QL Fans and Node Core, more than 6 Fans

[COLONEL92]

Hey Corsair Community,

 

For my Case i want 7 QL Fans, i want to control everyone of them separately, just the RGB. The Lighting node Core only has 6 Connections.

So i really need 2 of the Core just to use 7 Fans RGB separetely?

For the pwm i want to take 3, and 3 and one in Commander pro. This should go, cause now my non-Led Fans are put together in 3x fans, 3x fans and one Fan.

Or can i use one node core and the last fan i put in the led port from Commander?

 

I dont understand, corsair has the 1000D where you can put so many fans, but why every controller comes with a snall amount of ports. Every manufacturer out there. Why dont make controllers with more ports.

[DevBiker]

If you want to control them separately then yes, you'll need two lighting node cores.

As to why they don't have controllers with more ports - it's due to power availability. SATA can only supply a limited amount of power on the 5V rail - 4.5A to be specific. 6 LL or QL fans comes close to that. You can squeeze a 7th on there. But that'd be about it. So Corsair limits it so people don't put so many fans on their fan hubs that they melt connectors or cause fires.

 

EDIT: If you doubt the statement above - do a search. You'll find videos of some competitors that let you put 10 fans on a hub ... the results are predictable. Melted connections. And right on the 5V pins.

Edited December 26, 2020 by DevBiker

[c-attack]

If the they made seven port fans hubs, then the 8 fan people would complain. If they were 8, then the 9 people would left out. Someone is always going to have one extra. However, the 6 is not an arbitrary choice. Besides being a more common total case fan number, the real limitation is current. 4.5A max on the 5v rail through the SATA connector. 7 QL at full white is going to be somewhere near 4.2-4.3A. That is getting awfully close to the limit and current values are averages - not perfect max limits. These fans are too expensive to be reckless with the current.

 

You can get a RGB fan splitter and pair it with one of the others. The problem is that will make it a twin to another fans, not 7 independent lighting options. That leaves you in the same place as a lot of people with larger cases. You need two controllers/hubs and will need to split the 7 into two groups. The best way to do that depends on the case layout. When I had 7 in a 740 Air, I did top + rear (3) and front/bottom (4). The trickier one is if you have 3 front, 3 top, + 1 rear. That leaves the rear fan as the odd one out. You might also be able to find a 3rd party adapter to offload the one rear to the MB RGB to avoid using another controller for 1 fan, but the logical break there is 6 + 1.