Vantec NXP-301 fan controller

[BillyGoat]

http://www.pcabusers.com/reviews/vantec/nxp301/p1.htm
Function and style- cathodes are brighter than the sun!

[Matrices]

Hi, quick question: does either this or the 3.5inch Vantec unit produce that annoying buzz when you turn the fans down like the original 5.25 unit does?

[BillyGoat]

No noise at all- my other vantec unit is quite as well

This one you can turn the fans all the way off, with my older vantec speed control they only go down to barely on

[Sean]

Nice review BillyGoat!

I'm still goin with the sunbeam though, since I need all four.

[redeye]

Hi.. Question.. I would like to control 3 sets of 2 fans each(< 5W/fan).. Can I do that with the NXP-301? If not, any suggestions? Need the light conlrol as well. Now if it's black with blue lights, even better. Any help appreciated.. TIA

[Bigal]

I installed my Nexus fan controller and promptly smelled smoke. Soon the fans that still worked (channels 1-3) were running at full speed, and the last one stopped running. "What happened?", I said to myself. After some investigation, I noticed that the Vantec-supplied fan extension wires (2 of them) were wired incorrectly! They switched the ground (black) wire with the hot (yellow) wire on both ends. The red wire was in the middle, as it should be. Crap. I pulled the unit out, made my own extensions to replace the incorrectly wired ones, and put in a Sunbeam rheostat bus (simiar to the PC Mods Rheostat bus). This worked fine, and I have since swapped the wires in the connectors of those two fan extensions.

Quality control issue at Vantec? You bet. Now I have a dead fan controller and I'm out $24. At least it didn't damage my system, which was my biggest concern.