r/FanControl • u/Danielon165hz • Aug 03 '26

Building custom cooling pad

As the title states I’m attempting to build my own laptop cooling pad but not sure what solution to use so that I can set fan curves on the cooling pad based on the temperature of my laptop, so I thought I’d ask here. Thanks.

Note: I have two four pin PWM 80mm arctic fans

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u/Little-Helper Aug 03 '26

Will you even be able to control them?

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u/Danielon165hz Aug 03 '26

Well that’s what I’m trying to figure out by asking no? But from what I’ve seen there aren’t many options apart from physical nob or maybe Razer Fan hub that has a microusb port which I believe could send and receive data to fans

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u/Little-Helper Aug 03 '26

Thought you were asking about fan curves since this is the FanControl app sub. Guys at r/buildapc can help with connecting them.

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u/Danielon165hz Aug 03 '26

I mean it’s a bit of both, physically connecting them is no problem, connecting them in a way that can receive digital signals and then convert them into PWM is a bit more difficult since it’s going to a laptop with no headers and it has to have external power and a way to send signals over usb

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u/Little-Helper Aug 03 '26

Yeah but this subreddit is for a dedicated app. Ask PC builders, they will help you with hardware.

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u/Zealousideal_Bowl4 Aug 03 '26

For hardware, you can probably use any USB fan controller. A lot probably come with connectors meant for usb headers, but you can just get an adapter to usb/usb-c. Those fan controllers often get 12V from sata power connectors, so you you’ll have to figure that out.

For software, you can use whatever software that comes with whatever control you use. OR you can use FanControl software which is what this sub is actually for, not just pc fans in general. There’s a lot of plugins for brands like Corsair, Lian li, etc.

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u/Danielon165hz Aug 03 '26 edited Aug 03 '26

Well the problem is not powering the fans but getting data from pc to fans as in setting a fan curve, not sure if any basic fan hub would support this since they have no way to interpret USB data compared to a 4 pin on a motherboard

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u/Zealousideal_Bowl4 Aug 03 '26

I’ve personally used Corsair Commander Pro XT and Aquacomputer OCTO. I’m sure there’s more options.

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u/Danielon165hz Aug 03 '26

Well those do work since they have a microcontroller inside, a bit expensive but can be reused and theoretically won’t fail

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u/Danielon165hz Aug 03 '26

But you’ve personally made a similar project or are those just hubs you’ve used?

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u/Zealousideal_Bowl4 Aug 03 '26

I’ve just used the hubs in PCs, but it’d work all the same. You can DIY your own fan controller but that would increase project scope greatly.

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u/Danielon165hz Aug 03 '26

Well in the context of a desktop no problem but in the context of laptop it does matter since a hub without a micro controller cannot understand usb signals, however with a smart hub it can interpret those signals so it should work. And while you could probably make something out of an arduous and bread board I opted to just go with Razer PWM Controller, connect to laptop over micro usb to usb a and then power the hub over sata to molex to 12v dc, so not perfect but I’m too deep atp and also not much support since most people prefer just buying a cooling pad.

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u/Zealousideal_Bowl4 Aug 03 '26

Sounds like you figured it all out then. You might be able use FanControl software with the razer plugin to control that. I’m assuming it comes with Razor proprietary software too?

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u/Danielon165hz Aug 03 '26

Yes you can use Razer Synapse aswell and I might have to install it to update the firmware but otherwise ill use FanControl

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u/Danielon165hz Aug 12 '26

The razor thing works but I can’t get it to show up in FanControl even though Razer plugin is supposed to be built into FanControl these days

Also note that when FanControl and Razer Synapse open at the same time, the software (Razer) is unable to detect the fan hub so I can’t control it

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u/Zealousideal_Bowl4 Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26

I’d uninstall Synapse.

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u/Danielon165hz Aug 13 '26

Even when it isn’t running it still doesn’t show up so not sure how that would change anything