fancontrol

automated temperature-based fan speed control

TLDR

Start with the default configuration file (/etc/fancontrol)

$ sudo fancontrol

Start with a custom configuration file

$ sudo fancontrol [path/to/config_file]

fancontrol is a shell script from the lm-sensors package that provides automated fan speed management based on temperature readings. It reads its configuration from a file, calculates fan speeds from temperatures, and sets the corresponding PWM outputs to the computed values.The daemon continuously monitors hardware temperature sensors and adjusts PWM-controlled fans to maintain desired thermal levels. Configuration is typically generated with the pwmconfig utility, which detects available fans and sensors, then creates appropriate mappings and thresholds.

PARAMETERS

configfile_

Path to configuration (default: /etc/fancontrol).

CONFIGURATION

/etc/fancontrol

Main configuration file with the following key variables:

FCTEMPS

Maps PWM outputs to temperature sensors.

FCFANS

Associates PWM outputs with fan speed inputs for monitoring.

MINTEMP / MAXTEMP

Temperature range for fan speed calculation.

MINPWM / MAXPWM

PWM value range corresponding to the temperature range.

MINSTART

Minimum PWM value at which fans start spinning.

MINSTOP

Minimum PWM value at which fans still spin (below this they stop).

AVERAGE

Number of temperature readings to average (default: 1, no averaging).

INSTALL

sudo apk add lm-sensors-fancontrol

CAVEATS

Requires configured hardware monitoring (lm-sensors). Run pwmconfig first to detect fans and sensors and generate the configuration file. Requires root privileges since it accesses hardware PWM controls. The daemon runs in the foreground by default; use a systemd service or init script to run it as a background service.