CalcProgrammer1
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- 2,363
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- Illinois, USA
I haven't been on Tech Forums in a while, mainly because I got interested in electronics projects and spent a lot of time playing with microcontrollers and stuff. However, I recently got a new case for my server and a blue LED fan to light up the front of it. However, the blue LED fan had a burned out LED and it also ran really loud so I decided to take on a project that I had thought of before. I decided to make a custom fan controller that would also include multi-colored LED's, control the fan speed, and read back RPM's all through the computer (no switches or buttons on the case or inside of it, everything is controlled through the PC itself).
To do this project, I started with an Atmel ATMega168 microcontroller (which is about $5) and a level converter for the serial port (about $1). Add to that 2 transistors to control the higher voltage for the fan, a 5 volt regulator to provide a stable power supply for the chips, and some resistors (all these parts around $1 total). The other stuff is a custom PCB I'm going to make once I figure out how to print them and some RGB LED's (found them cheap on eBay) and of course the 120mm blue LED fan with the blue LED's removed.
To connect to the PC I found that my server's motherboard has a second serial port pinned out internally that I could plug into with some basic pin connectors without even using any external ports. Serial connections are great for microcontrollers because USB is more complex and involves more expensive stuff.
I have a program written for controlling the 4 LED's and the fan speed but I am still working on reading the RPM accurately. If anyone else here has any experience with microcontrollers I'll post the code when it's finished as well as pictures of the controller. If it works well, I may figure out how to chain multiple microcontrollers together and come up with a protocol for whole-case lighting control which would be awesome (change the color of the LED's at any time or have some kind of color loop that fades continuously).
To do this project, I started with an Atmel ATMega168 microcontroller (which is about $5) and a level converter for the serial port (about $1). Add to that 2 transistors to control the higher voltage for the fan, a 5 volt regulator to provide a stable power supply for the chips, and some resistors (all these parts around $1 total). The other stuff is a custom PCB I'm going to make once I figure out how to print them and some RGB LED's (found them cheap on eBay) and of course the 120mm blue LED fan with the blue LED's removed.
To connect to the PC I found that my server's motherboard has a second serial port pinned out internally that I could plug into with some basic pin connectors without even using any external ports. Serial connections are great for microcontrollers because USB is more complex and involves more expensive stuff.
I have a program written for controlling the 4 LED's and the fan speed but I am still working on reading the RPM accurately. If anyone else here has any experience with microcontrollers I'll post the code when it's finished as well as pictures of the controller. If it works well, I may figure out how to chain multiple microcontrollers together and come up with a protocol for whole-case lighting control which would be awesome (change the color of the LED's at any time or have some kind of color loop that fades continuously).