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Guide: How to connect 9 Riing RGB fans to 1 controller box


PaYFrog Customs

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  1. Foreword

Hello, my name is Dirk from PaYFrog Customs and today I want to show you what I figured out while playing with the controller of the Thermaltake Riing RGB fans for my Thermaltake Core P5 mod. The controller you receive whit the fans has a lot more potential than you would think.

 

  1. Open the controller

Before we are going to use the controller for something it is not intended for, we should know what is inside of it. So I first opened it to know how it is looking inside. To open the controller, we have to unscrew four PH2 screws in the corners of the controller.

 

  1. The interior

The interior has a very simple design. On one side of the circuit board we can see five pin headers, three for the fans (5pin, red), one for the power supply and PWM signal (4pin, green) and one for the optional connection cable (blue). Also, we see two mosfet (purple) for the circuits of the controller. On the other side of the circuit board we can see three switches and one status LED. We can set the controller’s functions with these switches but this isn’t the only way to do this.

 

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  1. Functions of the board

Let’s take a look at the two mosfet. One of them is for the 5 Volt supply of the LED controlling unit and the LEDs. The other one for the supply of the fans. Both circuits can be set with the switches on the other side. One of the switches will set the fans to performance or silent mode, you can see which mode is activated if you´re looking for the status led. The other two switches will be used for the lighting of the fans. You can set the programmed colors or the “rainbow†mode with the first one. If you’re using the rainbow-mode, you can pause it with the second switch, so you can show any color permanently. There is still one problem, if you restart your pc you have to set them again.

 

  1. Fan connectors
  1. Pinout

We have three pin headers for the fans. They looking quite similar to other fan connectors, but they are very different. The first thing we can see is that they got five pins. The only two pins that are similar to other connectors are the first and second pin („GND – Pin 1“ and „12V – Pin 2“). The last three pins are used for the LED controlling. The only thing I found out for now is the pin for the 5V supply, I can´t figure out which one is the data pin or what signal they are using to control the LEDs („Pin 3 – Y“, „Pin 4 – P“, „Pin 5 – 4,5 - 5V“).

 

  1. Max. tested fans/channel

I for myself was running 3 fans per channel, that makes me running 9 fans on 1 controller. I had no problems with it. Of course you shouldn´t supply that with your motherboards fan header, so we will change the power supply for the controller. Unfortunately, this also gets rid of the PWM signal from the motherboard but we’ll get that back later with a little trick.

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  1. Construct the splitter

It is really simple to build a splitter. We are going to split all pins to get more connectors. Likewise, a normal y-Splitter.

 

 

 

First step: You need 3 headers for the fans.

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Step two: Be sure that they can’t touch each other to avoid damages and short-circuits.

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Step three: Bring them together at one connector.

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  1. External buttons to set the controller

You can use external buttons to control the light and speed of the fans. In my case I disassembled the pin header because I do not have the right material to plug something in. To show you how it works I will connect three buttons and make a video. The video will be uploaded in 2-3 days.

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  1. Power supply for the controller
  1. Configuration

We want to use more than 3 fans at the controller, that means we have more than 3 fans at the fan header on the motherboard. I don’t want to damage anything and connecting more than 3 fans to one fan header on the motherboard should be avoided to prevent damage. I spliced the cable of the power supply in order to prevent damages. In that case the motherboard is used to regulate the fan speed only.

  1. Construct the cable

This is the simplest job of all. You have to trim the sleeve a little bit and change the connector for the 12V and GND. I for myself have added a normal Molex 4 pin connector for an easy plug and run.

I´ve done this because I want to control the speed of the fans, but I didn´t want the motherboard to power all of them. I have extracted the 12V and GND only from the original connector so that we still can use the rev counter and the pwm signal of the controller to connect them to the motherboard. This is a usual setup at pwm pumps for a water cooled setup. Now we´re ready to go, the speed control can be set in the bios of the motherboard and the power supply is managed directly from the psu.

img_543825ygp.jpg

 

 

  1. Closing words

I hope you can understand all this. I did this because I did not want 3 controllers on my Mora3. I don’t regret it, but you know it´s your own decision if you want to do the same. If you have any questions feel free to comment and I will do my best to help you.

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Nice, guide! I want to do the same for my 6 fans :D

Can you share with us where did you find the 5 pin connectors (male and female)? 

 

Most of the one I have are standard 4 pins connector for fans.

 

Also how did you connect the external button cable in the board, can you share a picture of it?

 

Thanks a lot for this guide!

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Hey, 
I got my out of another controller. The only shop I know is aliexpress, there you can get those. 

http://de.aliexpress.com/item/100pcs-Lot-5-Pin-Connector-Leads-Header-2-54mm-KF2510-5P-Kit-Housing-Pin-header-Terminal/828195538.html?spm=2114.010208.3.198.a2ZD5G&ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_0,searchweb201602_2_10017_507,searchweb201603_2&btsid=4c7b53fa-3394-4e8c-ae7f-8b16efd76b86

The cables for the buttons has been soldered in the pcb. I will upload a picture of it tomorrow. 

 

Best regards.
 

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Nice, guide! I want to do the same for my 6 fans :D

Can you share with us where did you find the 5 pin connectors (male and female)? 

 

Most of the one I have are standard 4 pins connector for fans.

 

Also how did you connect the external button cable in the board, can you share a picture of it?

 

Thanks a lot for this guide!

I added a picture to the post. Now you can see how i add the cable on the board. 

Video is coming up soon. 

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can anyone help me my controller is not working and stuck on red and ibought another get stuck in blue. :(

Hello, what exactly is going on with it? How many fans do you run with it an how do you connect it (Motherboard or PSU)?

 

 

Great guide, I'm looking forward to seeing your custom controller & vid!!

Thanks man, I have a lot of work at my house at moment but will try to Upload it fast. 

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  1. Configuration

We want to use more than 3 fans at the controller, that means we have more than 3 fans at the fan header on the motherboard. I don’t want to damage anything and connecting more than 3 fans to one fan header on the motherboard should be avoided to prevent damage. I spliced the cable of the power supply in order to prevent damages. In that case the motherboard is used to regulate the fan speed only.

 

 

 

 

Technically it won't damage MB. It won't draw enough power to supply all 9 of them. 

 

Overall it's a very good job. 

Just one question how 1 controller would handle this in future. 

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Btw ... soldering is a big drawback ... Assuming that not everyone can do that. I'll post soon how to utilize 4 fans - 1 controller with direct plug in to the MB. and how to connect up to 6 fans - PSU molex connector.

Everything without soldering. 

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  • 5 months later...
  • 2 years later...
Quote

can anyone help me my controller is not working and stuck on red and ibought another get stuck in blue. :(

If the Controller stucks in red where it should be fading colors press the Play/Pause button.

Quote
  1. Construct the cable

This is the simplest job of all. You have to trim the sleeve a little bit and change the connector for the 12V and GND. I for myself have added a normal Molex 4 pin connector for an easy plug and run.

Is the Big 1 sign on the PWM plug GND or 12v?

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  • TT CPM unpinned this topic
  • 4 months later...

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