Fan Controller ATN-TP-02E User DIY

The back of the controller doesn't contain anything fascinating either but items of interest do include the various connections on the small piece of PCB shown below...

The black connection on the left with the gold colored prongs is for the USB wire, the small white one in the middle is for the power, and the large white one on the right is for the fan connections. So now that you've seen the connections on the PCB let's check out the connectors that go on them, first the power and fan connectors...

So as you can see nothing special with these, a positive and negative wire for the power connector, and a positive and negative wire for each of the three fan connectors. As for the USB connector, I thought it was pretty basic on the end that connects to the controller but on the other end rather than give you a nice simple all-in-one deal, they decided to split all the wires up and label them individually for those who might be using a mother board that doesn't use the standard connections shown below (in blue, duh)...

What this means, in case you don't already know, is that you will have to look in your motherboard's manual and find out which pin is which and match them up with the individual wires and then plug them carefully in one at a time. This can be a major PITA but it isn't so uncommon though and I taught myself a simple little trick to keep you from ever having to do it more than once. Simply do as I said and look up the correct configuration in your manual and then once they are all connected use your thumb and forefinger to pull them off all at once as though you were unplugging a single connector with many wires. It's important to hold it tight and not lose the exact configuration from when all the wires were connected, now grab some scotch tape and get yourself a piece about 1 1/2" long and carefully wrap the wires together so that they hold the correct order. WALLAAH!!(I know that it's spelled differently in French like voila or something, but I'm not French so there)...

Anyways yeah, so now you don't have to look that crap up again if you ever have to disconnect everything from your motherboard only to hook it all back up again shortly thereafter, which will happen sooner then you think trust me.

The USB ports did work the way they were supposed to but I won't be keeping them connected for a few reasons. For one thing I don't need to add to the clutter of wires already residing in my case. But really I chose to disconnect them because I can't shut my case's door while anything is connected like I can with the ports located on the upper part of the intake vents on the front of my case. Really most cases now days have USB ports on the front somewhere so I feel that the manufacturers should have used that space for another fan header and knob.

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