CrowPi L fan control
Is the CrowPi L fan hardwired to power, or can I control it? I guess I could dig around on the board, but I hate to break something that's working.
If it's hardwired, I can wire in a transistor, no problem, I just wanted to know before I start cutting things...
Would be willing to document process if anyone's interested.
Chris
If it's hardwired, I can wire in a transistor, no problem, I just wanted to know before I start cutting things...
Would be willing to document process if anyone's interested.
Chris
Comments
The fan is connected with power supply directly. Once the power is on, the fan will work
If you're going to control it, you can remove R1, and connect the left pad to GPIO you need to use. And leave the right pad without wiring.
Be caution connecting the DC 5V fan directly to any GPIO pins, it has a 3.3Vdc output and a limited current (16mA per GPIO pin) only, which is not enough to supply the fan and you risk damaging the Pi.
In order to drive/control the fan safely without the risk of damaging the Pi, a simple switching transistor circuit is required.
As to the driver - yeah, i was intending to switch 5v via a transistor. Someone might want to mark that on the above drawing, though.
Also thinking about also putting a microswitch to bypass the transistor, in case I'm switching boot to something not running the GPIO control software.
Again, thanks!
Chris
Rats...
Built-in OS fan control switches ON, so npn transistor, so switches ground, not plus5... Pnp could do it, but I'd have to invert input... Gotta think some more.
I have bought this cooling system: https://wiki.52pi.com/index.php/ZP-0110 - even without fan it keeps the RasPi cool. Fan on/off is then controlled via selectable GPIO pin and Performance Control of Raspberry Pi O/S:
Isn't there an existing option already available for controlling a fan which isnt used? I'm pretty new to this and whilst I was playing around I saw an option for enabling a fan connected to one of the GPIO ports.
Just a quick fan tip....
There is a far better method of mounting the fan that really cuts down the vibration and fan noise.
My fan was stuck to the PCB with the double sided tape. I worked out that the excessive fan noise wasn't due to a loose mounting but rather a solid mounting that allowed fan vibrations to transfer to the PCB. I removed the screws holding the fan to the PCB and discarded them. I then used a good quality double sided tape that was approximately 1mm thick and spongy, the brand I used was Gorilla Tape. This was attached to the fan and the excess trimmed away making sure none of the tape touched the fan. The fan was then re-attached to the PCB. The difference was dramatic, the noise changed from being annoying right down to the level where you could barely hear just the fan blade noise in the airstream.