SasaKaranovic

Hey Patrick, sorry about later reply. I believe we already resolved your issue over email. :) If you (or anyone else) are having any issues, it is usually much faster to email me directly.

I can't remember how many times I've been in a position where someone on the internet who is more experienced than I am, helps me by answering my question with "It's actually pretty simple to do". Depending on the day, sometimes it would motivate me to learn how to do it or reassure me that what I'm trying to do is possible and I'm not reinventing the wheel. But if I am just looking to get the damn thing to work so I can do other stuff and not become a "developer" or subject matter expert... then it sucks. I don't want to leave you in that space... So I found some time and have hacked up the firmware in probably the ugliest way possible to add support for USB API that is also compatible with the Unraid app. It's not pretty, but I have tested it and it works with the existing docker image without any modifications. There is a new firmware loading page that you can access here and load the new firmware onto your OpenFAN Micro device. Then you will have to connect it to your WiFi network (it won't work without this step!) and configure the fan (5V/12V) over the web UI. After this you can start your docker container and point it to the OpenFAN Micro serial port and it should work. Please note since the Unraid app is designed for OpenFAN Controller and we are hacking it to work with the OpenFAN Micro, you won't be able to switch fan voltage (5V/12V) through the Unraid app. It will report the RPM only for the Fan #1, the remaining will always be zero... because OpenFAN Micro supports only one fan. And you will have to control the fan by setting the PWM value. Setting the RPM will not work because the OpenFAN Micro does not have PID driver implemented (yet?). Again, please keep in mind that this is a firmware hack... I have tested it for less than a day but it should work regardless. If it does not, please make a GitHub issue for it. Also if you want to take a look at the firmware modification, it's available in the separate branch. Please note that this is an "unofficial" firmware hack and that you should ideally use the OpenFAN Controller hardware with this docker application, since that is the combination that this docker application was designed for and tested with. I can't promise if/when, but I'm hoping that maybe in the future this docker application will be modified to support every flavor of the OpenFAN hardware. I have this on my to-do list but it will take a significant amount of time to complete.

I'm sorry OpenFAN Micro does not work out of the box for your use-case. The Unraid application right now only supports OpenFAN Controller. In the future I might add support for it in the original Unraid app or at least add some examples scripts to the documentation to show how it can be integrated. It's actually pretty simple to do but as you said, if you don't know how or don't want to spend time doing it, then it's obviously less than ideal. It is possible to control the fan over USB but it would require a small firmware change. I have this on my to-do list. Also you would need something (ie. script, app) on the PC side to tell the fan controller what to do. With that said if it does not work for your use-case, I don't want you to feel like you wasted your time and/or money (and for the controller to become a paper weight)... So please feel free to email me and we can arrange to have you send it back for a refund.

Hey @raptorjr Currently the OpenFAN Micro is not supported by the Unraid app, only the OpenFAN Controller. OpenFAN Micro is designed to be used as a stand-alone device with it's own API and Web UI. It could be integrated with the existing Unraid app but that would require significant amount of work. And honestly it might be just easier to use a simple script that reads temperature sensor and then makes an API call to update the fan speed.

Hey @JayBee_Unraid the logs has [Errno 111] Connection refused This means that 192.168.0.5 is refusing connection on port 3000 Most likely you don't have the OpenFAN Controller container running on that IP or it's not running on port 3000. Maybe double check that you have the correct IP and the port specified. Also make sure that the containers can talk to each other (reachable over network). p.s. You need to have both, the OpenFAN Controller docker and the OpenFAN Unraid Service docker running and properly configured.

