ESPHome Temperature Controlled Fan v2 - The Deluxe Edition!

[@justinmorrow2932]

Nice upgrade

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Check back on my channel at 9am GMT today and there should be an upgraded v3 video to watch :)

[@kyokorn]

Brilliant ! Very nice project, i did the same for my rack where i have installed my home network with unifi devices, is a very good solution to have in a good condition (fresh) the devices, thank you so much !

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Thank you! Yeah fan controllers are so important to keep your electronic equipment alive for as long as possible!

[@paulhyland3528]

Just built somthing similar with a h Bridge but struggling with code as can't get the speed slider to appear in ha just on and off, be great to see a project like this

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

I've built a prototype speed-controlled fan using ESPHome for an upcoming video. In ESPHome you use a fan entity which gives you on/off and a speed slider. I'm just using PWM for speed control, nothing too fancy.

[@IPhoenix]

The fans I need to use are 12v rather than 5v USB fans. Any idea how I can modify your project to make it work for 12v 3 pin fans?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Hi, there are a few ways. You could just run the fan at 5v and it would run slower than intended; you could use a 12v power supply to power everything, but put in a 12v-5v voltage step-down to run the D1 mini; or you could run everything from 5v but put a 5v-12v step-up to run just the fan's positive connection; or use a dual-voltage transformer like the ones used to power old PC hard drives (amzn.to/3Vjv52r) which you can split off to run the D1 on 5v and the fan on 12v. In all scenarios, you just send the 12v positive to the fan's positive terminal instead of connecting the fan directly to the D1's 5v output, and all of the grounds are common.

[@konradlindblad7860]

Is it possible to make the fan speed dependent on temperature? So that it starts at a certain temperature then increases the fan speed up to a given max temp?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Yes, but not with this design - this design is purely an on/off control of power to the USB port, which just so happens to have a fan plugged in. To control the fan speed, the best approach would be to use a variable speed case fan and control it using PWM. The fan itself would probably be 12v and therefore you'd need either two power supplies (12v and 5v), a combined power supply, or a voltage step down/up module in there. A pin on the ESP module could be configured to use PWM and subsequently control the speed of the fan. I'll put it on my to-do list for a future video! I don't have a need for it myself, but it could be an interesting little project.

[@3ATIVE]

I recently made a controller that'll do that.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

@@3ATIVE So have I and that video will be published in a couple of weeks time :)

[@LEET4TW]

Can i use more Fans?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Theoretically yes, but be careful. The more fans you attach, the greater the power demand and the more likely it is for the wires to fail. I would suggest you instead have a separate adapter that sends the 5v to both the microcontroller and the fans rather than using the 5v pin on the microcontroller. The microcontroller can still control the fan's neutral using the transistor like in my design.