Both Pironman5 RGB Fans not (1) illuminating or (2) spinning - Strange Finding

[CowboySkippy]

My two Pironman5 RGB Fans are not (1) illuminating brightly or (2) spinning.

Here is the output of “uname -a” from my terminal:
Linux rpi5-1 6.6.62+rpt-rpi-2712 #1 SMP PREEMPT Debian 1:6.6.62-1+rpt1 (2024-11-25) aarch64 GNU/Linux

I have configured the RPI5’s GPIO Fan State to “Always On” via the Pironman 5 Dashboard.
Please see the attached file, Pironman Dashboard Screenshot.png.
As a new user, I cannot upload more than 1 attached. That is disappointing. Anyway, the Dashboard shows GPIO Fan Mode is set to ‘0’ (Always On), and the real time fan display shows a non-zero waveform. Probably 5V or so.

I have one fan connected to the Prionman5 GPIO board.
I have connected the black lead to the (-) terminal.
I have connected the red lead to the (+) terminal.
The multimeter is showing 1.24V, which is too low to operate the RGB lights and spin the fans.
Please see the attached file, Pironman5 - RGB Fans - Multimeter showing 1.24V.jpg.

There is one new finding that I have observed that does not seem to be mentioned in any of the existing posts that are related to GPIO Fans not working.

Because I am a new user, I cannot upload movies to this forum. However, I have a video available. it shows the following:

1. One RGB Fan is connected to the RPi’s GPIO. The video confirms that the RGB operates as expected when it is connected to 5V and Ground. The LED illumination is bright and the fan spins.
2. One RGB Fan is connected to the Pironman5 IO board.
3. I have one black lead connected to the (-) negative terminal (black) on the Prionman5 IO board where the 2nd fan should be connected. I attached a multimeter’s ground to the ground lead on the Pironman5 IO board. There is no lead connected to the (+) positive terminal (red).
4. IF I WIGGLE OR SLIGHTLY MOVE the black lead, I see that the RGB LEDs – more brightly – illuminate in an intermittent and random pattern. It is as if the voltage to the RGB fan is rising from ~1.3V to a voltage ~2.5V. The RGB fan’s do not ever spin. If I try to measure the (+) lead, I cannot see this behavior any longer.
5. Does this suggest a grounding issue? Not sure. The RPi operates flawlessly. The Pironman5 case operates as expected (PCIE drive works, OLED works, USB ports work, etc…).

I would like to resolve my RGB Fan issues. I share this with the community in the hopes that others may affirm similar behavior. To me, it seems the root cause of the problem is related to hardware (and not the OS running on the RPI).

[CowboySkippy]

Here is the image, Pironman Dashboard Screenshot.png.

[CowboySkippy]

I have a finding to share with Sunfounder engineers and its forum users.

I have modified the connections to (1) RGB Fan2, (2) Pironman5 IO board and (3) RPi5. This modification enables the two RGB fans and the fans both (1) illuminate and (2) spin as expected.

I suspected that the (2) Pironman5 IO board is not properly grounded. I made the following changes:

(a) Connect a black wire from (1) RGB Fan2 (Black) to RPi5 GPIO 39 GND.
(b) Connect a black wire from the (2) Pironman5 IO Fan2 (-) to (3) RPi GPIO 34 GND.

With (a + b), both the (2) and (3) share a common ground.

When I power the entire system, both RGB fans Fan1 and Fan2 are illuminating brightly and are spinning as expected.

Please find attached the Fritzing image, Pironman5 RGB Fan Image.png, to see a graphical view of this text description.

My finding leads me to conclude that the RGB fan issues that others are experiencing may be a hardware issue (and not a software issue at all).

I welcome any other response from Sunfounder engineers and its forum users.

[CowboySkippy]

Attached is a photo showing my modification to the Pironman5 IO boards, Prionman5 fans and RPi GPIO header.

See my previous post for an explanation.