Fanpico is a smart PWM (PC) fan controller based around Raspberry Pi Pico (RP2040 MCU). Fanpico operates as standalone controller that can be configured and left running. It does not require any drivers and doesn't care what OS is being used. FanPico is an Open-source hardware (OSHW) project.
Web Interface (available when using Pico W) over WiFi
For more documentation check FanPico Wiki
I would like to thank following sponsors, who have helped FanPico project:
Currently Fanpico is available as a DIY project. Check discussion forums for places to purchase Kits or PCBs: Places to Purchase FanPico
(Instructions for building the kit are in FanPico Wiki)
However, if there is sufficient interest, then ready-made units may be made available for sale. If you'd be interested in purchasing FanPico pease indicate your interest here: FanPico Forum
You can upload the Kerber files (found under boards directory) to your favorite PCB maker website and get your boards produced in matter of days. Component list (BOM or bill of materials) is found under boards directory as well along with the electrical schematics.
NOTE, check discussions forum for giveaways for free PCBs.
If you are member of press (or YouTuber) and would like to review/test Fanpico. Please contact me via email.
Fanpico is Open Source Hardware, reference design is provided for the "0804" model (8 fan outputs and 4 motherboard fan inputs), and "0804D" model that adds OLED display support (hence the "D" suffix).
Additional models with different combinations of fan inputs/outputs could be easily designed (takining into account limitations of Raspberry Pi Pico I/O limits). New and improved PCB models/designs are most welcome.
Model "0840D" with (with right-angle connectors):
Model "0804" without display (with straight connectors):
Fanpico (reference design) utilizes all available I/O pins on a Raspberry Pi Pico.
To help design and test Fanpico couple other projects were born:
Projects based on FanPico firmware:
Currently following models are available:
Model | Fans (Outputs) | MB Fan (Inputs) | External Temperature Sensors | Display | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
FANPICO-0804 | 8 | 4 | 2 | N | First publicly available board (reference design). |
FANPICO-0804D | 8 | 4 | 2 | Y | Support for OLED (128x64 or 128x128) displays |
FANPICO-0401D | 4 | 1 | 2 | Y | Adds QWIIC and 1-Wire connectors. PCB under development |
(all boards have one additional 'on-board' temperature sensor on the RP2040 MCU itself)
Models ending with "D" support a display to see 'real-time' status of fans and temperatures.
OLED panel directly mounted on the PCB:
LCD Panel attached via a short cable:
Following accessories are available:
Model | Info |
---|---|
OLED-Adapter | Mounting adapter for OLED boards with different pinouts. |
Power-Board | Adapter for using high-power fans with FanPico. |
Firmware is developed in C using the Pico SDK. Pre-compiled firmware is released when there is new major features or bug fixes.
Latest pre-compiled firmware image can be found here: Releases
To get latest firmware with latest updates/fixes you must compile the firmware from the sources.
Firmware can be installed via the built-in UF2 bootloader on the Raspberry Pi Pico or using the debug header with Picoprobe, etc...
Each release (zip file) contains multiple different firmware files. Make sure to select firmware for the board you're using and for the pico model ("pico_w" if using Pico W).
Firmware file names have format: fanpico-
fanpico-0401D-pico.uf2
fanpico-0401D-pico_w.uf2
fanpico-0804-pico.uf2
fanpico-0804-pico_w.uf2
fanpico-0804D-pico.uf2
fanpico-0804D-pico_w.uf2
Firmware upgrade steps:
Raspberry Pi Pico C/C++ SDK is required for compiling the firmware:
Pico SDK must be installed working before you can compile fanpico.
Instructions on installing Pico SDK see: Getting started with Raspberry Pi Pico
(Make sure PICO_SDK_PATH environment variable is set)
Create some directory for building fanpico ('src' used in this example):
$ mkdir src
$ cd src
$ git clone https://github.com/tjko/fanpico.git
$ git submodule update --init --recursive
To build fanpico firmware, first create a build directory:
$ cd fanpico
$ mkdir build
Select which board to build firmware for (default is "0804") and which Pico is to be used (default is "pico"):
$ cd build
$ cmake -DFANPICO_BOARD=0804D -DPICO_BOARD=pico_w ..
Then compile fanpico:
$ make -j
After successful compile you should see firmware binary in the build directory: subdirectory:
$ ls *.uf2
fanpico.uf2
If you have picotool installed you can check the firmware image information:
$ picotool info -a fanpico.uf2
File fanpico.uf2:
Program Information
name: fanpico
version: 1.4.0 (Mar 24 2023)
web site: https://github.com/tjko/fanpico/
description: FanPico-0804D - Smart PWM Fan Controller
features: USB stdin / stdout
binary start: 0x10000000
binary end: 0x10093648
Fixed Pin Information
0: TX (Serial) / MISO (SPI)
1: RX (Serial) / CS (SPI)
2: SDA (I2C) / SCK (SPI)
3: SCL (I2C) / MOSI (SPI)
4: Fan1 PWM signal (output)
5: Fan2 PWM signal (output)
6: Fan3 PWM signal (output)
7: Fan4 PWM signal (output)
8: Fan5 PWM signal (output)
9: Fan6 PWM signal (output)
10: Fan7 PWM signal (output)
11: Fan8 PWM signal (output)
12: MB Fan1 tacho signal (output)
13: MB Fan1 PWM signal (input)
14: MB Fan2 tacho signal (output)
15: MB Fan2 PWM signal (input)
16: MB Fan3 tacho signal (output)
17: MB Fan3 PWM signal (input)
18: MB Fan4 tacho signal (output)
19: MB Fan4 PWM signal (input)
20: Multiplexer S2 (output)
21: Multiplexer S1 (output)
22: Multiplexer S0 (output)
26: Multiplexer A [tacho signal] (input)
27: Temperature Sensor1 (input)
28: Temperature Sensor2 (input)
Build Information
sdk version: 1.5.0
pico_board: pico_w
build date: Mar 24 2023
build attributes: Release