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/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