Commander pro fan port dead

[flibberty]

I purchased the commander pro in July this year. Today I have found that fan port#6 on the commander is dead. I have verified this by swapping other fans around to eliminate fan issues. I have also performed a factory reset/firmware update of the commander pro to no avail.

 

I do have a 2:1 fan splitter (Fan Power Splitter, 3-pin TX3 Molex to 2x 3-pin TX3 Molex) in that port, however I understood this to be broadly ok whereas 3 was an issue. I appreciate it's not officially supported.

Fans involved were:

3xiCUE SP140 RGB PRO Performance 140mm Fan in ports 1-3

2xiCUE SP120 RGB PRO Performance 120mm in ports 4&5

2xiCUE SP120 RGB PRO Performance 120mm via the splitter above in port#6.

I'm not a big coincidence fan, no pun, is it possible the splitter has blown something? It has worked fine in the 6 weeks since purchase and voltages seemed to be within tolerance (all fans 0.3A each)

I've put a ticket in too, but wanted to check here at the same time.

Edited September 2, 2021 by flibberty

[LeDoyen]

Splitters are somewhat fine when using PWM fans because they are always fed 12V.

When using 3 pin fans, the speed is varied by lowering the voltage sent to the fans. That's where the Copro does not like splitters. Voltage dropping heats up the transistor that drives the port, and it can pop.

So, splitters with PWM fans, yes within reason. With 3 pin fans, to be avoided..

[flibberty]

Ah rats, I hadn't appreciated the nuance.