Enermax 3.5 Control Panel

Thanks to Jab-Tech we have the Enermax Controller to review here at PCTechTalk . I know there are some people out there still using the floppy drive, I for one am not one of them. So, for the longest time I've had a floppy drive just sitting there taking up space. Until now, I've never bothered to do anything with the floppy drive -- To be honest, I didn't even have it hooked up. We'll chalk that floppy drive up as another one for the trash bin and get started installing the Enermax Controller.


Here are Enermax's specs for the control panel:

DC INPUT

+5,+12V(standard 4 pin connector)

LCD DIMENSION mm

28*11

LED LAMPS

Blue LED 3.0V*2

MATERIAL

ALUMNIUM

3Pin Fan Connector

2

Fan RPM Knobs

2

Other Connectors

None

Accessory

Screw*4,Sticker

DIMENSION(W*H*D)mm

101.5*25*90

The finish on the Enermax Controller that we received was a painted gloss black. Its overall look and finish is top-notch for a controller of it's size and price. Last time I checked Jab-Tech was selling the Enermax Controller for $22.99, you can find it at Jab-Tech's store here. One really nice thing about the Enermax unit is that the leads are long --Yes, you read that right-- You won't be splicing wire leads together to get everything connected. The unit comes with a 4 pin power plug with both male and female ends so you won't have to give up an entire plug for the unit. I would recommend that you do use a separate power lead from your power supply if you are going to run two fans from the unit for speed adjustments. The unit also has two thermal probes which are impressively thin, a definite plus when trying to get temp accurate reading integrity. There are also two three pin power leads, to hook two fans up with rpm sensing and variable speed control via the front panel of the Enermax Controller.


At the time of the review, I had one 60mm fan available with three pin wiring, which also didn't have the rpm wire. I decided to use the thermal probes to measure the water temperature going into my radiator and coming out of the radiator, mainly for simplicity along with being able to check the Enermax's temp reading to my voltmeter thermal readings. All the readings throughout the time of testing were within +/- 1 degree F. I do suggest deciding if you want the temp readings in F or C before installing the unit, as the settings are changed via jumper on the pc board. I left this one at the factory default in F readings. The unit features two knobs for controlling the speed of two separate fans, a decent sized LCD display for the size of the unit, and three control buttons: mode, set and reset for setting the warning alarms for each temp sensor and also for changing between sensor one and sensor two.

My only real complaint about this unit is that while the blue light display is nice in it's own right, it is a little on the bright side making it hard to read. The instruction manual has all the information needed to get this thing installed and setup to your system and preferences. The alarm for each sensor is definitely a plus.

My overall raing puts this as a worthy product. It takes advantage of utilizing your rarely used 3.5" drive bay. Installation is easy, taking approximately 15 minutes to install.  There are nice alarm features for each sensor. There's fan speed control and rpm monitoring. Minor downfalls are where the LCD display is somewhat difficult to read, and settings between F or C temp readings are manual. It is at a low power rating, as this unit isn't intended to run a 120mm fan or an 80mm fan with high amp. rating. This unit is definitely worth checking out. PCTechTalk recommends this product and thanks Jab-Tech for providing the Enermax Control Panel for test and review.


Testing