Tuesday, May 9th 2023
Noctua Presents NA-FH1 Eight-channel PWM Fan Hub
Noctua today presented its new NA-FH1 fan hub. The NA-FH1 is a high-quality, smartly-protected 8 channel PWM fan hub that allows up to eight PWM fans to be run and controlled simultaneously via a single PWM motherboard fan header or stand-alone controllers such as the optional NA-FC1. Supporting both 12 V and 5 V fans with 4-pin PWM and 3-pin connectors, the NA-FH1 is highly flexible and suitable both for PC environments and other 12 V- or 5 V-based applications.
"While there is no shortage of fan hubs on the market, we found most of them lacking both from a functional and from a safety perspective," explains Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "PWM control and RPM readout can be unreliable, and most units lack overcurrent or short-circuit protection, which can be dangerous when powering through S-ATA. This is where the NA-FH1 steps in: a safe, dependable quality device for powering and controlling up to eight fans!"
Many fan hubs that are available on the market use very basic PCB designs without any protection or circuitry for signal quality improvement. While this helps to reduce cost, there are significant drawbacks with regards to function and safety. In particular, PWM based speed control may not work reliably if multiple fans are connected and RPM speed signals may be transmitted in poor quality, especially at low fan speeds, which can cause readout errors. By contrast, the NA-FH1's signal quality improvement circuitries guarantee reliable readout and speed control, even if incoming signals may be of less-than-ideal quality.
In terms of safety, unprotected fan hubs bear risks in cases of overcurrent or short-circuits on the output ports. Especially when powering the devices through S-ATA, this can result in cables and connectors melting and may even cause sparks or flames. To rule out that anything like this can happen, the NA-FH1 features protection circuitries with resettable polyfuses that shut down in case of overcurrent or short-circuits, protecting the connected fans and surrounding components.
The NA-FH1 can be powered either via its S-ATA input (for 12 V fans, up to 54 W) or 4-pin PWM input (for 5 V and 12 V fans, up to 24 W). The two ports can also be used concurrently with the device automatically taking power via S-ATA and exchanging RPM and PWM signals via the 4-pin interface. Status LEDs allow for easy monitoring and thanks to its magnetic fixture, installing the NA-FH1 inside a PC case or on any other steel surface is a breeze. Topped off with CE, UKCA and UL certifications, full compliance with all applicable safety standards as well as Noctua's 6-year manufacturer's warranty, the NA-FH1 is a safe, dependable premium choice for powering and controlling up to eight fans.
Suggested retail price
The manufacturer's suggested retail price is EUR/USD 34.90. For more information, visit the product page.
"While there is no shortage of fan hubs on the market, we found most of them lacking both from a functional and from a safety perspective," explains Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "PWM control and RPM readout can be unreliable, and most units lack overcurrent or short-circuit protection, which can be dangerous when powering through S-ATA. This is where the NA-FH1 steps in: a safe, dependable quality device for powering and controlling up to eight fans!"
In terms of safety, unprotected fan hubs bear risks in cases of overcurrent or short-circuits on the output ports. Especially when powering the devices through S-ATA, this can result in cables and connectors melting and may even cause sparks or flames. To rule out that anything like this can happen, the NA-FH1 features protection circuitries with resettable polyfuses that shut down in case of overcurrent or short-circuits, protecting the connected fans and surrounding components.
The NA-FH1 can be powered either via its S-ATA input (for 12 V fans, up to 54 W) or 4-pin PWM input (for 5 V and 12 V fans, up to 24 W). The two ports can also be used concurrently with the device automatically taking power via S-ATA and exchanging RPM and PWM signals via the 4-pin interface. Status LEDs allow for easy monitoring and thanks to its magnetic fixture, installing the NA-FH1 inside a PC case or on any other steel surface is a breeze. Topped off with CE, UKCA and UL certifications, full compliance with all applicable safety standards as well as Noctua's 6-year manufacturer's warranty, the NA-FH1 is a safe, dependable premium choice for powering and controlling up to eight fans.
Suggested retail price
The manufacturer's suggested retail price is EUR/USD 34.90. For more information, visit the product page.
48 Comments on Noctua Presents NA-FH1 Eight-channel PWM Fan Hub
- Why does a fan hub need power indication LEDs? If the attached fans spin it's working, and most likely the hub is intentionally hidden out of sight by anyone building a PC
- If the status LEDs don't have "reliable read-out", isn't that just a defective product? For €34.90 It's getting sent back for a full refund if it's defective.
- PWM fans all seem to work 100% correctly with reliable speed-control on cheap-ass freebie PWM hubs included in cases.
- Any working PWM hub needs to feed a signal back to the motherboard, and even $2 AliExpress ones manage this.
- 6. & 7. If you choose to pull more than 54W from your PWM hub, or force the plug in backwards, you don't need a polyfuse, you need your PC-building rights revoked.
- The PWM fans don't care about stablised input power. They are pulse-driven anyway, and if your SATA voltage isn't stable, the fans will be the least of the problems in you non-booting PC.
I'm sure it's a high-quality product, but it also seems like a product aimed at the gullible - Yes, I could buy plasma-treated titanium drywall screws for my DIY but cheap-ass steel screws do the same job, outlast the drywall itself, and are plastered-over and forever out of sight and out of mind.Most case fans these days aim for low noise levels anyway, so a group of 3 fans doesn't usually exceed the 1A that even the cheapest, nastiest motherboard header header can handle.
Quick question though, do you truly understand why those features are nice-to-have, or are you just swallowing the marketing material hook, line, and sinker?
Can you actually picture a scenario where those features will apply to you - For example, can you imagine a scenario where a short-circuit on your SATA power line not being wholly more disastrous for the rest of the PC, at which point why would you care if your fans were spinning or not?
If your PSU doesn't have SCP, spend the €34.90 on a PSU before you buy this!! (and yes, I know a €34.90 PSU is garbage, but it will almost certainly have SCP if it was made in this century and is capable of actually powering any modern PC)
And SCP on psu is great and all, but additional resettable fuses along the power train are a good thing, not useless junk.
oh, and If YoU nEeD SCp yOu shoUlD gEt yoUR ComPutER buiLdInG liceNcE RevOkeD.
Plus extra LED, for wot? Even Motherboard does not have it.It is an extension for mother board, that allows to connect 100 Fans (or few super powerfull) to 1 motherboard header.
Don't understand why no one makes this. Every connector flows in the same direction making for a clean look and easy cable management.
This one in particular is set up for 120 mm fans.
www.arctic.de/en/4-Pin-PWM-Fan-Splitter-Cable/ACCBL00007A
But I prefer PCB one myself
rofl'd
they are also mentioning some pretty niche case:So, it seems that they engineered the whole thing to be safe to use even beyond a PC use case.
But its a nice controller I guess.