Relatively new Supermicro JBOD Power Board - CSE-PTJBOD-CB3

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TomDceus

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Oct 1, 2015
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Hello,

As Rain said he is currious about the fan speed settings or tricks! Me too.

I have a CSE-PTJBOD-DB3 board installed. I want to know your experiences with the fan speed.
My fans are running at 2100 RMP in standard and optimal mode. A little high not? Can it lower?
Fans are from Superred, type CHD 12012CB-AP; 1.6A; 12038. They are included in the case. Didn't find the specifications of it.

The board is not connected via an I²C cable.

What is your RPM? Is it lower, higher and fan type?
Does anyone know how to lower the fan speed with this board?

SuperMicro support said it is not possible...
 

T_Minus

Build. Break. Fix. Repeat
Feb 15, 2015
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Anyone else care to share their exp? Looking at this agian.
 

Kristian

Active Member
Jun 1, 2013
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Got mine today and did some rudimental tests

01 DSC00909.JPG


02 DSC00905.JPG


03 DSC00907.JPG


Power usage with a 150w Pico PSU (unnormal high I would think)
04 strom Pico.jpg


Power usage with a 350w gold bequiet! PSU (switched off, IPMI running)
05 350w gold off.jpg


Power usage with a 350w gold bequiet! PSU (switched on, IPMI running)
06 350w gold on.jpg


Power usage with a 350w gold bequiet! PSU (switched on, IPMI running and a SanAce92 fan runnung at 4200 RPM)
07 350w gold on san ace 92.jpg


Screenshot of the IPMI GUI
08 ipmi.jpg


Fan controll seems useless. No matter what settings I choose the fans are always running full speed.
It could be, that it is because I dont have 10 fans attached to the board and it is "missing" fans thinking something is wrong
 
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PnoT

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Mar 1, 2015
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I'm still trying to find these at a reasonable price. eBay sellers have been keeping them above $100 but at the price point I can throw a SM X8 motherboard + CPU in it for under 50 bucks and get all the bells n whistles.
 

HomeLabber

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Dec 13, 2015
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Thanks for the followup Kristian! Been trying to find a review from someone who actually ordered and installed one of these. I was hoping these could control the fan headers, as the heat load in my chassis is low (5400 rpm drives). I have a (SC837) using the older CB2 card which keeps the fans running at 10k rpm no matter what.

Would you be so kind as to take a screenshot of the fan control portion of the ipmi interface?
Do you have a super micro chassis? The indicator light should be blinking if the board thinks there is a fan failure. Also, what fans are you using? 4-pin or 3-pin?

Thanks!
 

pricklypunter

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Nov 10, 2015
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Just guessing here, but the FET's on that board don't look anywhere near heavy enough to actually run 3 wire fans in PWM mode, which would suggest that only 4 wire fans will be controllable from it. 3 wire fans probably just receive full voltage directly from the power supply. Using 4 wire fans, the drivers are then built in to the fans themselves and only the pwm signalling is sent from the board to control them :)
 
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HomeLabber

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That sounds right, my case actually has 4 wire fans, which is part of why I was asking if they were 3 or 4, as 3-wire fans would give me some hope. The guide on super micro's site does clearly states that the board controls fan speed...

Really hoping this board is going to be able to control my fans... I really would like to avoid replacing/modding the fans in my case, but they are just ridiculously loud at stock speeds. My APC Netshelter CX rack is completely soundproofed (I normally can't hear any of my servers running on it in the same room) but this disk enclosure can be heard in my bedroom up a floor with the rack sealed...
 
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PnoT

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Mar 1, 2015
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I have the same issue with the CB2 in that it keeps the fan spun up really loud when there is basically no heat at all in the chassis (6 SSD drives).

Is there a fan mod that has to happen to make those quiet and if so can someone link it?
 

HomeLabber

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Dec 13, 2015
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I know there are physical controllers you can purchase to manually set them, but I really need them to change speed with the chassis temperature...

I am going to order one of these today and take the plunge, see if I can get it working! If fan control doesn't work, it'll be going back, as its clearly listed as a feature. I can give a second report as soon as it gets here
 
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Kristian

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Jun 1, 2013
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Thanks for the followup Kristian! Been trying to find a review from someone who actually ordered and installed one of these. I was hoping these could control the fan headers, as the heat load in my chassis is low (5400 rpm drives). I have a (SC837) using the older CB2 card which keeps the fans running at 10k rpm no matter what.

Would you be so kind as to take a screenshot of the fan control portion of the ipmi interface?
Do you have a super micro chassis? The indicator light should be blinking if the board thinks there is a fan failure. Also, what fans are you using? 4-pin or 3-pin?

