ARGB lights for fans with a 3-pin to 4-pin adapter
ARGB lights for fans with a 3-pin to 4-pin adapter
Hello, I recently purchased an ARGB fan kit from Cooler Master, the sickleflow 120 argb, and it turned out to be a bit of a challenge. While RGB is common knowledge, my CPU air cooler from the same brand also had RGB, and it always functioned well with the motherboard's RGB header. My initial issue was that I couldn't connect all the cables properly because the CPU cooler came with only one male and one female connector, not both needed for the motherboard. I tried using a RGB splitter, but it caused the lights to flicker uncontrollably. After some investigation, I realized my header was 4-pin 12V RGB, while the converter required a 3-pin 5V ARGB. Even though they flickered, the colors changed. Further research led me to a solution: a RGB converter. I found one here: https://global.deepcool.com/products/Acc...1374.shtml. Eventually, after weeks of adjusting cables and managing wires, I restarted the computer. All fans now lit up partially, matching the image exactly—no other colors. The CPU fan, connected to the converter and the same header, was working perfectly. Interestingly, the orange and green fans also flickered slightly, especially the green LED brightening briefly. My motherboard is an ASUS Prime B450M Gaming, so I use Armoury Crate for controlling the CPU cooler and RAM lights, but it didn’t help at all. If the converter isn’t working, why are some fans showing random colors? Why does the CPU one function correctly? Did I damage anything? Am I missing something? My biggest concern is whether I damaged them by using the 12V connector with the splitter. I haven’t used the included RGB controller because I wanted to sync everything with the CPU cooler and didn’t want another messy rewire. If you can assist in finding a way to manage these fans through Armoury Crate, that would be really appreciated. Thanks for going through this!
This setup causes the RGB lights to burn out, though the fans still work. It seems difficult to fix, but I managed it on a budget build. If you're worried about too many cables, consider more expensive options like Lianli Uni fans or Corsair links. I have 13 fans and four cables connected to one controller. Edit: it might be possible, but you'd need to take the fans apart and replace the LEDs—either rewiring the whole RGB section or soldering new ones. Probably not worth it.