[MRGromPro]

Ok so let me get right to it since I expect this to be a bit long. What I need to do is power a Enlight Combo Spy Smart Fan Controller/Temp Sensor unit direct to a regular wall outlet.
Here is a pic
Front



Back (minus the hard drive, I do not need to power anything but the fan controller)


Now in the past I've powered other devices such as THIS fan controller/temp sensorsuccessfully by just splicing the power wires to a 12V 500mA or 1000mA box plug like is used to charge most cell phones. Unfortunately though the Enlight-EN5601500-Combo-Spy doesn't power on with either a 500mA or 1000mA plug. Well it kind of powers up, it lights up, but it just beeps real loud and shows nothing on the display. Works fine if I plug it into my computer though so I know it works.
I'm not really good at knowing volts and amps and stuff so if someone could tell me what my computer is giving it that my normally used box plug isn't or what mA plug I need I'd appreciate it. I have a 12V 2000mA plug I could try but I'm scared to as the 1000mA plug made the alarm in it scream like a mofo!

[Koot]

The unit is probably designed to run off a computer's 5 volts DC power supply. If you tried it using 12 volts from a 120 volt to 12 volt converter you may have damaged it, even if it has a built -in voltage regulator. Hopefully it is still okay.

The unit's design voltage (e.g. 5 volts) needs to supplied within a +/- 5% to 10% tolerance. The unit's ampacity (current) draw needs to be a consideration of the power supply or converter. The unit should have the voltage and the current or wattage requirements somewhere on the device or in the manual. Your PC's power supply has plenty of ampacity to handle this unit, and I strongly suspect the unit was designed to be powered from the PC's 5 volt power supply. I hope you didn't damage it.

[MRGromPro]

No its not damaged. I can go back and forth from the 12v 500-1000mA box plug to my PC and it works fine in the PC. Do you think a unit like in the pic below might help me trouble shoot what it needs to fire up right?



...its only 300mA though. Reason I went to powering these types of units with a 1000mA plug (use to use a 500mA plug) is because it gave me more power and higher fan RPM's which is desirable. Of course that was on a different type of fan/temp sensor controller that actually worked on a plug like I have.

[Koot]

I'm glad it still works as confirmed by you powering it up in your PC.

I would try powering the unit up using 5 volt DC using the multi-tap converter shown in your last post. 300mA should be plenty of ampacity unless you have added an optional hard drive.

[MRGromPro]

No the only thing I do with these devices is power them off a wall socket run 3 80MM PC fans with them. Why when I use a 1000mA plug on THIS unit does it power the fans a lot better then a 500mA box plug? Made me think milli-amps were important and I wonder if a 5v plug with more mA would be needed??

...and an even better question is why would one run off a 12v 1000mA box plug and the other require a 5v?

[Koot]

I understand the purpose of the unit better now. I guess I should have known that it was being used to control fans. I suspect that the 3 fan's combined amperage was taxing the 500mA converter and therefore the 1000mA converter was able to supply the necessary current, thus allowing the fans to run faster. When a power supply (or converter) is at the threshold of ampacity the voltage drops, which in your case would make the fans run slower.

Since I now understand that you're using the control to power the 3 fans I would like to know the combined amperage of these 3 fans. Then, we can determine what total ampacity you will need with a resonable additional ampacity for safety sake.

[MRGromPro]

don't know the amerage of the fans, or each heat/fan controller for that matter But you can look at what specs there here on newegg
those are the ones I use.

Again though why would one work fine off 12v power and the other not and need 5v? I'm just curious so I better understand.

Thanks a tone for the help thus far BTW

[Koot]

Originally Posted by MRGromPro

No the only thing I do with these devices is power them off a wall socket run 3 80MM PC fans with them. Why when I use a 1000mA plug on THIS unit does it power the fans a lot better then a 500mA box plug? Made me think milli-amps were important and I wonder if a 5v plug with more mA would be needed??

...and an even better question is why would one run off a 12v 1000mA box plug and the other require a 5v?

You've got me now! Unless the unit pulls more current than I think it should, it should not be anywhere close to needing about .5 amps or 500mA. Does the unit or the manual not say what the voltage and amperage/wattage is?

[Koot]

The controller unit is designed to be installed into a drive space and powered from the PC's power supply with the four pin plug. I'm still confused however why you are powering the 3 80mm fans off a 12 volt converter installed in a 120 volt receptacle. Assuming the fans are normal 12 volt fans, can't you powwer them off your PC's power supply, which is the way (I think) the controller unit is designed to be used?

