Questions about MX212

TCC · Post by **TCC** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 5:48 am

Hello all.

I have a MX212 and love all the features this unit has.

I want to start using it to control my fans, so my questions are:

1. An unmodified floppy cable = plain 'ol floppy cable from the PSU?
2. You either power the unit via the floppy cable or the USB cable not both right?
3. Are there any jumpers or soldering involved to make the fans (12v) run when connected?
4. Is there a max. amperage/wattage for each fan header?
5. Once you assign a function to the arrows on the unit, can it be used for another operation (i.e. right now my up/down arrows control the volume and I also want it to control the speed of each fan)?
6. What does PWM stand for and how is it used to control fans?
7. The majority of my fans do not have an RPM sensing wire. Can I still control the speed of the fans with the unit manually or automatically via temp. readings from MBM5?

Thanks

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 10:07 am

Hi Tcc,

Thank you for posting at the forum.

Here are the answers to your questions.

1) The unmodified floppy power cable is the same floppy cable that comes with your pc's power supply.

2) You power the unit up with the usb cable. The unmodified floppy power cable is for powering up the fan headers. You need both sources to control the pwm on the fan headers. The usb signal is for controlling the pwm, and the floppy power cable is just for powering the fan headers. If you have a MX5 or VK204-24-USB, then you need to use both cables just to power the unit.

3) If you want, there is jumper that needs to be set on the first two pins, 12V power. This jumper is set at 12V on default.

4) Each fan header is a maximum of 12V, 1000mA.

5) You can use a key to start multiple operations at once. For example you can have gpo4 and gpo1 start at the same time, when the up arrow is pressed.

6) PWM stands for pulse width modulation. The way it controls the fan speed is switching the signal on and off. The speed varies by varying the length of the on and off time of the signal per cycle. The length of the on time will be the pulse width. If you wanted to have a faster fan speed the signal staying on will be longer compared to the off time. You can do a google search on "pulse width modulation", and there will be tons of resources on it.

7) You can definitely still control your fans without the RPM sensing manually or automatically.

If you have anymore questions or concerns, please feel free to post.

Best Regards,

TCC · Post by **TCC** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 10:45 am

Thanks for the quick replys Tom. But #5 still doesn't answer my question.

Since the up/down arrows are currently controlling the volume of a media source (i.e. winamp), can I also assign those buttons to control each individual fan's speed?

Also, when I do connect the fans to the unit, do I need to use the program bootedit or does LCDC support the fan controlling function?

Post by **Henry** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 10:54 am

TCC wrote:Thanks for the quick replys Tom. But #5 still doesn't answer my question.

Since the up/down arrows are currently controlling the volume of a media source (i.e. winamp), can I also assign those buttons to control each individual fan's speed?

You can assign keys dynamicaly, meaning you can make screen groups and have the key respond based on what screen it is on.

Also, when I do connect the fans to the unit, do I need to use the program bootedit or does LCDC support the fan controlling function?

Bootedit allows you to save power up defaults easily. LCDC does do all the fan controll after it loads.

TCC · Post by **TCC** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 11:13 am

That makes me very happy to "hear" that

Thanks guys.

This is turly a great product.

TCC · Post by **TCC** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 10:11 pm

Oh, can someone email or send me a link for the bootedit program?

Thanks

Post by **Henry** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 8:25 am

TCC wrote:Oh, can someone email or send me a link for the bootedit program?

Thanks

http://www.matrixorbital.ca/software/so ... /bootedit/

Right there...

TCC · Post by **TCC** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 11:22 am

Thanks Henry.

Is the difference between Bootedit and uProject is that one's an editor and the other a tester?

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 12:03 pm

TCC,

Boot edit is only for editting the defaults for the MX series displays. Uproject is a universal tester, and you can also set the defaults on uproject.

If you have anymore questions, please feel free to ask.

Best Regards,