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[on:]

I recently got a new PC case, complete with multiple led illuminated fans. But its obnoxiously bright and way to loud at night, especially when watching movies or trying to sleep.


So I decided to fix that by making an Arduino-based, automatic pwm, temperature sensing, fan controller that gets its temp readings from the PC's on-board sensors over usb-serial link.

This way, the fans only gets as loud (and bright) as needed to remain cool, while extending fan life and reducing household noise levels.

It even has temperature responsive case lighting to make good use of that ever present side-window that all the newer gaming cases seem to have.

If you have an interest in hushing your gaming rig without those dorky looking knobs and switches, or just want to build ultimate automated gaming-related add-on for your pc, check it out here.
Here's a 'cheap-cam' video of mine in action.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/Y5-TQf7D2xw

[Reply #1 on:]

multiple led illuminated fans.

Ok this is a dumb but nevertheless serious question.... why do fans need to be lit?

[Reply #2 on:]

As far as I can tell it must be a marketing thing. It seems to be the current fashion, having illuminated fans is the new cool thing to be a 'must have' for all those young consumers.

Myself, I like my gear to perform well and perform for a long time. Looks only count if its part of showmanship.

Now for me (having installed a controller) a bright fan means, something decided it needs full-tilt cooling.

That said, having at-a-glance LED color feedback of temps is pretty nice when your gaming your machine pretty hard.

Seeing immediately not only if something has gotten hot, but also what got hot. Without any need to interrupt the game/benchmark/etc. (which allows the system to cool-off) while frantically trying to load up a temperature monitoring suite, hoping to catch what has gotten out of spec. Before its gone completely cold or even worse, if it had managed to go completely unnoticed until it failed.

The case lights actually transition smoothly from a dim blue (very-cold) to green (ok temps) to yellow (warm) then into bright red (near limits) finally signaling urgently with bright red on/off pulses if something has exceeded it's defined upper limits.