Introduction



At first I want to thank the Scythe Representatives for providing me their Kaze Master Pro 5.25'' Fan Controller for testing and reviewing.



About the Scythe Company

“Scythe Co., Ltd., (Registered and incorporated in Tokyo Japan) originally started its business operation in Japan's famous "Akihabara Electric Town" located in the metropolitan Tokyo, where visitors can find a variety of products from the latest computer parts to the world's most advanced high-tech electric devices.

Scythe Co., Ltd., began its operation and business since November, 2002 as a distributor and the manufacturer of passive and low-noise PC parts. Since then, the company has established the R&D facility in Taiwan & China for production and quality control, and the USA office (in Los Angeles, California) & European office (in Hamburg, Germany) for customer care and sales support."

Scythe Kaze Master Pro KM03-BK Fan Controller: Features, Specifications

6 Channel Fan controller

5.25” Bay Mountable

Wide Range Voltage Adjustment VFD Panel

Error Detecting Alarm Feature

Model Name: Kaze Master Pro (5.25”)

Model Number: KM03-BK

Overall Dimensions (W x H x D): 5.85 x 1.65 x 3.26 (in), 148 x 42 x 83 (mm)

Weight: 1 lb / 325g

Display Dimensions: 3.93 x 0.74in / 100 x 19mm

DC input: 5V and 12V

DC Output: 3.7V (±10%) ~ 12V (±10%)

Output Ampere (Max. 1A per Channel): 1 Channel : MAX 1A

Temperature Range: 32 ~ 199.9F / 0 ~ 100°C

Fan speed Range: 0 ~ 9990 rpm

Beep Speaker: 3

Jumper On/Off Switch for Beep Speaker: 1

Power Connector: 5

Connector for Fan Cable: 6

Connector for Temperature Sensor Cable: 6

Jumper Switch for Celsius / Fahrenheit Display: 2

Packaging

The Kaze Master Pro new fan controller from Scythe comes in a medium sized cardboard box with a fancy design; on the top part of the box we can see a frontal photo of the product itself, its code name, the full name and some features on the bottom:



On one of the package laterals, we can see the contents listed that we must find inside:



The full list of specifications can be found on the opposite side of the package:



On the back, we can see a drawing of the electrical board inside and the components explained, some words about the warranty outside Japan and also some warnings:



The fan controller and its accessories are further protected inside the external cardboard box with an enclosure, made from foam:



Inside the box

The foam box is divided into two compartments: one with the accessories and one with the fan controller and the manual:



Here is what we find inside the box:

6 fan power cables

6 thermal sensor cables

one power cable connector to power up the controller

4 little screws to install the controller into the case

stickers to aid installing the thermal sensors on almost any surface

the fan controller

user guide



The fan controller does have a protective plastic on top of the frontal screen, to avoid damages during transport and a lot of black knobs:



The knobs that are on the bottom of the screen are used to control each channel and the lateral ones are used to switch what we do see on the display; with the left 1-2-3 knob, we can see on display information regarding the fan RPMs and temperatures for the first, second and third channel:



On the right part we have the 4-5-6 knob, to be able to see the information on the display for these 3 channels:

A closer look

On the right part of the controller, we can find the holes where the fixing screws will fit:



On the back of the case, we can see some ventilation holes, the buzzer mute jumper, the Celsius/Fahrenheit jumper switch, headers for all 6 temperature and fan channels, but also the power connector header:



If we remove the top cover of the controller, we can see on the inside that each power MOS has a separate aluminium heatsink, to avoid overheating and all the capacitors are placed in-line, for each channel; we do also see some cables that connect the first PCB with the second PCB:



The PCB in which the screen is also soldered has on it a little black buzzer and the blue components in the two corners are the switches that make us able to see information on the screen from the channels we want:



Here is also a view between the screen and the PCB:



The fan power cables have on one end the connector that will have to be installed in the controller, with 3 wires:



On the other end, each fan header is labelled, so we won't make mistakes and switch one channel with another:



The fan headers will fit both 3-pin and 4-pin (PWM) fans:



Here is how the back of the fan controller does look with all the fan power cables connected:



To be able to send power to the fan controller, we can use the power cable that comes with the device, which has on one end a MOLEX header, to plug directly into one of the PSU Molex connectors:



On the other end we can find the power connector that will connect to the fan controller; this is practically a floppy power connector and we can use directly the one from the PSU if it has one, without using the adapter at all:



All the temperature probes have their connectors labelled:



On the other end of the cables, we can find the probes wrapped in transparent protective tubes, to avoid damages before use and a second label:



Here is how the probe does look like with the protection removed:



The controller does come also with a user manual, which explains us the installation procedure:

Operating the fan controller

When we power on the fan controller, we can see on the corners the channel we have chosen to be displayed and the respective information regarding the fans status and the temperatures for those channels:



The fan controller can adjust the voltage between 3.7V and 12V. When the start-up voltage is not sufficient and the fan cannot start, the alarm will sound; besides the sound, we will also have the warning displayed in the center of the screen and the channel number where the warning occurred. By turning up the fan speed adjustment knob, the fan will start and the alarm will go off:



With this fan controller, we can also turn off completely the fans we do not need; the screen will confirm the fan is not receiving any power by displaying OFF:

Conclusive Thoughts

This revised fan controller version from Scythe has 2 more channels added; Scythe opted to display only two channel information at once on the VFD, with bigger digits than the older versions. Also, switching from one channel to another is really easy, by using the lateral knobs.

The fan controller has also an alarm feature, which helps us a lot to see if something goes wrong. The alarm is not only heard, but it is also displayed in the center of the screen.

The case of the controller has also been revised, now being completely covered to avoid dust accumulation and has ventilation holes in the back; because of this, it also does look very professional.

The only extra feature I would like to see implemented in the next revision is the possibility to see the voltage for each channel displayed on the VFD screen.

At ~$45 it’s not the most affordable fan controller out there, but with 6 channels, fancy VFD display and alarm feature it does make give you value for your money.



I would like to thank Scythe for making this review possible.