How prototype Arduino-based fan controller and break 3 boards
The summer came and cooling of different systems become bigger issue than during the winter time. How do we cool down equipment normally? Just using fan. And charging stations are not excluded. Simple way is to turn the fan on when temperature reaches some threshold and turn off, when it is below. The approach will work if the system is small and the fan is silent. What if we need to control fan which creates significant noise when running at full speed? Well, try to reduce speed, when temperature only slightly above threshold, and run the full speed when it significantly above. Let's try to implement it using Arduino. Thinking naturally, we should control the voltage applied to the fan. But Arduino can not provide regulated voltage output. So we skip this approach, and start directly with PWM PWM basics Idea of PWM conrol is that load is either fully turned on or fully off. Switching frequency is high enough and end result is indistinguishable from steady partial performance. ...