|
A
Closer Look:::...
Having
used fan controllers before I was impressed at how sturdy
this one felt. The aluminium front is thick and nicely machined
and gives a definite feeling of quality. The mass of cables
sprouting from the rear is a bit disconcerting at first
but it all makes sense when you separate them.
The
look is very impressive with a brushed finish and , in the
case of the black unit, what seems to be a very durable
anodised surface.
The
only controls are two circular pushbuttons, one labeled
"MODE" and the other "SET". Keep the
supplied instructions pamphlet handy though because trying
to access and set the many functions available from just
two buttons takes a little getting used to. Not that the
instructions are particularly clear in some aspects.
 |
|
FP52
Front View
|
To
get an idea of the kind of control the FP52 offers it helps
to look at the LCD screen. Starting from top left there's
the date, including the current year! then to the right
of this is the fan speed indicator Read LO or HI or -- (disconnected)),
then on the right is the indicator to show which of the
three channels is being displayed, either hard drive, CPU
or system.
The
fan icon is animated to indicate that the fan is actually
turning on the chosen channel while to the left of this
is the current set time and to the right the temperature
being read on that channel in either Celsius or Fahrenheit.
Finally,
on the bottom row, starting on the left is the alarm clock
indicator, speaker (audible alarm) indicator and finally
the system power-on and hard drive activity indicator.
 |
|
LCD
Display Components
|
As
you've no doubt guessed, you can set an alarm reminder though
as you might expect it's not very flexible with only one
time able to be set.
++
If
your case ventilation is so poor that the couple of inch-diameter
circular grills on the front of the FP52 help then you've
got problems, but they are a nice styling touch. Wasted
slightly though, they'd look better with an LED light behind
them perhaps, and maybe even a system speaker/piezo buzzer
to connect to your motherboard.
 |
|
Circular
Front Ventilation Grill
|
Having
a time, alarm and date function of course means it needs
a back-up battery to save you having to set everything each
time you switch on, and the FP52 has. It's a familiar CR032
cell so you shouldn't have much difficulty sourcing one
when the time comes.
 |
|
Backup
Battery
|
Lots
of wires, plugs and a couple of circuit boards! There's
even a capacitor thrown in for good measure. You gotta love
it!
 |
|
Top
View
|
 |
|
Rear
View
|
|