Hey @RandoUser The OpenFan Controller has a resetable fuse for each fan that trips around 1.1A (per fan). This is obviously for safety reasons. So your fan will not be able to draw the 2.7A without tripping the fuse. If you like to live dangerously, you can short/replace the fuse, but please make sure you know what you are doing and not doing it just for fun. I strongly advise against this, instead I would recommend getting a more common (less insane?) PC fan that is less likely to melt your power cables and/or damage your PC! :)

Thank you for helping out with the typo everyone. The documentation and GitHub repo have been updated. @PeterDB @K1ng0011 Fans maximum RPM is mostly arbitrary and from my research most consumer PC fans are around 2-3K RPM. The fans don't report their RPM. However you could run the fan at 100% PWM and then record the maximum RPM. Obviously there are issues with this approach. Mainly you would have to spin-up the fans to the maximum, for at least a couple of seconds, every time the app/controller starts... this would be very annoying (to me). I think it's much easier to edit a text file and change "2000" to "4000" and you are good to go. That's one of the beauties of open-source. :)

Hey @PeterDB There are a couple of things that don't make a lot of sense in those images/steps, so let's start from scratch and maybe let's clarify how this should work if you are using OpenFAN Controller on Unraid. There are essentially two parts that you need to setup. OpenFAN Controller - This is a "gateway" for any application on the system/network to talk with the OpenFAN Controller using WebAPI. OpenFAN Unraid Service - This service will read disk temperatures and based on your fan profile definition, make an API call to update fan speeds. First part is; you setup the OpenFAN Controller WebAPI docker image. That's it. (Don't create custom profiles or anything else because you will use OpenFAN Unraid Service to do everything else for you.) Second part is; you setup OpenFAN Unraid Service docker image. Create your fan profiles and assign them to fans and run the service. Now the OpenFAN Unraid Service will manage your fans and their speed based on your fan profiles definition and disk temperatures. There is no need (and will not have any effect) to manually make API calls to set fan speed because they will almost immediately get overwritten by a regular API call that OpenFAN Unraid Service makes. Also note that OpenFAN Controller and OpenFAN Unraid Service are aware that machines prefer indexes that start at 0 and that humans usually prefer indexes that start at 1. So under the hood, they both massage the messaging to keep both happy. :) I'm pretty sure this is not the case, but just saying it for future reference; You can NOT control 3-pin or 2-pin fans with OpenFAN Controller. In order to measure RPM and control the fan speed, you will need 4-pin (PWM) fans. Also I noticed you are looking at the logs of OpenFAN Controller, but I think you should be more interested in the logs from OpenFAN Unraid Service. p.s. If you are posting logs or config files, it's a lot better (or at least I think it is) if you attach the text output rather than screenshots. Text will scale nicely on all devices, it's easier to read, you can search it, copy&paste etc.

New version should be live now. Main improvement should be that now you are able to specify multiple disks temperatures to be used for determining fan curve profile. This should hopefully make a life a bit easier for people who have single fan cooling multiple disks. :) I have also started a change log file to keep track of changes. ## 2025-05-31 - Adding support for multiple temperature sensors. Temperature source TempSource can now be a list of sensors. - Adding option to specify how TempSource list should be evaluated. Default is max which finds temperature sensor with the highest temperature and uses it's value for for applying the fan curve. It is possible to explicitly request min as the eval function. Although using min is probably a really bad idea, but it's there if you need it. - If not specified, default fan curve will be linear - If no temperature source TempSource) is specified in fan profile, and error will be raised instead of current silent behaviour. - If temperature sensor does not exist, temperature of -1 will be returned (previously it would return 0). Now it is easy to differentiate between missing sensor/disk -1) and a spun-down disk 0). If you use LN2 for cooling and this causes issues for you, let me know.

Sorry I missed your previous message. There is a new version of the docker image, please check it out and see if it resolves the issue or feel free to email me if you need any help or have suggestions. :)

Hey @anon0276 Please make sure your docker containers can talk to each other and that you have the correct IP address for OpenFAN Controller Web API. From the error log it shows that you have specified that OpenFAN Controller server is at `192.168.xx.xx` which is incorrect no possible. You need to replace this with the actual IP of the server (where docker container is running).

Hey @RandoUser The OpenFAN Controller is available and shipping world-wide. There is only a temporary pause for US due to tariffs. Reason is that for a couple of weeks now couriers are literally either rejecting or putting on hold any new parcels going to the US. Since Monday I've been informed that parcels can be shipped to US but we need to pre-pay 165% import duty. To me this seems absolutely ridiculous especially because I also believe that tariffs won't last forever... However if you really need one ASAP and don't mind paying the import duty, please reach out to me and we can arrange shipping. Again, I would advise maybe waiting a week or two and hopefully thing will improve by then... Unfortunately this is out of my hands and also there is no guarantee that by the time package reaches US customs there won't be new rules affecting it.

