Puddin Posted November 27, 2022 Share Posted November 27, 2022 Hello, i bought 9 Ql120 fans, and a h150i elite capellix for my new build, i also got 2 rgb hub with my fans, and a commander core ( i think its the name ) with the h150i, my question was, how can i control all 9 fans, and the pump, with icue ? do i have to buy something more ? Its my first time with corsairs fan and im kinda lost, with the tons of cables and different type of hub... thank you for your help ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solution c-attack Posted November 27, 2022 Solution Share Posted November 27, 2022 Are you using 9 QL + the 3 ML-Elite from the AIO? Or just the 9 QL replacing the radiator fans? A Commander Core is 6 PWM and 6 RGB ports. You will need 1 of the Lighting Node Core devices from the QL pack. That is 6 RGB ports. Then we need to find a speed control solution for your remaking 3-6 fans. Commander Core RGB side -> 3 radiator fans (QL or ML-E). Then you need to decide how to split the remaking 6 QL. They all can go in the LNCore or up to 3 can go on the Com Core. The decision should be based on location in the case. Each controller will be a separate lighting zone. As such, you want to group your case fans by location. So for example, if you were building in a Lian Li O11, you may want the top and bottom fans together for visual purposes and the side wall fans by themselves. For speed control you have enough capacity for 6. So you either need to put three on motherboard headers or perhaps more pleasing would be to use an inexpensive PWM hub. This is a powered splitter that will connect to one port on the Commander Pro. All fans on the hub run the same speed, but you do not need individual speed control for each fan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puddin Posted November 27, 2022 Author Share Posted November 27, 2022 Ho yes my bad i forgot to say that ye i will use 3 ql for the radiator in place of the 3 ML and i am building in a Li o11 ! so from what i understand, i just need to buy a splitter for the PWM and if my fans are in 2 different lighting zone, does that mean i wont be able to have animation across all fans ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c-attack Posted November 27, 2022 Share Posted November 27, 2022 Don't buy three 2 way splitters. That will cost as much as a PWM hub while loading all of them onto the Commander Core's power line. You are looking for a powered PWM hub and these typically come in sizes from 4-10 fans. The SATA connector on the PWM hub handles power for all of those fans making this work. You can set each separate lighting zone to do the same thing, but you won't get sequential effects from fan 1 to fan 9. That's not in the preset options. It is possible to program custom waves to appear like they go from 1-9 but it is a lot of work and not a new user thing to try. The QL have a bunch of special presets that are fun to play with and do things like Pong, Infinity weave patterns, etc. In the O11 cases, you top and bottom fans are generally the most visible and you will be able to see the side cutout of the fan with both ring sides. This makes them the most visually forward. I ran a O11 XL for 2 years. I advice is the pair top and bottom. The 3 on the side can do whatever pattern you want. Just pick something complimentary. Your pump LED, RAM, KB, etc. can't do QL fan effects either, so there is always going to be some level of device customization. The entire system can be set to do stationary or intra-fan effects like solid colors, breathing, rainbow wave, etc. with one click. However, where a lot of users get caught off guard is they want those unique QL effects to run through the entire system and that is not something other devices can do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puddin Posted November 27, 2022 Author Share Posted November 27, 2022 ok i see ! just a PWM hub then, ye from what i saw online i had to buy like one commander pro and connect both rgb hub to it, then multiple Y spliter, etc that seemed so complicated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c-attack Posted November 27, 2022 Share Posted November 27, 2022 No Commander Pro for you unless you have old RGB lighting hubs from prior LL or ML-Pro fan sets. The C-Pro uses those as 5v fan boosters. Your alternate option would be a Commander XT. This is just like your Com Core with direct PWM and RGB ports but without the AIO power circuitry. This is a viable alternative to the above and the Commander XT would replace the PWM hub and the lighting node Core. However, a Commander XT is at least $50 USD vs the PWM hub that should be less than $20. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puddin Posted November 27, 2022 Author Share Posted November 27, 2022 so the commander xt would replace the hub and the rgb hub, so i would have only commander xt and commander core ? ye the pwm method look both easier for me and cheaper i think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c-attack Posted November 27, 2022 Share Posted November 27, 2022 Correct. The Commander XT is a more expensive option and thus not the first recommendation. A few reasons someone might choose the XT option over the PWM hub would be: 1) Need individual fan speed control for whatever reason. Com Core + Com XT is 12 independent PWM headers. With the PWM hub you will have 6 different speed control headers. 5 individual fans on the Com Core + at least 4 fans on the PWM hub. The most common set up for an O11 with 9 fans would be 2 of the banks of three on the PWM hub and the remaining 3 on the Com Core. You likely set this up depending on fan intake vs exhaust. For example, I put the radiator in the side was intake and then put it with the three bottom fans that are also intake on the PWM hub. They all run the same speed. The top exhaust fans are then on the Com Core by themselves. Ultimately the radiator placement is going to determine which fans get paired together. 2) Adding more RGB fans of a different type. Most Corsair RGB controllers are serial and do better with one fan type. The newer Commander Core and XT controllers have per port RGB control allowing easier mixing of different LED fan counts. So if you had stated you wanted to use the ML-Elite 8 LED fans that came with the AIO plus 9 QL, the Com XT would have been first choice because if the total number of fans (12) and the Com Core and XT would let you do 3 QL + 3 ML-Elite much better than the Lighting Node. I ran my 9 in the O11 using one RGB channel for the top/bottom QL and a second channel for the various other fan types I mixed in on the side radiator. I also chose to use 2 PWM hubs so I could manage each bank of three as one set of fans. I could have done exactly the same by using a Commander XT, but like you I had all the gear I needed already making the PWM hub a cheaper option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puddin Posted November 27, 2022 Author Share Posted November 27, 2022 ok ok i see, thks for all the info and the precious help ! I'm finally starting to understand a little bit ! And i can finally have an idea on how i will hide all thos wires too haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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