1000D Dual system fan setup question

Hey Guys,

Trying to figure out how to cool two systems in one case and was wondering if the following was possible:

Can I set up dual loops and have the fans on each particular loop both turn on no matter what system is on? That way if my son is on his, or if I am on mine, all fans are on to make sure the air flow is doing what it is supposed to be doing? I plan on using 2 4x120 rads, one for each loop, and then a 3x140 rad also for the main system loop. So my concern is that if the ITX rig is on, and the fans on the 3x140 rad are off on top, the system won't be ventilating properly. Also, the two rear fans won't be on a rad at all but would be nice for them to go on no matter which system is on as well.

If this is possible, is it then possible to take it one step further and have the lights only go on the corresponding loops when that particular system is on?

I am either going to use the corsair LL series fans, or the inwin polaris fans as you can daisy chain those, which might make this easier. But maybe the commander pro can pull this off?

Thanks!

Thanks. Not sure I follow, so you are saying I can use only one PSU for the fans? I will have two PSU's, a Corsair SFX 600 for the ITX rig, and a AX1200 for the main rig.

If you plugged the USB / Sata power from both PSU/Mobo's into a single commander pro and used it as a hub, would that work? That way the hub would get power from either / both PSU's in any given working situation and then power all the fans?

This is confusing.

So ... the CoPro needs a SATA power connection.

It only has one power connection ... so it can only be connected to a single PSU.

If you have one system on and not the other, only one PSU would be supplying power. If the system that's on is different from the PSU that the CoPro is connected to, you won't have power to the CoPro.

The solution would be something that connects to both PSUs and supplies power to one SATA connection, automatically switching between the two (based on what's on). Such a thing, AFAIK, doesn't exist.

What you are asking goes well beyond the design of the LNP and CoPro. My best recommendation is have a separate loop for each system. Dedicated the whole front to one system and the whole top to another. I also would do about 2x 360mm rads on top for the other system. Then have a separate rear 140mm fan for each system. This would make things look the best, so you don't have half the fans running or in a specific color. If you are doing lighting strips you could control strips by having main system on the right side of the case and the itx on the left or vise versa. Also with the amount of cooling you will have, a 140mm exhausting wouldn't even be needed, it might help a little, though it would have more than enough cooling with out it.

Also I recommend the Corsair fans due to the ecosystem. iCue is a really good software, I had my HD-120's running off my motherboard header, though I bought a Lighting Node Pro as I the accompanying software is that much better than what Gigabyte has to offer. Wire management is something you only really need to worry about once. I play with my lighting a lot and I like the ability to have a powerful tool like iCue to control it. Daisy chain would be a neat feature, though I prefer the good software.

Another options is doing something custom w/ a Raspberry Pi/Arduino and a 3rd 12v brick and basing the RPM off the fluid temp for each loop. The Raspberry Pi can be powered by a USB 3.0 header or a 2.0 if you are not pulling much power through it. You will still need 12v power for fans, so you would need a prick as the PSU doesn't supply 12v in standby mode, only 5v.

Ok guys, so I bought my first two pack of the ll 140's and once you see them... well, you really can't go another direction. The wires though, holy wires batman.

So there will be a total of 13 fans by the time I am done across three rads, just as you describe Solarity, that sounds best. Can you use Y splitters connected to the CP? I can get a second CP, which might be easiest because I could have one per loop, but the larger build will have 9 fans and one node only had six connectors....

I'm totally confused.

Ok guys, so I bought my first two pack of the ll 140's and once you see them... well, you really can't go another direction. The wires though, holy wires batman.

 

So there will be a total of 13 fans by the time I am done across three rads, just as you describe Solarity, that sounds best. Can you use Y splitters connected to the CP? I can get a second CP, which might be easiest because I could have one per loop, but the larger build will have 9 fans and one node only had six connectors....

 

I'm totally confused.

I personally have 6 fans in my case, two different types (soon to be all HD-120s). I have 3 fans/radiator so I used fan splitters to allow me to control the fans easier. So you can have fan splitters, some people have had issues, though they need to be the same type as even though you will have 4pin PWM fans, only 1 fan will supply the tach. Doing a Commander pro is another route. You are doing something complicated and while you should be able to get by with 9 fans, I would check power requirements as 13 fans might be to many for the CoPro. Even with if the fans, the power requirements of LED might push it past the limits of the device. Just make sure you get the numbers of the amp draw for the different devices and the limit of the CoPro as well as do the math properly.

