Innovatek Fan-O-Matic (EDIT: bought and tested)

snutten · Post by **snutten** » Fri Oct 03, 2003 6:37 am

Looks like a winner. Anybody tried it? Anybody even knows of a test report in english? Even a description of it in english??

silvervarg · Post by **silvervarg** » Fri Oct 03, 2003 7:23 am

Yikes, the price is 178.90 euros for that thing! That's about 200 USD.
Pretty costly for a fan controller I would say.

It can controll 4 fans up to 12W (1A) each.
Has 6 temp sensors, 1 RS232 connection to motherboard, 1 wire for fake tach to motherboard.
Does NOT use PWM (counting this both as good and bad).
Gives fans 2s full power for startup.
2*20 char LCD, 4 buttons montable in 5.25" bay.

I can't find a real review of the product and my language skills is a but rusty. Specs does only say about half the info I would want.

I must admitt it does look rather nice.

Fancontrols board sound more and more tempting.

dago · Post by **dago** » Fri Oct 03, 2003 7:51 am

Your search wizard has found for you the following two topics :
- Cooler Master Musketeer
- English info/supplier on Innovatek Fan-O-Matic?
and the following linked web page :
- English Information on Innovatek Fan-o-matic

If you were pleased with the information provided, please donate for Friend/Patron of SPCR Status

aphonos · Post by **aphonos** » Fri Oct 03, 2003 8:24 am

dago wrote:English Information on Innovatek Fan-o-matic

If you were pleased with the information provided......

Dr. Search Wizard, no product information is found on the page link you provided.

Here's the link: Pleasing information on the Fan-o-matic

Donations still accepted.

silvervarg · Post by **silvervarg** » Fri Oct 03, 2003 1:37 pm

From English version site:
every fan can be regulated by one out of six free assignable temperature sensors

Oooops! Is this right? If it is then we really have a problem.
If each fan can only be controlled by one single temp sensor we can't really get anything smart. This is something we can achieve with simple temp controlled fans without any fancontroller at all.
It also becomes almost useless to have 6 temp sensors with 4 fans. The only benefit is that you can use software to change wich temp sensor to use, but this is going to be a one time thing, and you will remove unused sensors anyway to get rid of unnessecary cables.

Also it seems like they only have software for windows. This is ok for setting up the fan control settings, but not really ok for the rest of it. You can't see temps or fanspeeds in Linux (except perhaps on the LCD). Also you can't show any fun information on the LCD in Linux.
This could possibly change if someone is willing to write software for Linux as well, but it is not there now.

Does anyone have this hardware so they can actually tell what is correct and what is not?

Gooserider · Post by **Gooserider** » Fri Oct 03, 2003 7:17 pm

FWIW Dept...

1. Inovatek pointed me at High Speed PC, as their US importer. They said it wasn't an item they stocked, but they could special order it for USD$200.00 or so. Note that all S/W and documentation is in German, no English version is available.

2. I saw mixed comments as to whether or not the Window's config software could be made to work under WINE in Linux

3. Other than the Watercooling.de article, I haven't been able to find anything in english.

Gooserider

snutten · Post by **snutten** » Mon Oct 13, 2003 9:18 am

Well, somebody´s got to try it out. I just ordered a "black box" version of it from frozen-silicon.de for 139 euro. Not exactly cheap, but it has some nice features:
0-12V analog on 4 channels
6 flat temp sensors to control the speed of the fans
Gives 12V for startup
User can set minimum speed/voltage
User defined preferred temp and max temp with smooth increase of speed
Alarm if failure
Connects to motherboard and is calibrated with easy-to-use program

Black box means it lacks the display, but the functions are the same. The display is mostly for toying with anyway, I´m hoping this thing takes completely care of itself.
There´s always hope...

Semm · Post by **Semm** » Mon Oct 13, 2003 9:28 am

By the way...If anyone wants some specific information, let me know and I can take a look and give it to you. I don't fancy translating the whole page, but I'm happy to ferret specific bits out...

Semm

silvervarg · Post by **silvervarg** » Mon Oct 13, 2003 12:03 pm

Snutten, can you please write something about how it actually works when you have tried it out?

