Thermal intelligence needed

[Scuba_Steve]

I want to turn a switch silent which I'm assuming won't take alot but I don't want to kill it so hopefully people here know a bit about thermals & what it'll take to remove the fan (if anything)

I'm tempted to just disable the fan as it's only a small exhaust fan & the switch won't be sitting in 24-30º rooms like it's made for, but on the other hand it will prob be sitting in stale air & being unmanaged it's not going to start spitting out thermal warnings so I won't know if it's overheating further more the switch itself prob wouldn't know it's overheating as I don't think it has any kind of thermal sensor & thus also won't protect itself. So obviously I want to get this right & not destroy the switch

Attached is photos of the switch's internals & the exhaust fan to give you an idea of what's already there & needs to be cooled.
I would like to get away with not removing the existing heatsinks as they're glued down making removing them more effort than it's worth, adding to them not such an issue.

So have at it you thermal geniuses & engineering types, give me your ideas for making this beast silent

287475287476

[bogan]

Orient and vent it for convection cooling is probably your best bet. Just check to make sure it's running cool enough...

[hayd3n]

vent the case like a stereo amplifier :) my onkyo amp is only vented and it manages fine

[Akzle]

a) swap in big fuck off heatsinks theyre probably attached with shitty old thermal grease, not glue. Meths.

B) you could whack another 3 or 4 70mm fans acrosr the back of that case.

3) punch some holes in the top/front to draw air in.

IV) you can buy thermal cut in/out relays

Q) positive air pressure is your friend.

[Scuba_Steve]

vent the case like a stereo amplifier :) my onkyo amp is only vented and it manages fine

Yea but then it's built like that, the more modern versions of this switch are fanless they just have what looks to be a better heatsink setup


a) swap in big fuck off heatsinks theyre probably attached with shitty old thermal grease, not glue. Meths.

B) you could whack another 3 or 4 70mm fans acrosr the back of that case.

3) punch some holes in the top/front to draw air in.

IV) you can buy thermal cut in/out relays

Q) positive air pressure is your friend.

a) nope definitely glued without any doubt, prob thermal epoxy
B) trying to get away from fans
3) top maybee (but then I think I'd just remove it instead like in pic), front's out of the question tho that's taken up with ports
IV) sounds like too much effort/expense
Q) maybee


Orient and vent it for convection cooling is probably your best bet. Just check to make sure it's running cool enough...

I have thought about tubing a small amount of transformer oil over/through the heatsinks, I still have some in the garage; setting up the tubing would be the hard part

[mossy1200]

water cooled is the way to go.

[bogan]

I have thought about tubing a small amount of transformer oil over/through the heatsinks, I still have some in the garage; setting up the tubing would be the hard part

Air convection I mean, just make sure the air heated by the heatsinks fucks off due to convection.

[pete376403]

unmanaged so nothing special - why not just replace it with a (for example) Netgear FS608 or similar - assuming enough ports, speed, etc.

[Scuba_Steve]

unmanaged so nothing special - why not just replace it with a (for example) Netgear FS608 or similar - assuming enough ports, speed, etc.

by unmanaged I mean it's basic "web management" but yes nothing special.
Don't want to just replace it as unlike that switch (which is only 8port "fast") this one I'm trying to silence is a 16 port Gig, also it was free so if worst comes to worst I'll just deal with the fan I'm just looking for an option not to.

[jonbuoy]

Try dropping the fan speed - if its a 12v fan try running it at half speed, should be a lot quieter. If you can get it to run slow enough to just move a little air it will be almost silent, a couple of resistors to drop the voltage to whatever you want- it won't draw much current. Are you doing something clandestine??

[flyingcrocodile46]

Install a high quality low decibel fan or leave the case cover off and toss the fan?

[Scuba_Steve]

Are you doing something clandestine??

Na just we have quite a small house & what was the computer room will soon be our kids room but since all connections lead there I'm sortta planing on shoving this switch in the closet, just hoping to make it as quiet as poss for when I do.



Install a high quality low decibel fan or leave the case cover off and toss the fan?

yea am thinking might disable fan & leave case open or ajar & hope the air convection Bogan mentioned does it's thing well enough. The closet's probably the coolest place in the house so it's not gonna be in the 25-30º environments it's designed for, but then with the door closed it's contained stale air so just hoping it doesn't heat up too much


To be honest I'm probably over-reacting with the whole heat thing; it's a 16 port switch of which I prob won't use more than 4 ports on (possibly upto 8 at best) as I already have 8 gig ports on other switches taking the bulk of my connections so it's not gonna be processing anywhere near it's max capacity or even half capacity anytime soon if ever

[Akzle]

The closet's probably the coolest place in the house so it's not gonna be in the 25-30º environments it's designed for, but then with the door closed it's contained stale air so just hoping it doesn't heat up too much

Again. Positive air pressure. Whack some holes near the top ov the wardrobe for air in, and vent the bottom of the door.

[paturoa]

The cheap and easy solution is most always the best. I'd swap for 1 or 2 larger diameter much slower fans and rubber bush mount then.

[Mental Trousers]

Vertical mount and leave the cover off. It'll cool better like that than with the fan and cover on.

[paturoa]

Vertical mount and leave the cover off. It'll cool better like that than with the fan and cover on.

Sounds like the cheapest and easiest solution yet.

[avgas]

Run 2 fans - split the wiring and run half the voltage on one and half on the other. I have done this heaps to quieten the cooling but maintain air-flow.
If its a sealed unit you can even have an in-out setup so that airflow through the unit is guaranteed.

[jonbuoy]

I don't like the idea if leaving the cover off something with an exposed AC power supply but up to you.

[avgas]

I don't like the idea if leaving the cover off something with an exposed AC power supply but up to you.
PCB's also make good dust traps........it's in a box for a reason.

[Scuba_Steve]

Think I might just bite the bullet this weekend & run it with fan disabled, see how it does.
Think I'll 1st get a benchmark temp of the heatsink with fan running, then I'll disable the fan & see how it fares in relation, reckon I should be safe to let it rise by upto 15º or so over benchmark (dependant on where benchmark sits).

[Mental Trousers]

Probably be fine until summer. That's when I start having problems with some stuff.

[Bald Eagle]

Leave it where it is and put the kid in the closet.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[Scuba_Steve]

Just incase anyones interested, I did get round to carrying out my tests i.e. idle w/ lid & fan on vs idle w/ fan & lid off.
with the fan & lid on the heatsink registered about 22-24ºC after a day of running
with the fan & lid off it registered around 50ºC after 10-15mins

I decided it best to leave fan & lid on for time being :sweatdrop

[bogan]

Yeh that is quite a difference, but for thouroughness we require you to test it with the case on, fan off, for a whole day :innocent: