All, I recently bought a Dell Powerconnect 6224 switch that came with 3 (very loud) 40mm fans, these ones... I thought I'd try and make it a bit quieter by buying three of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009LEJ6RY (Noctua 40mm fans). Before buying them I did a few google searches and it seems that dell cable their fans in a different 3 pin layout. Thus, I rewired my noctua fans to look like this.. which is as close as I can get (due to Noctua using yellow not blue.. I think). However, when I swapped on of the fans over and put it in place, turning the switch on now results in a red LED warning light on "FAN". I basically tried to do what was covered in but it doesn't seem to have worked Any ideas what could be the issue? If I can't get these to work I guess I'll try something like http://www.ebay.com/itm/271856143291 but that seems like a meh idea.
so which order do you think it should be in? If we go with current is "red - yellow - black" (which has been swapped from the original order - which also didn't work(black-red-yellow))
Black, Yellow, Red. Assuming that Dell follow the correct pinout order and that Black is Ground and Red is Sense.
As all 3 pin fans connect to the same plug (mobo header etc), the pinout is best got from that end, then wiring colours don't confuse matters. On most 3 pin fan connectors I've dealt with, yellow has been the signal wire, and red the 12V power. This should help. *EDIT* WTF, Dell decided to use a standard 3 pin but not follow standard wiring practice! *EDIT 2 * Took me a while to fully understand what was going on, How you've got your fans rewired looks correct to me.
BigElf - tried Black Yellow Red - didn't help Cerberus90 - if the way i've done it is right.. any idea why it would be giving a fan error?
I have many, many Delta fans (favoured by Dell) and they invariably use blue for sens (RPM) and red for v+. On the occasion that their fans have a PWM function, the control wire is yellow. For some very strange reason the Delta fan you have pictured has the wires on the plug as "wrong" as they possibly could be (not one is in the conventional place, and yet it works). *runs to cupboard to fetch a Delta with standard wiring* My suspicion is that there might be a contact issue with the latching plug on the Noctua since you swapped the pins around, and this may be causing the fan error. Make sure the contact is good, and try again. You could also try disconnecting the yellow pin and try it with supply/ground only. One more silly question: have you confirmed that the Noctua fans are indeed working?
Hey lenny, thanks for going and digging out some fans for me! The noctua fans spun up in the original wiring that they came with (but with fan error), they spun up with my attempted initial rewire (fan error) , they have not spun up with the second rewire (as suggested by elf)
I've put all three back to red-yellow-black and tested one at a time (two other fans being the ones that came with the switch) - all three cause the red fan light to come on... so don't think it's a lose connection. As an aside, this is the first time i've tried removing molex so i got a molex toolkit (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004CL88KW) and have been using the 2nd tool from the top to push down on the metal clips that I can see. To get the cables to stay in again, i'm bending the little C shape that's at the end out a bit, then pushing the cable back into the molex connector.. is that how i'm meant to do it?
Yeah I think you can rule out any loose connections - I was under the impression that the fan light was indicative of the fan not powering up at all. My best guess would be that the Noctua's nominal speed of 3500-4500 rpm is what's causing the fan error - ordinarily, the Deltas would be spinning at 9000rpm so the low speed (or lack of a speed signal) triggers the error. For future reference regarding the connectors used in fan plugs, there is a very small barb on the long flat part of the terminal. This barb should be pointing out at an angle, and each barb should sit inside each of the three hollows that you see on the outside of the plug. The purpose of the barb is to prevent the wire coming loose when the fan plug is removed, because often it's easier to pull the wires than it is to pull the plug itself! EDIT: just checked the manual for the 6224, and it looks like the FAN light comes on when "one or more fans have failed." Have you tried connecting all three Noctuas at the same time? I'm thinking that the light might be triggered because the fans are running at different speeds rather than the same speed.
Hi, I rewired a similar switch (Powerconnect 24 port/re-badged Netgear) and get similar fan errors, but the fans spin and the switch has run without error for the last 16 months. Does your switch actually work even if the fan error persists? If so, I think LennyRhys is correct about the RPM being the error rather than the fan not being recognised. Hope you get it fixed/working. Please let us know if you do. All the best. S.
To be honest.. I'm not sure if it's still working... (It's a new ebay purchases yay!) and I have yet to find my serial cable to reflash it back to basics // get an IP etc.. (dear amazon prime, please deliver today!) -- once I've got a serial connection hooked up I'll be able to see if it's booting correctly or just sitting saying WARNING FAN IS BROKEN! kind of thing.... Lenny -- hopefully it's as you say and the fans are spinning too slowly for it to think there are fans.. that will be an issue if it doesn't boot though. Thanks for the details about the barbs - I'll go check all mine today again and make sure they're not lose! I've tried all 3 noctua fans at once (wired as per initial post) and they all spin up but fan error still there - I've tried 1 noctua and 2 original fans too (and swapped the noctua around) and still got fan errors.. so yea I think they switch doesn't like the fans. Marlow - thanks for the input, here's hoping this one works with the light on too.
Finally got myself a serial cable. Happy to report the following - putting here if anyone ever finds this page due to google etc. It seems to boot with red fan light and drop to standard console - no error blocking etc. thanks for all the help everyone! *edit* as a point of interest - the WebGUI now Fan1 with a green tick,but Fan2 and Fan3 with a red cross --- all three are spinning. how very odd. It all works though so whatever.
Great news. It'll be a touch quieter than it was originally I found mine showed a fan error randomly, rarely both at the same time. Still, runs cool and quiet. All the best. S.