Thank you @chomeop! I am still working on the improved version of the docker app. But you are right, I should submit the control app to the app store and make installation and update a bit easier. Until then, there is documentation explaining on how to get it up and running manually and how to define curves. Personally I did this once and forgot about it, so while it's not an "easy" way to do it, I doubt people will have to adjust their fan curves often. p.s. Keep in mind that there are two docker applications, one is OpenFan Controller and the second one is Unraid service. The first talks to the controller and provides an API/GUI and the latter allows you to define fan curves based on the HDD temperatures. Once you give it a try, let me know if you have any suggestions!

Hey @Enfoxed! Sorry about the delay. In the future, if you need support, please email shop [at] sasakaranovic [dot] com directly. There can be a lot of reasons why the app is intermittently not working as expected and it's very hard to debug it remotely. I suggest opening a support ticket by emailing the above mentioned address. Also make sure you are running the latest version of the docker application and that you have a good quality (and as short-as-possible) USB cable. The Docker application is just one of the ways you can use this controller (with Unraid). The official documentation should help you jump off if you want to build your own solution. I am not sure what is going on in your setup but this should _not_ be the possible, by design... If your docker application stops/is-not running, the fans will remain in the last state they were until told otherwise. They will not spin up to 100% on their own. Is it possible that you have some other application that is "fighting" to control this COM port? I have to admit that even though I try my best, this is probably still a very "hacky" open-source open-hardware DIY project. But I still think people should be happy with their purchase, especially if they are supporting my project! With that said, if you are not happy with the controller (for whatever reason) or you have a better solution that you would like to use, please email me and we can arrange to have you ship the unit back and I will issue a refund for your order, no questions asked.

Hey @Gingersnap155 There is a docs page for UnraidService (which is a different service/app from the one this thread is for). It is probably easier if you use .yaml for your fan profile definition since it's easier to use and less strict compared to .json Keep in mind that the application expects you to provide two files, one is Unraid's `sensors.ini` file and the other one is your fan `profiles.yaml` where you have defined your fan curves and assigned them to each sensor/fan. p.s. I am also working on a more user-friendly version of the application that will have a GUI and also allow for different drivers (ie. interact with OpenFAN via serial port, Web API, multiple devices etc) and different sensors (ie. load data from a text file, API, shell/python command etc). But obviously this will take a while so I can't promise when it will be available...

Thanks @PeterDB! I can't make any promises but I will try to add GUI to the Unraid Service app and also create a community application so it's easier to install. Right now it's more of a "set it and forget it" kind of Unraid app, at least for my use case. To be honest I am also hoping that Unraid adds an API that we could use instead of sensors.ini file and/or include CPU/GPU temperatures as well so we can use those to create fan curves as well.

If you can power cycle everything and double check that all the cable are plugged in correctly, that would be great. Please let me know how it goes.

@Enfoxed You can try power-cycling the OpenFAN Controller and/or restarting the Unraid. For some reason your system is not registering the board. Maybe the one of the cables got disconnected?

@Enfoxed That's odd. Can you log into your Unraid system and check if you have `/dev/ttyACM0`? I can see `/dev/ttyACM0` is specified as the COM port `Dec 18 2024 16:53:29.840 pid:7 webserver.py 295 INFO Using COM port `/dev/ttyACM0` (specified in `OPENFANCOMPORT` env variable).` But immediately underneath it's selecting `/dev/ttyS0` which is obviously wrong `Dec 18 2024 16:53:29.843 pid:7 serial_driver.py 89 DEBUG /dev/ttyS0`

Hey @Bigsteve76 In addition to USB cable, the board also requires SATA power in order to work. The board should arrive pre-programmed, so when you power everything up, the white ACT led should start to blink. Can you please email [email protected] to open a support ticket and we should be able to resolve this.

Thank you @crookers! I am using Node 804 case for one of my Unraid builds too. You should be able to use (power) 3-pin fans with OpenFAN but obviously you will _not_ be able to control the fan speed of 3-pin fans, only the 4-pin fans. My personal preference was to "future proof" my build by using all 4-pin (PWM) fans. Let me know if this helps or if you have any additional questions.

