Noctua NA-FC1 PC fan controller

The NA-FC1 is a compact, highly flexible control for 4-pin PWM fans. It can be used independantly for manual speed control as well as in combination with the automatic fan control of desktop boards. Using the central rotary control, users can either manually set a PWM duty cycle of 0 to 100% or reduce the duty cycle transmitted by the mainboard in order to let the fans run slower than the automatic control of the mainboard allows. While the brightness of the orange status LED provides visual feedback on the current controller setting, the “No Stop” mode can be activated by means of the pressure switch so that the fan does not fall below a speed of 300rpm. Thanks to the accompanying adapter cable up to 3 fans can be regulated at the same time and supplied directly via the power supply.

PWM-based control
While most fan controllers rely on voltage-based control, the NA-FC1 uses the more advanced technology of pulse width modulation (PWM). This allows more efficient control and lower minimum speeds independant of the starting voltage of the fan.

Manual control mode
If the NA-FC1 does not receive a PWM signal from the mainboard, it works as a simple manual control, with which a PWM duty cycle can be set from 0 to 100%. This makes it ideal for manually throttling fast PWM fans such as Noctuas IndustrialPPC series, in order to achieve a continuously quiet operation.

Adaptation of the mainboard fan control
Many motherboards offer insufficient options to adjust the automatic fan control, or do not throttle the fans far enough. With the NA-FC1 the PWM control curve of the mainboard can be lowered, in order to achieve an extremely quiet operation even with very fast rotating PWM fans like Noctuas industrial PPC models.

"No Stop" mode
When the small push button is pressed and the green status LED lights up, the NA-FC1 is in "No Stop" mode. In this mode, the fan is always kept above 300rpm, regardless of the controller position and the input signal of the mainboard, in order to avoid BIOS error messages.

Triple distributor cable
The supplied triple distributor cable allows up to three 4-pin PWM fans to be connected and controlled simultaneously. With the help of additional NA-YC1 distribution cable, which are supplied with many Noctua fans and are also available as separate accessories (NA-SYC1), even more fans can be regulated at the same time.

Power adapter
Since the power supply of several high-power fans via a single motherboard connection can damage it, a NA-AC4 power adapter is supplied with the NA-FC1. This allows the fans to be supplied with power directly via the power supply, while the PWM and RPM lines are connected to the mainboard for regulation: Perfect for the simultaneous regulation of several high-speed fans like the 3000rpm models of the industrialPPC series!

This text is machine translated.