Designing a PWM to Analog mini board for fans
-
Well, I just mounted 8 PWM beta boards in my printer, two for each tool (one cold end, one part cooling)
I already connected 4 of them, and they work beautifully. I finally can control my stubborn fans! I'll make some more endurance test (to check temperatures in the long run) and wait for the betatesters to report, but there should be no problem for a final board run.
Still interested?
-
Everything ready for the next batch of final boards!
Everyone who asked me for boards is already contacted for this batch. There are 23 boards finally requested, so I'll probably do a 25-board batch. Does anyone else need one before I place the orders to part suppliers?
I can also supply a STL/STEP file with the board and a basic box just in case you need
-
@egon-net Out of interest. What would the cost be per board, delivered to the UK? Do you think they could be assembled with a fine tipped soldering iron, or only hot air?
-
@nexxcat said in Designing a PWM to Analog mini board for fans:
@egon-net Out of interest. What would the cost be per board, delivered to the UK? Do you think they could be assembled with a fine tipped soldering iron, or only hot air?
Regarding cost, this is what I thought:
- Just a bare board: 4€/piece
- DIY kit (without headers/jumpers): 8€/kit
- Fully assembled and tested (with optional headers/jumpers): 15€/piece
- Shipping costs to UK: 5€
Regarding building the board with a fine soldering iron... It could be done since every part has its legs exposed and parts are not that small (SOIC8 & 0805 SMD), but it would be much more difficult.
-
@egon-net Thanks
I'll hold off for now then, but great work on the product! -
This is the new board:
It's a bit bigger so now the capacitor is included and the diode and the led are in top side. Also a bit more of space surrounding the in/out connectors.
BTW, I think it's the last board I make with Ultiboard. I have tested Kicad and its support for footprints is way better (I can directly import them from Mouser!)
-
@nexxcat said in Designing a PWM to Analog mini board for fans:
@egon-net Thanks
I'll hold off for now then, but great work on the product!Thanks!
-
@nexxcat said in Designing a PWM to Analog mini board for fans:
Do you think they could be assembled with a fine tipped soldering iron, or only hot air?
You can practice with one of those Aliexpress kits https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002070994262.html . It's not that difficult once you get used to it, especially SOIC and 0805 packages which are relatively on the large side.
-
@egon-net said in Designing a PWM to Analog mini board for fans:
BTW, I think it's the last board I make with Ultiboard.
Most likely Kicad will give you nicer 3D renderings.
Sometime people also post hard to find models on sites such as grabcad or gitbub.
-
@zapta said in Designing a PWM to Analog mini board for fans:
@egon-net said in Designing a PWM to Analog mini board for fans:
BTW, I think it's the last board I make with Ultiboard.
Most likely Kicad will give you nicer 3D renderings.
In fact, Ultiboard renders are VERY ugly xDD. In 1998, when I started using it, it was like "wooha!". But now it's 2021, and it's the very same render
It's just that I can go from Multisim to Ultiboard comfortably, and Multisim has a powerful analog spice simulator which I use a lot. I'm trying to transition to TINA TI + KiCad. I wish KiCad had a good spice simulator!
-
@egon-net said in Designing a PWM to Analog mini board for fans:
I'm trying to transition to TINA TI + KiCad
If paying for a subscription is an option for you, take a look at https://www.circuitlab.com/ . It has a more modern front end, works in a browser and has a cleaner user interface, and has nice feature such as sharing your schematic and simulation with others.
Most of my projects are digital so in the rare cases I need a simulator I use https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTspice (free, powerful, dated user interface like most circuit simulators).
-
@zapta said in Designing a PWM to Analog mini board for fans:
@egon-net said in Designing a PWM to Analog mini board for fans:
I'm trying to transition to TINA TI + KiCad
If paying for a subscription is an option for you, take a look at https://www.circuitlab.com/ . It has a more modern front end, works in a browser and has a cleaner user interface, and has nice feature such as sharing your schematic and simulation with others.
Most of my projects are digital so in the rare cases I need a simulator I use https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTspice (free, powerful, dated user interface like most circuit simulators).
I'm trying to get used to TINA TI because it has most of TI spice models and it's fairly accurate (I do a lot of analog designs). Its transient analysis is the most accurate I've found to date. But thanks for the suggestions! I'll have a look
-
25 board batch on its way!
- Parts ordered to Mouser
- Boards ordered to JLCPCB
Waiting...
- Parts ordered to Mouser
-
Do fan manufacturer provide graphs of CFM vs voltage? Is this something that can easily be measured?
Now that you have good control of the fan, would be interesting to know for example what 50% voltage means in cooling terms.
-
@zapta said in Designing a PWM to Analog mini board for fans:
Do fan manufacturer provide graphs of CFM vs voltage? Is this something that can easily be measured?
Now that you have good control of the fan, would be interesting to know for example what 50% voltage means in cooling terms.
I don't even thing that the manufacturer expects you to run the fan at other voltage than nominal... If I had some way to measure air flow I could perform some measurements, something like displacement of a suspended weight or the like.
-
@egon-net said in Designing a PWM to Analog mini board for fans:
25 board batch on its way!
- Parts ordered to Mouser
- Boards ordered to JLCPCB
- Parts arrived from Mouser
- Boards in their way from JLCPCB
Waiting...
- Parts ordered to Mouser
-
@egon-net said in Designing a PWM to Analog mini board for fans:
@egon-net said in Designing a PWM to Analog mini board for fans:
25 board batch on its way!
- Parts ordered to Mouser
- Boards ordered to JLCPCB
- Parts arrived from Mouser
- Boards in their way from JLCPCB
Waiting...
- Boards arrived from JLCPCB
It all seems ok, so I will build the boards and send them as soon as posible
- Parts ordered to Mouser
-
First board assembled and tested!
You can see the new integrated electrolytic capacitor, smd diode and led. I'll try to assemble/pack all boards this weekend, and send them early next week.
-
Looks very nice. Now when somebody will complain that fan X doesn't work with PWM we can point them here.
-
If there are any Boards left, icould use 4 of the.