I don't have your full setup details, but from what I have, to me the PSU seems to be very close if not the weakest link in your setup. Regardless, if you say it is stable, I'll take your word for it. One edge-case might be that because you technically move those fans to SATA power (instead of MBO connector) and you have quite a few SATA powered devices already, when all of them go online and start drawing power, you maybe go over your power supplies power limit for that channel/cable. I guess you can check this by moving the OpenFAN to another SATA cable if you have one free or the one which is not fully used. But again, I would say it's extremely unlikely that OpenFAN + 3 fans are causing this. Your system would really need to be on the edge for this to push it over. I understand where you are coming from. But it also seems wild to me that your first instinct is to come here to the docker app support thread and say "I'm removing it for a few days to test things out" implying that this is the most probable cause... Reason I'm saying this is because years ago, I had an issue where I was asking Unraid for support because my system became unstable without a single hardware component being changed. People said check memory, which I did. And we all thought it was fine because after 3-4 days, there were zero errors on memtest. After weeks of debugging, people suggested try running memtest for very long time. And since the system was unstable anyway, I let it run for 10+ days and only then saw hundreds of errors. Turned out one of my memory sticks was faulty. I replaced the ram and everything was running great again. Another time I had Unraid freezing and restarting randomly, again nothing changed on the system. After couple of months of many random restarts and freezes, absolutely nothing in the logs. Someone suggested to try removing Unifi docker container. After that it was running smoothly. So with that said, I hope you understand why I'm puzzled by your initial comment. Anyway, I'm available if you need any help to troubleshoot this issue or if you need any additional support.

I would suggest double checking if your power supply can keep you system stable under full load. Unrelated to OpenFAN but with the above mentioned config (which does not mention GPU), 650W power supply does not really leave a lot of buffer in my opinion. What other changes have you made to your system in the past two-three weeks? After reading the spec, I'm surprised your system is stable under full load... Maybe a dumb question, but if you are running only 3 extra fans, why do you need OpenFAN? Seems a bit wasteful. Especially since your motherboard can drive 6 fans on its own. What I meant to say is that other than myself, there is also a number of other people who have purchased OpenFAN and have been using it for months without any issues. Obviously not all of them are using Unraid but definitely there are people who have reported using it with Unraid without any issues.

Hey @lord xeon I have been using these in my Unraid machines (one main NAS and one for testing) for way over a year now without any issues. The main machine has 9 FANs and the test one has just four. But so far I have had zero issues with it. I have another in my desktop PC which has 8 fans and also has been running for over a year without any issues. So far I have not heard from anyone having stability issues. The OpenFAN just drives extra fans, assuming your system (mainly power-supply) can handle those extra fans in the first place. Obviously/unfortunately random restarts can be caused by many different things. And as someone who has been using it for very long time and also as the "creator" of the OpenFAN I would have to disagree with very broad statement/approach like "if I remove it for a few days, that's the root cause". Can you provide some additional information about your hardware/system? How many and what kind of fans are you driving and what kind of power supply do you have? How many drives do you have in your Unraid? If you are connecting fans on the same SATA connector as the hard-drives, make sure you are not overloading your power supply on that "channel/cable". Or even better, separate them if you have extra connectors on your power supply. Also make sure you have a proper enclosure for the fan controller and double check that there is nothing "loose" in your setup (ie. cables connectors). Keep in mind that while one average fan, drawing ~0.2 Amps on it's own is probably nothing for your power supply. However if you add 5, 6...10 of those, plus whatever existing hard-drives, fans, peripherals etc you might have. You have to make sure your power supply can handle that. If you need any additional information or help from my end, please feel free to send me an email.

Update 2024-05-28: Thanks to good folks at support, I have been informed on how to access disk temperatures that are shown in the UI and have built a tiny project/docker-container around that. It will periodically poll disk temperature information and based on that set the fan RPM/PWM. What RPM/PWM value it will set and which disk temperature it will use is configured through a .json file. More information and link to the project source code is here