Lamptron FC-2 Rheobus Fan Controller
Conclusion
With its CNC milled aluminium faceplate, uncomplicated looks and promise of being able to tame extremely powerful fans from the likes of Delta, the FC-2 seemed like the perfect fan controller for any enthusiast with a fetish for CFM and an eye for quality. However, as the testing over the previous page has shown, the FC-2 just has too many flaws to be treated as a respectable fan controller.
For starters setting all knobs on the controller to their lowest settings produces varying voltages across each of the fan headers with some reading as low as 1.9v while others as high as 4.1v. This obviously leads to a situation where some fans may stall while others remain spinning. Then there’s the cosmetic flaw of only 10 LED’s being used across the 6 knobs, leaving two knobs only half lit.
The final nail in the coffin comes from the fact that the FC-2 couldn’t even effectively control the two different sets of Delta fans we tested it with. Considering that Lamptron are marketing the FC-2 directly for this purpose, it is extremely disappointing that the fluctuating fan speed and high pitched squealing issues we encountered weren’t picked up early on in the design and development stages.
We wanted to like the FC-2, we really did – but even as a fan controller for ‘normal’ fans the FC-2 has some show stopping issues.
The Good
– Milled aluminium faceplate.
– Quality look and feel
The Mediocre
– 10 LED’s instead of 12 leaves two of the knobs only half lit.
The Bad
– With knobs set to their lowest setting the voltages on each of the fan headers varies significantly.
– Couldn’t effectively control the two models of Delta fans we used with it.
Thanks to Lamptron for sending the FC-2 in for review. Discuss this review in our forums.
UPDATE 15/12/08
As with all articles on Overclock3D, manufacturers are given the opportunity to respond to any issues highlighted during the course of the review. Lamptron has taken this opportunity, and has responded with the following comments:
Overclock3d released the review of Lamptron Fan Controller 2(FC2)，and pointed a few questions of FC2, we need to explain these questions based on the review.
The Modulation system of PMW destines the necessity of producing the fan sound, which is not the problem of product quality, but a flaw of PWM technology.
The advantage of PWM technology is that its Output Power is high and its energy-saving，which is pursued by the overclockers who uses the high power needed devices.
As for the process of down regulation, especially for minimum voltage part when the fan starts running, the fan has the evidence of uneven rotating speed. Even for a certain voltage point, the fans may have the evidence of only vibrating but non-working with big noise. For the normal working fan, this position is useless working zone; and its existing has no application value.
There is still voltage on the control knob at the extreme left, it is a no-load situation. When connected to fans, the disappearance of the natural voltage, the phenomenon of spin won’t happen as the Rated voltage will be lower than the no-load force of the fans. (3V fans not available in the market, this testing use of 12V, 0.08A small power fan)
The following file also attached to Lamptron’s email shows the difference in voltages across the 6 channels of the controller with fans both connected and disconnected:
