NP50 Firmware Protocol

11/8/2023

Firmware Version: 1.0.1.1

NP50 firmware protocol includes the following functions:

1. Get NP50 Info
2. Get Channel Info
3. Set NP50 Current Cooling Mode
4. Set 4 Pin Fan RPM
5. Set Fan RPM
6. Set NP50 Static Mode RPM
7. Get NP50 Static Mode RPM & Lighting Setting
8. Set Startup Animation On/Off
9. Set Lighting On/Off (When PC’s Off)
10. Get Firmware Version
11. LED Streaming

NP50 has 3x Nexus Link Type-C channels (Port1, Port2, Port3) and also one 4-pin PWM connector for legacy fan support

1. Get NP50 Info

This protocol is to get NP50 + traditional fan info and is also used as a flag to check if Nexus software is in control
If the software does not call this function within 5 seconds, NP50 cooling and LED control will revert back to the default state
(motherboard/temp/firmware mode)

NP50 info includes,

• Noise
• Temperature
• 4-pin PWM Fan RPM
• Current Cooling Mode
• Nexus Link AmpScale Warnings

Serial.Write

Serial.Read

Byte 3 & 4: Noise
Reserved

Byte 7 & 8: Temp

1. Using the algorithm below to get the current voltage

vol =3.3 * ((TH* 100) + TL) / 4096

2. Get the corresponding temperature from the voltage using the following table
   Temperature Chart

Byte 9 & 10: RPM

int RPM = (60 * 1000 / ((Byte 9 * 100 + Byte 10 )/ 10 * 4));

Byte 12: Current Cooling Mode
The current cooling mode NP50 is running
Software: 0x01
Motherboard: 0x02
Static Mode: 0x03

Byte 13: Warning
0x00: None
0x01: Too many devices connected to a single channel (more than 18)
0x02: Too many devices connected across all channels (more than 54 across 3 ports)
0x03: Too many LEDs connected on a single channel (more than 249)
0x04: Type-C channel 1 (Port1) current overload
0x05: Type-C channel 2 (Port2) current overload
0x06: Type-C channel 3 (Port3) current overload

NP50 has a total of 15A/12V and each port can have a maximum of 8A/12V
Ports 1 and 2 are designed to connect up to 18 devices, but if there's current overflow, Nexus Link AmpScale will slow down all connected fans to 2000 RPM

• 10 fans -> 3000 rpm
• > 10 fans -> 2000 rpm

Port3 is designed to follow the same behavior
If Port3 experiences current overload, it will sequentially disable the extra devices

!Notice that NP50 has one traditional 4-pin PWM fan port, for which the current won't be automatically managed by AmpScale

2. Get Channel Info

NP50 can connect to Nexus Link secondary nodes (such as FP12, LS10, LS30)
When the devices are connected, NP50 will know what each device is and will return the corresponding information
Nexus software can use this function to get device info from all 3 channels

Serial.Write

Serial.Read
!12 bytes is one set for a device (only the very first byte 0 & byte 1 will be FF CC
Each port can read 19 devices (but the user is only allowed to plug in 18 devices, since we need the 19th one to know if there's more than 18)
This protocol will return 240 bytes (12 more bytes are reserved)

Byte 2: Device Count start from 1

Byte 3: Device Type
LS10: 0x01
LS30: 0x02
FP12: 0x03

Byte 5: LED Count
LS10: 20 LEDs
LS30: 62 LEDs

Byte 6 & 7: Fan Temp

1. Using the algorithm below to get the current voltage

vol =3.3 * ((TH* 100) + TL) / 4096

2. Get the corresponding temperature from the voltage using the following table
   Temperature Chart

Byte 8 & 9: Fan RPM

int RPM = (60 * 1000 / (Byte 8 + (float)Byte 9 / 100)) / 4;

Byte 10: Fan Orientation
Facing Back: 0x00
Facing Down: 0x01
Facing Up: 0x02
Facing Front: 0x03

Byte 11: Touch
Touch: 0x00
Non-Touch: 0x01 (connect with a cable otherwise no device is detected)

3. Set NP50 Current Cooling Mode

Serial.Write

Byte 4: Mode
Software: 0x01
Motherboard: 0x02
Static: 0x03

4. Set 4 Pin Fan RPM

! need to set the NP50 to software mode with the command above first to be able to control the 4-pin PWM fan RPM with this protocol!

Serial.Write

5. Set Fan RPM

Serial.Write

Besides the first 4 bytes, each device is 9 bytes
The complete command will be 18 (devices) * 9 + 4 = 166 bytes

Byte 4 : Device Count
Start from 1

6. Set NP50 Default Cooling Mode

! This will be written to the eeprom - please note that the eeprom write endurance is 10000 times

Serial.Write

Default Static Mode fan RPM is 1000 RPM

Byte 4: Mode
Static: 0x00
Motherboard: 0x01

Byte 5: Fan %
If the default mode is set to Static, you also need to set the default fan speed %

7. Get NP50 Default Cooling Mode & Lighting Setting

! This will be written on eeprom - please note that the eeprom write endurance is 10000 times

Serial.Write

Serial.Read

Byte 4 : Mode
Static: 0x00
Motherboard: 0x01

Byte 6 : Startup Animation On/Off
Off: 0x01
On: 0x00

Byte 7 : Lighting On/Off (When PC's Off)
On: 0x01
Off: 0x00

8. Set Startup Animation On/Off

Serial.Write

Byte 3: Startup Animation On/Off
On: 0x00
Off: 0x01

9. Set Lighting On/Off (When PC's Off)

Serial.Write

Byte 3: Lighting On/Off
On: 0x00
Off: 0x01

10. Get Firmware Version

Serial.Write

Serial.Read

11. LED Streaming

NP50 has 3 LED channels (which is not to be confused with the Nexus Link Type-C (Port1, Port2, Port3) channels
We have the default LEDs (HYTE Logo) on the same channel
Channel 1 -> Logo LEDs (first 6 LEDs) + Device Port1
Channel 2 -> Device Port2
Channel 3: Device Port3

Serial.Write

! Channel 3 needs to send 750 bytes to light up all the LEDs

The HYTE NP50 Protocol is provided under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2.