UltraFan

[LostSoul80]

Hi everybody,
I've designed this app to be very easy to use. You set a target temperature, and it'll adjust the fans accordingly. I've coded it for my personal use, but since it's useful, I feel I should share it!

Edit: Revision 3 improves speed regulation.
Edit: Revision 4 adds a more gradual automatic speed change.
Edit: Revision 5 adds the "open at login" feature and fixes a display problem.
Edit: Revision 6 implements S.M.A.R.T. reading and small core changes. 6.2 provides a fix for certain machine's behaviour when no temperature sensor is found.
Edit: Revision 7

• implements more gradual speed changes and more advanced criterias
• when running on batteries, speed change is less aggressive
• auto-start on login feature
• improves the overall performance

Edit: Revision 8 brings an even more minimalistic and user friendly interface along with an increase in performance.
Edit: Revision 8.1 and Revision 8.2 fix minor glitches.
Edit: Revision 9

• entirely rewritten the core of the automatic speed regulation
• manual control: you can now manually control your fans' speed
• new user interface
• now checks for every available temperature sensor
• fixes a series of minor bug fixes

Edit: Revision 9.1 fixes a bug involving the choice of the Farenheit unit.
Edit: Revision 9.2 now reads the real CPU temperature in MacBook Pro Retinas.

UltraFan(...-10.5) is for Leopard users.

Feel free to post feedback and suggest new features.

Readme
On the status bar, if either auto or manual mode is on you'll notice a symbol right before the current temperature. √ means auto mode is on; ~ means manual mode is on.
The "save log on Desktop" checkbox has been introduced in the beta development, and I'll probably remove it. For further information, you can read the latest Beta post.

[johnkey]

Works fine on 10.6.7...Great application!I have a request.Can you make the application run even more slowly when the temp is approaching the target, so it doesn't fully slow down the fans?

[Blakeasd]

Works on 10.7.1 on Macbook 13in Late 2009

[LostSoul80]

Originally Posted by johnkey

Works fine on 10.6.7...Great application!I have a request.Can you make the application run even more slowly when the temp is approaching the target, so it doesn't fully slow down the fans?

I've set it to run slowly if the temperature is at about the target temperature in the version I just uploaded. Let me know if that's ok.

Originally Posted by Blakeasd

Works on 10.7.1 on Macbook 13in Late 2009

That's great, thank you!

[Jolly Jimmy]

Seems to work OK on my late 2007 MacBook, but the fan speed is reported as 0 rpm when the tempertature is below the target.

[LostSoul80]

Originally Posted by Jolly Jimmy

Seems to work OK on my late 2007 MacBook, but the fan speed is reported as 0 rpm when the tempertature is below the target.

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.
Where can you see the rpm?
However, that's to be expected. If the temperature is below the target of more than 1°C, the fans are set to be system-controlled (which also happens as you quit the app). Do you think they should run anyway? I'm open to any request and suggestion.

Ps: What's your OS version?

[maflynn]

Originally Posted by LostSoul80

Where can you see the rpm?

The iStat Pro widget displays fan speeds and there are other utilities that do that as well, like istat menus and other menu bar programs.

[LostSoul80]

I didn't notice iStat Pro displayed the fans' speeds. Could have been more handy to use than the terminal while debugging.

[Jolly Jimmy]

Originally Posted by LostSoul80

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.
Where can you see the rpm?
However, that's to be expected. If the temperature is below the target of more than 1°C, the fans are set to be system-controlled (which also happens as you quit the app). Do you think they should run anyway? I'm open to any request and suggestion.

Ps: What's your OS version?

I use istat nano to report the fan speed. I'm on 10.6.8 version 2.

[ToniqR]

This is a very handy little app! Seems to work well on my 2010 macbook pro running 10.6.8. Is there any way to make the fans come on and off less aggressively? They seem to rev up to full speed then stop abruptly (just dont want to damage anything)
Thanks

[LostSoul80]

Originally Posted by Jolly Jimmy

I use istat nano to report the fan speed. I'm on 10.6.8 version 2.

The "problem" you reported should now be resolved. Thanks for the info.

