Customer Reviews

Antec TriCool fan unit ( TRICOOL 80MM )

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

It's hard not to love this product. We needed a hobby fan that we were going to use to exhaust air out the back of a cabinet that we sometimes heat food up in, to avoid the moisture that fogs your glasses when you are stirring the food. I wasn't sure how I was going to figure out which pins did what, but they are very clearly identifiable based on what they give you and how it is wired.

Out of the fan case itself, pops two cables. One cable has a switch that has H M L on it, for high, medium and low. This is the speed control.

The other cable has a three pin female connector, into which a 3 wire male plug containing three wires arrive already plugged in. A red and black wire for power, and a white wire for control. The red and black wires are already built into a 4 prong Molex connector (two fo the prongs are unconnected) that has both male and female on different sides, so that you can plug the male side of the Molex into a power supply connector, and then plug another device into the female side of the Molex. The white wire is terminated by another three wire connector, with two of the positions left unconnected.

If you have a motherboard that has the three wire connector, that provides both control and power, you can pull the male plug that has the three colored wires out of the end of the cable coupled to the fan (lift the tab on the side and then slide the plug out) and pop the plug at the end of the clear wires onto your motherboard and let the motherboard do the speed control for you. Try this arrangement first: if the fan spins when you turn it on, you're fine.

If you have a motherboard that has a three wire connector, but only the control is functional, leave the wires plugged into the three wire connector, plug the second three wire connector into your motherboard, and then plug the molex into your power supply. So if you unplugged the three colored wires, plug them back in after you make the connections I described above.

If you have no three wire plug for fan speed control at all, leave that wire unplugged, and just plug the molex into your power supply.

Finally, if you don't have a fan speed control plug or it doesn't work, use the speed control switch that comes with the fan to set it on the highest setting that doesn't bug you, preferably high.

Note that the speed control reduces whatever voltage you give the fan and that drops the speed of the fan. But the fan needs 5 volts minimum to spin. If your power supply isn't putting out all 12 volts, the speed control will drop the voltage down too far at the lowest setting, causing the fan to stop spinning. But that probably means the medium setting is about as low speed as you can get with the voltage you have available.

Finally, if you are using it as a hobby fan, not with a computer, like we are, connect any 5V-12V power wart that you have lying around (clip the ends of the power wart off and jam them into the connectors with the red and black power wires (the white is the control), or clip the red and black wires off the molex plug and twist one of the wires from the fan to one of the wires of the power wart, then repeat with the other wire from each device.

The fan will spin backwards if you connect them incorrectly, so reverse the wires or the fan orientation, as needed. If I had to guess, I'd assume the side with the round Antec sticker is the side the air comes out of.

We used 4 - #6 x 1.25" screws in our hobby application, as the fan is slightly under 1" thick, and we were screwing them into 1/4 inch masonite. #8 screws probably would have worked as well. If you are using them for a computer, you'll need 1" screws that fit the holes in your computer's case.

It's a great product and a great value. It would have been nice if the manufacturer told you all this stuff, but now armed with this information, you should find that this fan works in nearly any application, computer or otherwise. We're really happy with it.

Fans are quiet and the speed control is a plus. The price was right especially with free shipping. The fans feature the small 3 prong connector for your motherboard with speed sensing and a large 4 prong molex connector. The large 4 pin Molex adapter can be removed.

Have not had them long, but a good price for the fans, reasonably quiet. I even used one to extend the life of my power supply when the fan quit but the PS seems to not be totally dead.

I have 2 of these fans for my case. Thay keep my case very cool.

One of the fans isn't controlled by the system and is working at a 100% all the time and I don't ever notice it.

If you pay more than this for a fan, you are crazy. Its just a FAN!!!

Claiming that this fan's "3-speed switch lets you balance quiet performance with maximum cooling", is very misleading. On low, the fan barely moves any air. On high, it still doesn't move much air, and is incredibly quiet, nearing silent in my opinion. If you are looking for a high performance fan that can be turned down while not under heavy loads, this is NOT the fan for you. The 3-speed switch is useless, as there is no reason to run it on anything other than high.

The fan is fairly quiet as advertised. The only problem I had was that they (2 fans purchased) would not rotate at the lowest speed setting (3 speed fan).

I purchased this as the second chassis fan for my Antec ISK 300-150. The case comes with one TriCool fan and provides the slot for the second.

When I received the fan, the TriCool switch wire was not long enough to reach the mount/hole on the chassis for it. I pulled off the switch and the molex adapter and just plugged it in to the motherboard fan pins instead.

I'm very happy with it, it's up around 2600 RPM, and it blows just fine, matching the other TriCool fan already in the case and providing great airflow.

I'll probably pick up a couple spares to have just in case any fail.

I've always been happy with the quality/design of Antec products - I've been a customer for probably 20 years of everything from power supplies, to various types of fans they made over the years, and most recently the computer cases.

Bought the Antec TriCool fan to replace a system fan that was past it's prime.

This fan doesn't have any LED lights (was a positive for me, but I understand that not everyone feels this way).

Installed the fan in minutes, it's quiet, and plugged right into the system fan header on my motherboard. It came with a plug that allows it to pull power from one of the 4-conductor drive-plugs, instead of the motherboard, and still plug in the wire that allows your system to monitor fan speed but I pulled this. I haven't had any voltage usage issues in the past, the computer this went into is strictly a web/email computer, though for the gamer types out there, you may appreciate the option to avoid pulling the current for the fan through your motherboard, but still being able to monitor fan speed.

The wire connected to the speed switch is relatively rigid, which should be sufficient to keep the switch from swinging into other components. It would be nice if there were some included option for attaching that to the fan housing so it's not freely swinging (this can easily be done with a twist-tie, etc, it would just be nice if I didn't have to go looking for something).

This is a high quality fan for the price. The three speed settings help to control the amount of airflow needed based on the size of the system. I set it to the medium setting for my standard size tower and it keeps everything very cool inside. It is also very quiet. I noticed a definite difference in noise between this fan and my original equipment fan. My original was worn out after years of use, but regardless I noticed a difference. Very easy installation.

Sorry but this one sounds like a small prop engine plane taking off when you're sitting next to the computer--that's set on high--the ONLY setting that would work and it STILL wasn't up to the correct speed. This oen's going back.