FanShim issue

Support
1

Hi,
I installed the Fanshim on a PI4 8gb - I’ve tried both with an ubuntu and a raspbian but it seems that the behavior of the fan is quite erratic: while the LEDs respond to sw library, the fan seems not really affected by whatever I do using the library (i’m using the python examples); only if i tilt or move it a bit it either starts or stops.

For example, at the moment it’s running at full speed, noisily, while from the command line :

pi@raspberrypi:~/fanshim-python/examples $ sudo python3 automatic.py  --verbose
Current: 32.13 Target: 55.00 Freq  1.50 Automatic: True On: True
Current: 31.64 Target: 55.00 Freq  0.60 Automatic: True On: False
Current: 30.18 Target: 55.00 Freq  0.60 Automatic: True On: False
Current: 31.64 Target: 55.00 Freq  0.60 Automatic: True On: False

more explicitly, the fan goes at full speed - noisily - if i do this:

>>> from fanshim import FanShim
>>> fanshim = FanShim()
>>> fanshim.get_fan()
0
>>> fanshim.set_fan(False)
False
>>> fanshim.get_fan()
0

Is there anything I can try to understand if it’s an hardware issue (of the fan or of the raspberry) ?

thank you,

2

It’s likely not making a good contact on all the pins. GPIO 18 is the Fan Control Pin.


If you have a spare female GPIO header you could try plugging that in on top of it. It will hold it down nice and level.
The fan control pin has to be pulled low (grounded) to turn the fan “off”. If it doesn’t get the turn off signal the fan will just run continuously. If you have a male jumper wire you could carefully ground the pad on the fan shim for GPIO 18. If the fan stops you know the hardware is working.
3

Hey, thank you for your reply,
after reading your comment I double checked and actually GPIO 18 was slightly bent and that was the cause of the false contact.
Everything is fine now !!

thanks

4

I like it when its an easy fix. =)