Originally Posted by ToniqR

This is a very handy little app! Seems to work well on my 2010 macbook pro running 10.6.8. Is there any way to make the fans come on and off less aggressively? They seem to rev up to full speed then stop abruptly (just dont want to damage anything)
Thanks

Don't worry about damaging - I've designed this app to be fully safe (I've set security thresholds on a per fan basis, so don't worry!). Also, the app does never stop the fans.
Thanks to your suggestion, I've now released revision 4, which provides more gradual speed changes Let me know how you find it. And if you want to see some features in it, be sure to post here!

PS: I can make it even more gradual.

[ToniqR]

Originally Posted by LostSoul80

Don't worry about damaging - I've designed this app to be fully safe (I've set security thresholds on a per fan basis, so don't worry!). Also, the app does never stop the fans.
Thanks to your suggestion, I've now released revision 4, which provides more gradual speed changes Let me know how you find it. And if you want to see some features in it, be sure to post here!

PS: I can make it even more gradual.

Hey, Thanks for for the update its working great! It definitely seems better now the fans have varying speeds. I've tried smc fan control in the past, but this fits better for my needs, thanks again

[4evaevo]

i am running 10.6.8 and it dosnt report the current temp it is always 0

[LostSoul80]

Originally Posted by 4evaevo

i am running 10.6.8 and it dosnt report the current temp it is always 0

Which machine are you using? A reason could be you're on a new Mac Pro which has a new temperature sensor's name. Otherwise, the "0" could mean that there's some problem on your session caused by something else - have you tried restarting the machine yet?

[4evaevo]

it is 2 months old, so i think it is the new one, is their any way to make this work on the new mac? and yes i have tried restarting. Thank You.

[ReggaeFire]

I'd love to use this on my 2010 Mac Mini running 10.6.8, it reports the temperature and the fan speed, but it won't open the preferences, so I can't set a target temperature.

[LostSoul80]

Originally Posted by 4evaevo

it is 2 months old, so i think it is the new one, is their any way to make this work on the new mac? and yes i have tried restarting. Thank You.

I assume you're on a Mac Pro? I really need to know at least the name of your Mac to investigate (Mac Pro, iMac etc.)

Originally Posted by ReggaeFire

I'd love to use this on my 2010 Mac Mini running 10.6.8, it reports the temperature and the fan speed, but it won't open the preferences, so I can't set a target temperature.

There's a "problem" in displaying the window because of Snow Leopard's APIs.
Basically, when you click on "Set target temperature" the window appears under everything else. Try just to quit the app and start it in a Space with no windows in it and let me know.
P.S. The next "revision" will fix this display problem.

[ReggaeFire]

Originally Posted by LostSoul80

There's a "problem" in displaying the window because of Snow Leopard's APIs.
Basically, when you click on "Set target temperature" the window appears under everything else. Try just to quit the app and start it in a Space with no windows in it and let me know.
P.S. The next "revision" will fix this display problem.

That worked. Thanks so much, this is a great little application!

[LostSoul80]

Fixed the display problem.
If you find something wrong or something you'd like to have in the app, try to post in this thread.

[freepeacesweet]

Tried it on a 10.6.8, 27 iMac with the HDD replaced. It has a problem with the fans after the HDD was replaced as the temp sensor does not plug in the new HDD. This program didn't work with it unfortunately display was -127C. Any way of making it work with S.M.A.R.T instead of the temp sensor?

[LostSoul80]

Yes, I can make it read data from SMART. The downside is that there's less precision (no decimal fractions), but that's not really important. I'll upload revision 6 implementing this feature. Thank you for the suggestion.

[freepeacesweet]

Thats great I look forward to seeing the revision. I would be happy to try that out for you and let you know how it goes.

[4evaevo]

hi mine is a imac 2011 running 10.6.8

[LostSoul80]

Revision 6 is available. Should fix also your problem, 4evaevo.

[freepeacesweet]

Thanks for the revision.

So far my testing of the app results in the temp still is showing -127 C. When setting the desired temp say to 40 C. The fans increase speed or maybe an extra fan kicks in?. No temp change from the -127 C.

Did i need to uninstall or delete previous preference etc before trying V6?