Hi All ... I'm using a Thermaltake Tower 100 as the chassis for my Turing Pi 2. I'd like to set it up with illuminated fans to add to the Wow Effect. But all the RGB / LED enabled 120mm fans I've seen - including the ones I purchased recently - rely on a connection to the motherboard to enable the colorfulness. Ideally, I'd like something that runs off of either a Molex or SATA power cable, as the 450W Power Supply I cobbled into the Thermaltake chassis has more than enough of both plugs available. The current setup runs off of a central, SATA-powered hub. But the hub clearly wants a motherboard connection that doesn't exist on the Turing Pi 2. I don't need pulsing, shifting, voice-activated lighting. A solid blue or white would satisfy my (largely silly) requirements. Thoughts? Sincerely ... Stephen

I’ve got a solid white fan installed in my cluster, let me fetch the name & photo

How's it powered?

Corsair Air Series AF120 LED, doesn’t need anything from motherboard, just shines with white light when plugged in

So, SATA or Molex powered?

You could look, for example, at these: https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/CORSAIR-iCUE/Fans/LL-White-RGB-Dual-Light-Loop-RGB-LED-PWM-Fan/p/CO-9050092-WW

In my case from Noctua NA-FC1 PWM fan controller but based on what I heard, it should be possible to power it from the fan header on the board, though that will be without PWM

The controller does not have to be connected to the motherboard. You could use your PC to configure the light effects once and save them in a controlelr and it'll just use them each time you power it on

I like Corsair's products. I have one of their PC cases. So, I'm assuming the Corsair Air Series AF120 LEDs run off of the controller pictures above?

They seem to be just white fans, they do ot use a controller

They'll run off the connectors beside each of the Nodes on the Turing Pi 2?

You can connect them to TPi2 in numerous ways, but the problem you're going to have is they're goign to spin at the max speed

What model is the Corsair PWM controller pictures above?

These fans are not even PWM by the way

Gotcha

So your only way is to connect them to 12V via SATA->fan cable

Probably not forever

You might then use some sort of fan controller or so-called (low noise" cables to slow them down

But this device: Noctua NA-FC1 PWM fan controller Could attenuate speed.

Just power them up and use

Brilliant

I'm actually suggesting this one to people

(that's a light pun)

What you have to have in mind is if you lower the voltage of the fans to slow them down, this might also dim the LEDs, (but it depends on the fan, and I'm not sure about these)

Dialing them back to 75% might be enough to give the bearings a break

Usually 75% is also quite quiet for many fans already

I like the Corsair setup you referenced. I have a Corsair case with three fans running the iCUE controller software. But how would I configure the fans for the Turing Pi 2 in a PC?

The Lightning Node Pro can be set as follows:

And this kit: https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/CORSAIR-iCUE/Fans/LL-White-RGB-Dual-Light-Loop-RGB-LED-PWM-Fan/p/CO-9050092-WW Comes with a controller?

What this means is you can set the controller in your PC, but the hardware channel and tehn run it without teh USB connection in TPi2

What's the product name / ID of that controller?

The Lightning Node Pro

And, last question, I think - The Controller is connected and programmed via USB, meaning it can be done externally, as long as it has SATA power?

I'm not sure I understand this question. It needs to be connected via USB to set the profile and via SATA to have power

So, if I connected the controller to the SATA power on the Turing Pi 2, and plugged the controller into a USB port on my PC (which is right next to the Turing Pi 2), I could program the Controller.

Yes

Awesome. And (last question, really) ... This kit: https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/CORSAIR-iCUE/Fans/LL-White-RGB-Dual-Light-Loop-RGB-LED-PWM-Fan/p/CO-9050092-WW Comes with the Controller - the Lighting Node Pro, correct?

With the Lightning Node Pro and the Hub, yes: https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/CORSAIR-iCUE/Fans/LL-White-RGB-Dual-Light-Loop-RGB-LED-PWM-Fan/p/CO-9050092-WW#tab-package-contents

Not speed?

The fans still need to be connected to TPI2 somehow to start spinning

Speed is Motherboard controlled

Or there's another controller type for the speed

But these: Corsair Air Series AF120 LED Coupled with this: Noctua NA-FC1 PWM fan controller Would give me light plus fan speed controller, with the caveat that controlling the speed might inadvertently control the light.

Yes and no 😄

Actually, this is a good thing. So, final confirmation: This controller will control speed while the fan LEDs stay at maximum illumination.

Yes

Why do one red cost $19 but two blues cost $96?

Any links, from curiosity?

Amazon

You can use openRGB on the raspberry pi to control the lighting on the fans, if you connect up the rgb controller to one of the usb ports on the Turing pi node 4

Very good to know, thank you.