[MRGromPro]

Hehe,.. ya I guess it might make things a bit more understandable for ya if you knew what I was using it for eh? Go to myspace.com/mrgrowpro to see first hand. But in short I need the temp sensors and LCD read out of the device, not just to have three fans powered.

As for spec's of the two units this is what I can find.
The Enlight unit says it can power 1000mA or 12 watts per fan max. Nothing really about what the unit itself needs to run right though.

The pic below is a scan I made of the info from the DigitalDoc 5



...hope this helps figure out whats needed!

[Koot]

Okay, that helps! Your controller can control fans up to 1200 watts or 1 amp of fan amperage. Your fan wattage divided by voltage (12 volts) equals the amperage. 80mm fans can vary in the amount of amperage they draw, so you must have three (3) fans with a total combined amperage of less than 1 amp or 1200 watts for your controller to reliably work. Your 1000mA plug-in converter would be the best choice since it has the most ampacity. You cannot have too much ampacity, but you can have too little. Also, the controller's amperage draw is miminal with the LED lights, etc. - as long as you do not have the optional hard drive.

The small plug-in converters you have tried (500mA and 1000mA) are oftentimes not [voltage] regulated very well at all, so it could be that they are delivering more or less than the desired votage.

[MRGromPro]

with the digitaldoc 5 it has a volt meter and I've noticed it runs anywhere from a half vote lower or higher then 12v but still operates. unfortunately i think they stopped making that item so I've been forced to find a different unit. Weird to me one would only need 5v and the other 12 but soon as i can ill give a 5v 1000mA plug a shot and let you know if it works.

[MRGromPro]

Ok I think were on to something,...
I just tried a 5.8v 1000mA plug (times like this it's nice to have a closet full of crap) and it fired the Enlight Combo Spy up right this time but the one fan I have hooked up only spins are 1300rpm's where as if I hook the unit to my pc I can get one all 4 fans to spin at 2800 rpm's. Right volts finally but need more amps?

[MRGromPro]

if I'm right, ya think a couple of these: http://cgi.ebay.com/BRAND-NEW-5V-3A-...QQcmdZViewItem might do the trick for 3 fans?

[Koot]

Originally Posted by MRGromPro

Ok I think were on to something,...
I just tried a 5.8v 1000mA plug (times like this it's nice to have a closet full of crap) and it fired the Enlight Combo Spy up right this time but the one fan I have hooked up only spins are 1300rpm's where as if I hook the unit to my pc I can get one all 4 fans to spin at 2800 rpm's. Right volts finally but need more amps?

I'm still not totally sure exactly what you are doing (source of voltage supply for the controller and source of voltage supply for the fans), nor exactly how the controller is actually supposed to work with reference to the source of voltage to the fans.

Your message (quoted above) tends to make me think that when you have the controller powered with 5 volts (which makes it power up properly according to you) and the controller is feeding this same 5 volts to the fans - not 12 volts, which is the voltage (I think) you believe you are supplying to the fans. It stands to reason that "if" you are supplying 5 volts (instead of 12 volts) to the fans that you will have around 1300rpms instead of 2800rpms. 5 volts/12 volts = 0.41667 and 0.41667 x 2800rpms = 1167rpms which is very close to the 1300rpms you say you are getting when the controller is supplied by 5 volts.

This fan rpm scenario tends to make me think that even though you are suppying the controller with 5 volts (which makes the controller happy) it is also supplying the fans with 5 volts too...even though you might think you are supplying the fans with 12 volts via a separate plug-in converter. [This is where I'm confused about the wiring setup you have.]

I am assuming the controller has the ability to control a load (your fans) using a different voltage than what powers the controller itself. I believe this would be the case and the controller could control/switch/vary the load (e.g. your fans) using a different load voltage from a separate source. But for some reason, which I am unable to determine, your fans seem to be operating off of the same 5 volts as your controller - instead of the 12 volts that you say you are using to feed the fans. The controller itself apparently needs 5 volts to operate itself and needs to have the load voltage (12 volts) to ultimately power teh fans. I'm not so sure you have the fans voltage (12 volts) wired correctly to the controller so the controller can actually "control" the fans, which needs [up to] 12 volts for full rpms.