I have decided to go with Fancontrols board, but it is always nice to see what the commercial equivalent products can do.
Is the black box version mounted in a drive bay or is it possible to mount in anywhere?

snutten · Post by **snutten** » Mon Oct 13, 2003 1:10 pm

I shall definitely write an unprofessional review of some sort when I have tried it out. The black-box version, which I didn´t even know existed because nothing is said about it at Innovatek.de and it´s sold at very few places, can be mounted just about anywhere since it needs not be seen or touched.
Have a look at:
http://www.frozen-silicon.de/index.html ... 4af2b5c67e
...scroll down a bit

snutten · Post by **snutten** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 4:26 pm

I have had a nightmare getting this thing to work. Turns out my unit was faulty and it took the bastards at Frozen Silicon months to replace it. Adding to the trouble my serial port didn´t connect with it so I had to buy a serial rs232 to usb bridge. The manual comes in german only. I have used gadgets more user friendly.

However it´s now up and running. Seems to be an excellent fan controller. Better be, with a price tag like that. Within a couple of days I can provide you with some numbers in a biased review of some sort.

http://www6.tomshardware.com/business/2 ... ew-08.html

snutten · Post by **snutten** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 7:40 am

This is how the FOM works:

It has 6 temp sensors and 4 fan connections with voltage control, 0-12 V.
Each fan can be controlled either manually or automatically with regards to any chosen temp sensor.
The interface is very easy to use (windows only).

For each temp sensor you can set:
Target temperature.
Alarm temp. (Chose from: alarm, signal to motherboard, relay turned on, 12 V to fan.)

For each fan you can set:
How the fan is to be controlled. (Manual, automaticly by a temp sensor, flow-o-matic, flow-meter.)
Alarm if failure to start. (Same as with temp sensor.)
Autocontrol behaviour. (How often speed is adjusted to temp, eg 5 seconds between speed adjustements. How much the voltage is then adjusted, eg 0.1 volts. Or set voltage to be proportional to temp.)
If the fan is to be turned off at low temps.
Min voltage.
Max voltage.
Start boost option. (12 V for 2 seconds.)
Also some cosmetic adjustments, like how the rpm is measured, voltage on different lines and stuff.

At factory pre-set this is what happens at auto control: When target temp is reached the FOM starts to increase the voltage to the corresponding fan. The fan speed continues to increase until the chosen temp is met. There is no way to make the FOM adjust fan speed faster when speeding up than down or vice versa. If the temp continues to fall even when the fan is fed its set minimum voltage, then the fan is turned off. If maximum temp is reached the FOM does whatever you have chosen from the "alarm menu".

The FOM works beautifully in my case EXCEPT for the fan in the PSU. I use a SS-400 Super Silencer and the FOM has the same tendency to ramp voltage up and down, up and down, as do the Seasonics internal fan control. I shall try move the temp sensor to a better place. It now sits on top of a heatsink. Suppose the heatsinks reacts to heatchanges with a bit of a delay, making the fan control always reacting too late, creating bigger adjustements to cope anyway.

Otherwise, it´s nice to have the fans set to about 400 rpm and still not having to worry about anything overheating.
Silvervarg has a point, the FOM does about the same job as a couple of temp controlled fans. I use Panaflos and Papsts only. The best fans usually don´t come with good speed controllers. But if you can find it, by all means, go for that instead.

I use the "black box" version without a display. It is about two cm deep, otherwise dimensions still fit a 5.4" bay. It´s easy to fit anywhere inside the case. If you need to adjust the settings, just pop in the cd and use the fan control program. This program doesn´t have to be installed to run.

It kicks ass but it´s too expensive to be a hit.

[EDIT] The "volt to temp proportional" control is not what it pretends. It is a tool to make the rpm react faster to a change in temperature. E.g. if set to 0.8, then the first voltage increase/decrease (because of a change in temperature) is 0.8 V. The following steps are preferably smaller, as the in example above 0.1 V or similar. This prevents the up - down behaviour caused by the FOM lagging behind in compensating any changes, without setting the other values so slow that something may overheat.
Controlling the water temps are best done with "slow" values. Perhaps a 0.05 V change every 10 seconds, with first step 0.2 V.