Thanks!
Here are your screenshots.
I was using 4 pin fans.

Fan Mode.jpg

sensors.jpg

I have a SC836 chassis that this this was planed to find a new home.
I haven't installed it yet, because the fans would be to noisy running at 5000 RPM.
So I think I will send it back to the seller and try o get my money back.

I dont know if this board thinks "it needs" a special cable to connect to a backplane or a PSU to "know" everything is alright and lower the fans or if there is something else wrong.

What I know is that the fans are to noisy at 5000 RPM and no matter what settin I choose: Those fans ae always running at 5k RPM.
 
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PigLover

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Jan 26, 2011
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Just a longshot here, but I think you need to connect the "I2C" cable from the backplane to the JBOD controller. This will give the BMC on the JBOD access to the sensors on the backplane - and without the sensors it doesn't have any information about the health of the system so all it can do is ramp up the fans.

The I2C connectors on the JBOD board are the 4 small 4-pin connectors in the upper-left of the first photo you posted.

Some SM backplanes have 4-pin I2C so you need this cable: CBL-0321L.

If your backplane has 3-pin I2C you need this cable: CBL-0295L.

I don't know if this will give you fan control from this board - but I do know that connecting I2C on the old JBOD2 board did give you audible and front-panel lights for Overheat and fan-fail.
 

PnoT

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I don't know if this will give you fan control from this board - but I do know that connecting I2C on the old JBOD2 board did give you audible and front-panel lights for Overheat and fan-fail.
Did the fan control work with the cable then or just the two items you specified?
 

HomeLabber

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Dec 13, 2015
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Hey everyone. I just got the package for mine. Going to try to install it tonight and see if I can get the fans to respond.
 
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Kristian

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Jun 1, 2013
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and I ordered one I2C 4 pin and one I2C 3 pin cable and will continue testing the jbod board connected to a Supermicro SAS2 and a SAS3 Backplane as soon as those cables arrive
 

HomeLabber

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Dec 13, 2015
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and I ordered one I2C 4 pin and one I2C 3 pin cable and will continue testing the jbod board connected to a Supermicro SAS2 and a SAS3 Backplane as soon as those cables arrive
Success!
See below: these fans would only run at 10,000 RPM on the CB2 board or off the backplane. Running at 3100 RPM now and sooooo much quieter :)

I'll get some pictures of how I wired everything up. For those who may find this in a google search, the CB3 board does not fit to the 837 risers, so I used a single mount and then used rubber riser gaskets left over from a workstation case to hold the card off the metal.
I ended up running the lan cord out the front of the case, as it was the only place I could really run it without modding the case. Had a few issues during installation:
1) The I2C connector that came with my JBOD chassis was 4 pin to 3 pin. The 4th pin isn't actually used though, so you just need to put the 3 pin connecter on the correct side of the 4 pin connector on the board.
2) Control wiring isn't the same direction as on the CB2. I initially installed the control wiring adapter the same as on the CB2 (with the wires coming away from the board) but this is incorrect. After looking at the diagram I realized it was opposite.
3) IP address. I actually spent the most time dealing with this. IPMI refused to load until I moved my entire 48-port switch over to a VLAN using 192.168.1.X
4) Didn't really have an issue with this, but for others, the board comes with the JP5 jumper configured for a SAS3 backplane (while my SC837E16-RJBOD1 uses SAS2 backplanes)
Success.png
 

PnoT

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Mar 1, 2015
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@HomeLabber are you still planning on putting up some pictures?

I still can't find these "cheap" anywhere does anyone have any leads? I've seen some 3 fan controllers [Lian Li PT-FN03 PCI 3 Fan Rheobus Speed Controller (PT-FN03) - FrozenCPU.com that look interesting but $24 to control 3 fans is a bit much or my expectations of having something that will do the job for almost nothing is delusional.

I have 2 826 that hold arrays for my 2.5 SSDs that I need to quiet down. I could probably run them without fans, truth be told, but I'd rather have the SSDs with some type of air flow.
 

TaCom

New Member
May 12, 2017
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Hello i bought that JB3 Board for my SC847E16-RJBOD1.

But i cant turn on my SC847 with the new JB3. if iam connect my old JB2 all works fine.

i tried the control panel connector in both directions, but normaly the red side identicate the powerside,

Any help or ideas?

Thx Andy

PS Sorry for my bad english
 

pricklypunter

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Nov 10, 2015
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Hi Andy, Welcome to the forums :)

How do you have the jumpers set? Have you tried leaving the front panel connector off and just shorting pins 1&2? Do you have the PMBus connected properly? Some photos and a little more information about exactly how you have this set up, will better help others help you :)