NanoPC T4 - Fan-connector

[Hai.k.o 0]

Hi folks!

Some problems later I just build my ethereum-node using the FriendlyARM NanoPC T4 (Reddit project Ethereum on NanoPC T4).

Using it indoor the temperature climbs to 80° celsius with the passive cpu-heatspreader. So I decided to install a fan and found the specs for the 'Cooling Fan interface'. The connector is named BM03B-GHS-TBT.

 

Where can I buy a fan (40x40mm)? I only find fans with 3-pole-molex-adapter. All I know is the name of the male connector (in german): "JST Buchsengehäuse-Kabel GH Polzahl Gesamt 3 Rastermaß: 1.25 mm GHR-03V-S".

 

Edited December 19, 2018 by Hai.k.o
changed from text to link

[pfry 2]

I'd say it's easy enough to modify a compatible fan... You can purchase the housings and contacts (in the U.S., from Digi-Key, Mouser, Newark, Arrow, etc.), clip your fan leads, graft on the new contacts and insert them into the appropriate slots on the housing. In practical terms, I find the small JST connectors to be extremely difficult to work with: I crimp and solder all contacts (smaller than, oh, 10AWG or so - I'm very paranoid about connection quality), and I'm just not skilled enough to avoid flowing solder into the contact area. I had the same issue with PicoPSUs. But if you're good, or know someone who is, the contacts and housings are dirt cheap.

Me, I just wired a Molex KK (cheap knockoff compatible) receptacle (for standard PC fans) into the 12V power supply for the board. (I also don't trust wall wart-type supplies, so I use a Delta open frame.) Note that my fan will run whenever the 12V supply is energized, and I have neither speed control nor tach out.

To actually address your question, I wasn't able to locate either a fan or a pre-built adapter cable with the JST GH connector (you can find a few advertised, but the ones I found did not actually have a compatible connector - examine closely before buying). Good luck.

[chrisf 25]

If you have a proper crimping tool for the pin, crimping alone is better than soldering or crimping and soldering.

 

The solder wicks up the stranded wire and creates a point where all the flexing will happen, resulting in easily broken connections.

[Hai.k.o 0]

Thank you! I found the parts and I'll report how it worked out.

[suka 0]

I managed to build a matching DIY connector to the fan port, but have not been able to control its speed via a gpio yet so basically it is running at full speed all the time, even when the T4 is powered off but still plugged in.

 

Messing with the GPIO and PWM definitions in the device-tree has not yielded any result yet: does anyone else have this problem or a working setup?

[Hai.k.o 0]

@suka Postet in another subchannel:

 

 

[Hai.k.o 0]

 

On 12/21/2018 at 5:41 PM, suka said:

I managed to build a matching DIY connector to the fan port, but have not been able to control its speed via a gpio yet so basically it is running at full speed all the time, even when the T4 is powered off but still plugged in.

 

Messing with the GPIO and PWM definitions in the device-tree has not yielded any result yet: does anyone else have this problem or a working setup?

 

Meanwhile I gave up building a connector. How did you succeed building a connector? Do you have a crimp-tool? The parts are so small (and my fingers so clumsy).

 

Just sent a mail to friendlyarm. Maybe a preconfigured fan or adapter exists. Otherwise I will apply a separate power supply only for the fan. Ugly and sad solution.

[suka 0]

Initially I used a piece of a pcb from old soundcard which happened to have the same contact pitch, filed it down to fit into the socket and attached my wires.

In the meantime I ordered a pre-configured cable with the necessary plug after a recommendation by @weigon https://www.ebay.de/itm/183626035646 which is a much better fit.

Too bad it seems my PWM control is not working at all, I'm beginning to think it is an electrical problem with the control circuit...

 

EDIT: looks like my Q41 Mosfet next to the connector is fried: On Q1 I do see appropriate changes of voltage according to the pwm settings, but Q41 is shortened...

[Hai.k.o 0]

Today I received an answer from techsupport@friendlyarm.com:

 

Quote

Hi, 

We don't have fan products for sale, but we are planning to design a fan-cooling kit for the t4.

 

[fredericsn 0]

 

I bought a small 40mm 12V noctua fan for my T4 and the connector which fits the board.

But it came without pins.

 

So, I took a more drastic approach and soldered the fan directly to the power supply (see picture) and installed the fan with some tie wraps.
=> downside: always on. (very small noise)

 

Temperatures:

- WITHOUT FAN:

# IDLE: +- 50 °C
# 100% usage (dd | gzip): +-80 °C

- WITH FAN:

# IDLE: 28°C
# 100% usage (dd | gzip): +-50°C

 

[Hai.k.o 0]

This is my setup.

 

big.LITTLE	load	%cpu	%sys	%usr	%nice	%io	%irq	Temp
600/1512MHz	1.40	17%	5%	7%	0%	4%	0%	31.1°C
1992/1512MHz	1.37	18%	4%	8%	0%	5%	0%	31.7°C
1992/1512MHz	1.39	21%	5%	10%	0%	5%	0%	31.7°C

 

Attached the fan direct to a power supply.

[crsp 0]

I (think) I just ran cpuburn-a53 to test fan and nothing happened - unlike when testing running FriendlyDesktop where the fan started up straight away. Is there a setting somewhere or code needed to activate fan? Thanks.

 

EDIT - To run cpuburn I did:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ssvb/cpuburn-arm/master/cpuburn-a53.S
gcc -o cpuburn-a53 cpuburn-a53.S
./cpuburn-a53

[crsp 0]

After finding armbianmonitor I did some more testing and still can't get the fan on. Does armbian throttle cpu according to its temp and that keeps cpu temp below level where fan is activated or? If the fan should work then is there a sure way to check it? Do I need to change cpu freq settings for fan to activate?

Fan details https://www.friendlyarm.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=263

[crsp 0]

I've got the cpu set at 600/1800/ondemand and am going over 70c benchmarking with 7-zip (armbian -z) and still no fan... Have tried changing the fdtfile to rev06 but still nothing. Something must be wrong/not activated...

[Igor 2458]

20 hours ago, crsp said:

running FriendlyDesktop where the fan started up straight away

There could be a user land daemon for controlling the fan. I haven't checked fan operations since I don't have any ...  so it is possible Armbian does not support this feature yet.

[crsp 0]

OK, thanks... Back to FriendlyDesktop

 

[crsp 0]

@Igor Does Armbian throttle the cpu freq when a temp is reached? (Know what temp?) Or is this done on-board and not OS dependent? Thanks.

[Igor 2458]

2 hours ago, crsp said:

Does Armbian throttle the cpu freq when a temp is reached?

Yes. This is kernel feature and is in most cases OS independent. If you want to know what is the temperature range, peek into board DTB sources.

[crsp 0]

Thanks

[crsp 0]

On 7/17/2019 at 2:00 PM, Igor said:

There could be a user land daemon for controlling the fan. I haven't checked fan operations since I don't have any ...  so it is possible Armbian does not support this feature yet.

@Igor Was thinking to create issue on Github - firmware repository or?

[WZ9V 1]

I bought the new heatsink with fan that plugs into the fan connector.  When power up the fan is not running, should it be or is it something the OS needs to setup after boot?

[Igor 2458]

42 minutes ago, crsp said:

Was thinking to create issue on Github - firmware repository or?

Unless you are going to fix the problem / sumit a patch, your job is done. Minor issues can easily need one year to be solved by resources we have.