim, and if i put any fan to manual 100% the brightness gets more dimmer.

 

is there a fix for it before I have to take it back to the shop?

 

everything is working great, its just the brightness that really annoys me now, strains my eyes to try to make out the fan control as I can hardly see it, including the rpm status, cant see the full number (i.e. instead of reading 700 rpm .. i see it as I00 rpm, the digits are half shown).

 

 

 

 

UPDATE:

after every start of the pc, the brightness would gradually fade away, really hope its not my PSU

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Hi,

 

Welcome to the TT Community and thanks for the question.

 

Have you tried connecting the FT into a different connector on the PSU or "different cable tree" to see any change?

 

For the molex connection, make sure that the pins going into the connector on controllers side are pushed all the way in.

(Sometimes when connecting these can pop out causing a loose/partial connection)

 

Also, check the connections on the PCB of the Commander FT in the back, make sure nothing looks loose/broken or fried.

 

The dimming issue should not be like that, not from what I have seen building them into systems.

 

If you cant see anything obvious it just may be faulty and I would suggest to exchange it.

 

let me know if you find anything out, here to help.

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Hi,

 

Welcome to the TT Community and thanks for the question.

 

Have you tried connecting the FT into a different connector on the PSU or "different cable tree" to see any change?

 

For the molex connection, make sure that the pins going into the connector on controllers side are pushed all the way in.

(Sometimes when connecting these can pop out causing a loose/partial connection)

 

Also, check the connections on the PCB of the Commander FT in the back, make sure nothing looks loose/broken or fried.

 

The dimming issue should not be like that, not from what I have seen building them into systems.

 

If you cant see anything obvious it just may be faulty and I would suggest to exchange it.

 

let me know if you find anything out, here to help.

 

Hi Mike,

 

thanks for the reply!

 

didn't actually try changing the connector to a different cable connection for the FT from PSU yet. Will definitely do that you're right. All I tried was fiddle with the fan plugs and checking if the molex connector was loose or not, from time to time they do get loose when moving my PC from the table to the floor.

 

Will try to unplug all wires from the FT and re-connecting them again, also will try different connectors for the molex connection, might be a faulty connection.

 

will update soon when i'm done!

 

 

Edit:

Just to update my PSU is Thermaltake Toughpower XT Gold, with 1275W.

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An update to my problem!

 

After taking out the wires from my PC, using different PSU molex connectors and using different methods, I believe I found my (almost) exact problem.

 

At the end, with 4 fans:

 

- tried connecting 1 fan (and using different fan connectors from fan1 to fan5) and testing the screen. No problem.

- Connected 2 fans. success with very minor brightness dimming for full speed. However, hardly noticeable.

- Connected 3 fans. still going good, hardly noticeable.

  (Fan4 cable does not work)

 

- Now I connected all 4 fans using Fan1, Fan2, Fan3 and Fan5 (back exhaust).

 

  Here where the problem occured. if all fans at 40% or lower, the brightness stays the same (with minor dimming/flickers on the right side of the screen, especially where the the number "5" selection at which flickers on that side, slight noticeable at first).

 

When choosing any fan selection and, as an example for this situation, lets say its fan1 (and tested this on all individual fans when all connected) I increase it to High 100% very noticeable dimming of the brightness, and when I leave fan1 on 100% and change channels to fan2, the brightness comes back only if fan2 is still at 40% or lower (confused me).

 

if all fans at 100%, well, you can imagine what happens ;p. I lose the sight of right side of the screen including rpms, +/- etc.

 

and when leaving them all back on 40% .. I can see slight flickers that I noticed earlier (starting from right side) and after 15mins+ the brightness dims to the level where I hardly can see any right side selections, where left side is like having less than 50% brightness.

 

 

The root of the problem:

 

I found out that one of the molex pin connectors from the Commander ft fan controller was loose, and can easily pop out of its socket the pin itself, I tried manually push it back where it made some difference to the brightness when testing it, but the pin is very loosely held that I'd imagine not enough power to power up my Fans that it loose brightness. I'm not exactly sure if thats the cause, but i'm positive in regards it did make a difference when I tried to manually insert it back in socket (while plugged to the PSU Molex connector).

 

Will check it back at the shop and see if they can fix it. Or atleast see if that might be the cause of it.

 

 

EDIT:

 

here is 2 pics of the commander FT after ~10mins of starting the PC.

 

one is showing Low rpm and one showing High rpm (took the pic with HDR+ on, but in real life, I cant see the panel unless I shine a light on to see their backside shadows).

post-104541-0-67135400-1467596360_thumb.jpg

post-104541-0-64959700-1467596480_thumb.jpg

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Hi,

 

If the shop cannot help to fix or exchange it (Not sure if you got it there) contact us to see about warranty options.

 

When using Molex connectors those 4 thick pins can sometimes not align up just perfect as there is a lot of play in the connector.

Just make sure the pins are seated all the way, it could have also cause a short or who knows that could have caused this to happen.

 

A new one should fix the issues.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just wanted to give an update.

 

First of all thanks alot Mike!

 

you were right. The molex connector pins were not aligning correctly when trying to plug them in (well atleast one of the 4 pins would not insert correctly which was the main cause of the brightness when trying to increase fan speed i assume). Got a brand new one from the shop and those new pin connectors were perfect and well seated!

 

So far I had the new one for well over 2 weeks and not a single problem! Very happy with the commander ft!

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