RockPro64 Fan Pins

[TheUnknownMuncher]

Hello,

I have a RockRro64 in the NAS case, with the NAS case fan. I love it and it works fantastically, but I've decided to replace the included fan because it is quite loud (can hear it from an entire room away when it is set to max speed). I've already ordered an 80mm 4-pin 12V PWM fan and just now remembered that the fan pins on the RockPro64 are not standard size as a desktop PC. Can someone point me to an adapter so that I may use my fan? If an adapter does not exist, then it would be possible for me to snip the connector from the existing fan and solder that onto the cabling from the fan that I have ordered, but I'd rather not go with the solution if there is another way. Also will it be a problem that my fan is 4-pin PWM or will that still work fully? I see that the fan header on RockPro64 is 2-pin PWM, but by my understanding PWM is not possible with 2 pins, so this confuses me? I'm more concerned about being able to run the fan at full speed rather than controlling fan speed, but it would be nice to have speed control.

A follow-up question, I see in the Wiki for the NAS case that it is recommended to use the fan as exhaust, rather than intake, for negative pressure. Has anyone tried using for intake? Seems strange to me to pull hot air from the CPU across the hard drives, rather than push cool air from outside the case across the drives and then CPU. I've also thought that generally, positive pressure is more advantageous than negative pressure.

Thanks

[TheUnknownMuncher]

I've done some searching through the forum and found that the fan connector is a 2mm PH type 2pin connector. I'm not seeing any pre-made adapters but I will probably be able to make my own. It appears that I will not have fan speed control, however, unless I build my own PWM controller, because 4-pin PWM will need 12V full supply at all times, and will just run at full speed. Is this correct? This sounds fine for me, because I generally am running at full speed anyway.

[tblindba]

I'm in the same boat. I've found that the 12V PWM fan header doesn't work for the fan I have, and any pwm setting in the hwmon other than >240 causes a rattling noise that won't work. I'm thinking about getting a Noctua 5V fan to run off the GPIO headers, but I have to work out how to set up the connectors. With a NAS with 2 3.5" HDDs, I need some cooling, but not a whole lot.

Does anyone know who sells a pin adapter for the 12V header?

Can anyone share their fan setups other than the Pine64 store fan?

[vecnar]

I'm in the same boat. I've found that the 12V PWM fan header doesn't work for the fan I have, and any pwm setting in the hwmon other than >240 causes a rattling noise that won't work. I'm thinking about getting a Noctua 5V fan to run off the GPIO headers, but I have to work out how to set up the connectors. With a NAS with 2 3.5" HDDs, I need some cooling, but not a whole lot.

Does anyone know who sells a pin adapter for the 12V header?

Can anyone share their fan setups other than the Pine64 store fan?

Probably not what you are looking for but maybe a possibility. I have pine64 nas case with 2 3.5 inch wd red drives and had similar problem at the start. First i thought to use fan header on the board but to control it using cpu temperatures wouldn't be ideal nor did i know how to set it up, it is probably best to control it using hard drive temps.
I had spare zalman fanmate fan controllers laying around http://www.zalman.com/contents/products/...tml?no=504, they take 5 or 12 volt feed and output it to 5-11v 6W, so i removed shielding from sata power cable pair closer to the board (before there is something that converts 12volt to 5 volt for hard drives) not sure if it is important but i used the same pair as it goes to single hard drive. I routed fan controller outside the case and glued it at the back of the case. Attached image doesn't show the fan controller but gives you a brief.

[tblindba]

I think you may be onto the solution I am looking for. If I tap off the HDD power line, I can power a 12V fan that has an external controller. I could probably use a SATA adapter to avoid cutting and soldering.

At least I have a place to start looking.

Thanks!

[vecnar]

I think you may be onto the solution I am looking for. If I tap off the HDD power line, I can power a 12V fan that has an external controller. I could probably use a SATA adapter to avoid cutting and soldering.

At least I have a place to start looking.

Thanks!

Sorry for late reply for some reason I wasn't notified.
If you have only 1 hard drive than you can do it but if 2 i think you will struggle space wise, this is if you have 3.5 inch drives. Splicing will save on space due to multiple connectors requirement, yellow is 12volt, read is 5 volt, black is ground (i would use one closer to yellow).


Below are the connectors you could use i think.

If only 1 hard drive
https://www.amazon.com/COMeap-Sleeved-Co...B07DQNFPRM
if 2 hard drives
https://www.ebay.ie/itm/252966849841
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eyeboot-Compute...B01M28IY5X

Just read your post one more time and looked at pictures of nas case and i think you will not have problems fitting connectors/excess wiring in space below hard drives where you mount 2.5 hdds.

[tblindba]

You aren't wrong!

Space is tight inside the case, and it will be a challenge to fit everything in there and have proper airflow as well.
It's 2 x 3.5 HDDs, so some clever cable management will be required.

[vecnar]

You aren't wrong!

Space is tight inside the case, and it will be a challenge to fit everything in there and have proper airflow as well.
It's 2 x 3.5 HDDs, so some clever cable management will be required.

Good luck with cable management and hope all goes well.  I  still think cables should fit in the space designed for 2.5 drives, metal hard drive cage. But you do what works best.