The CoPro is limited to 4.5A for fans overall (this is based on the SATA power connector, not the CoPro itself).

Splitters do work with the CoPro, even if they aren't "officially supported". However, there have been numerous reports of issues with 3-way splitters, in particular. I do have several 2-way splitters on both of my CoPros and they are both working just fine. At any rate, limit it to 1.0A per header at most.

LED power is supplied by the Fan Hub, not the CoPro. 6 LL Fans on a single fan hub will be just fine; it's less then the 4.5A 5V limit of the SATA power connection.

Do make sure that both the CoPro and the NoPro have full SATA power connectors. Both devices have an internal microcontroller that uses 3.3V power. The fan hub does not require this - it only uses the 5V rail so, if necessary, you can use a molex-to-sata adapter with that.

Another thought is to use a relay switch, you would have to be very handy. You could have a relay switch for the main system to be normally on to pass the Data/Ground to the fan hubs, then the normally off to his system. So in every circumstance the lights would be connected to your system. Though no matter what the state of your system is, when he turns his system the fan lights will be controlled by his system. For strips you could just use two sets next to each other and have a different CoPros/LNPs going to each system. The only caviet for the fan lighting, is it won't control the fans themselves. The fans will be stopped, though the LEDs would be on, I think it would be very complicated to control the fan spinning with the relay idea. The relay is good as you are only dealing with a couple of conductors as well as the fan hub is powered by 5v, though that to might need some type of relay, unless you look into using the 5v standby, though that adds more complication to it.

I personally love automation myself, I have my nest controlling my whole house humidifier with the help of a relay. This is much nicer than having to constantly manually adjust the humidifier based off outside temp during winter. I also have a relay power strip that I have a dehumidifier in the basement's home theater. The relay requires a low voltage signal to trip the relay from normally on to normally off. The dehumidifier is plugged into the normally on and I am using the 12v trigger on my projector, which is normally used to automate the lowering of a screen to shut of the loud dehumidifier, so we can watch a movie. When the projector is powered off the dehumidifier comes back on. I am such a scattered brain person, I have to automate a lot of things or I forget. I am a Linux System Engineer, so I automate a lot of my job, so I can post on forums like this. I even go crazy to write scripts that pull data from different sources put them in a database to automate report generation. Other than that I am a glorified Maytag man :)

Sometimes I need bigger challenges in my life, also there is a lot of hurry up wait here as well.

Another thought is to use a relay switch, you would have to be very handy. You could have a relay switch for the main system to be normally on to pass the Data/Ground to the fan hubs, then the normally off to his system. So in every circumstance the lights would be connected to your system. Though no matter what the state of your system is, when he turns his system the fan lights will be controlled by his system. For strips you could just use two sets next to each other and have a different CoPros/LNPs going to each system. The only caviet for the fan lighting, is it won't control the fans themselves. The fans will be stopped, though the LEDs would be on, I think it would be very complicated to control the fan spinning with the relay idea. The relay is good as you are only dealing with a couple of conductors as well as the fan hub is powered by 5v, though that to might need some type of relay, unless you look into using the 5v standby, though that adds more complication to it.

 

I personally love automation myself, I have my nest controlling my whole house humidifier with the help of a relay. This is much nicer than having to constantly manually adjust the humidifier based off outside temp during winter. I also have a relay power strip that I have a dehumidifier in the basement's home theater. The relay requires a low voltage signal to trip the relay from normally on to normally off. The dehumidifier is plugged into the normally on and I am using the 12v trigger on my projector, which is normally used to automate the lowering of a screen to shut of the loud dehumidifier, so we can watch a movie. When the projector is powered off the dehumidifier comes back on. I am such a scattered brain person, I have to automate a lot of things or I forget. I am a Linux System Engineer, so I automate a lot of my job, so I can post on forums like this. I even go crazy to write scripts that pull data from different sources put them in a database to automate report generation. Other than that I am a glorified Maytag man :)

 

Sometimes I need bigger challenges in my life, also there is a lot of hurry up wait here as well.

Interestingly, if you yourself assembled the relay, then you have engineering inclinations.

It's nice that you try to make everything simpler, these things move the world and science.

Can you drop the site or tell in more detail how you made the relay? I want to repeat your experience because my climate is not constant and it makes me feel bad, hard to breathe or sick. Not as old as you, so pictures or step-by-step instructions will help me.