With the weather we've been having my components are getting pretty damn hot; I've heard my PS3's fans for the first time yesterday and when I stuck my hand between the PS3 and AV Receiver, I started worrying.

My components are on two horizontal rows, on glass shelves with open front and back:

[ PS3 ] [ AV Receiver ] [ HD Cable box ]
[ XBOX360 ] [ Center speaker ] [ Nintendo Wii ]

I'm thinking that I might be able to wire some spare 120mm fans to the left side blowing left to right, and have two on the right side to exhaust but that means I would have to find a power supply. I saw on eBay that some had spliced in some normal power adapters. Any idea how powerful those should be?

Alternatively, I'm thinking of going to The Source or some other store and find a cheap portable fan that's hopefully not too loud.

What do you guys do to keep your gear cool? Should I be trying to cool the top row as a whole, or cool components individually?
(Oh, and before someone mentions it, I do have AC but it's a portable one and barely reaches the living room.)

Run a 12v fan off the 5v USB power of the device ... it will run slow and (more importantly) quiet.

I do that for my DVRs which tend to run hot and it works just fine.

Previously I had a small 5 inch or so round fan that I used when I had my stuff in an entertainment center. If you look around you can usually find those small fans with foam blades and those are usually pretty quiet; you don't need too much airflow, just enough to get the hot air out.

Run a 12v fan off the 5v USB power of the device ... it will run slow and (more importantly) quiet.

I do that for my DVRs which tend to run hot and it works just fine.

2 things: how do you do this?
and i have a small tv cabinet with a dvr, dvd and reciever. the space runs a little hot and i would like to know if the fans i hook up should pull the air or force it in? thanks

I picked up an Antec A/V cooler for $40 w/free shipping a couple of weeks ago and it works really well inside of my entertainment center.
It's low profile has 2 fans and a high and low speed. I just put it on top of my AVR and it sucks the hot air up off of the heat sinks and blows it out vents in the back.

The fans are pretty quiet and it works great as a single component cooling solution. It's also strong enough that you could stack another component on top of it.

I noticed that your PS3 is located to the left of your receiver. The air needs to vent out of the right side of the PS3 (assuming it is laid flat). I would move it to the right of the receiver, so that the hot air can vent instead of just blowing right into the receiver. Just an idea.

I personally wired up two 120mm fans to a 12v power adapter and made a bit of a wind tunnel in my TV stand. It works great, and after hours of gaming and watching movies, the PS3's own fan never kicks into high gear. One blows from left to right along the back side and the other, the one pictured, blows out toward the opening. It's a bit ghetto, but it works, and is hardly seen.

http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo199/Bkaul/DSC04887.jpg

You can't beat a couple of 120mm fans and a 12v power plug. Just chop off the end of the wires for the 12v power block, cut off the ends of your fan wires, splice them all together, and plug the 12v into the wall to turn them on, pull it out to turn them off. Very cheap and like cambo16 said, it works great.

the fans i hoked up aren't doing a thing. I'm thinking the glass doors are gonna have to come off

the fans i hoked up aren't doing a thing. I'm thinking the glass doors are gonna have to come off

Yeah, i took off my front glass doors. I believe each of my 120mm fans need 300ma to run each, with two of them, they run fine with a 500ma 12v adapter. I'm sure they aren't running at full potential, but they are quiet enough now for that to not matter. I have mine hooked up to my power conditioner, so that when the power is triggered to turn on by my receiver, it turns on everything, including the fans.

Cambo-- you're cooking your amp and cable box. You shouldn't stack anything on top of your receiver; it needs room to breathe.

Cambo-- you're cooking your amp and cable box. You shouldn't stack anything on top of your receiver; it needs room to breathe.

I thought that too, but man, this sony amp runs remarkably cool. I've watched a couple movies, and played COD 4 right after, and it hardly even heated up. I'm building a new TV stand right now, and it will have isolated shelves for components. This TV stand will be gone.

Incase i'm missing something and the insides are turning into goop, i'll go home and rethink some other options of arranging the components, although, i'm more worried about pairing the cable box with the ps3 on the same shelf. I'll think of something. Thanks!

you're cooking your amp and cable box. You shouldn't stack anything on top of your receiver; it needs room to breathe.

How much room do they need? I see many pictures of peoples' electronics in racks. And they are mounted pretty close to each other. Is something else going on that improves the cooling?

~Ken

How much room do they need? I see many pictures of peoples' electronics in racks. And they are mounted pretty close to each other. Is something else going on that improves the cooling?

~Ken

Depends upon the piece of equipment. It'll be listed in your manual.

I set up my HT in a spare bedroom and am using the closet for my equipment room. I have 3 amps along with a preamp in this closet and they were creating a lot of heat. I had my HVAC man run a HVAC vent to the bottom of this closet and I installed an ultra quite bathroom fan in the ceiling. I powered the fan using a switchable outlet on my preamp. I was a little concerned that the fan would create an electrical noise in my system but I have not had any problems. My closet stays very cool with this setup.

Mike

I set up my HT in a spare bedroom and am using the closet for my equipment room. I have 3 amps along with a preamp in this closet and they were creating a lot of heat. I had my HVAC man run a HVAC vent to the bottom of this closet and I installed an ultra quite bathroom fan in the ceiling. I powered the fan using a switchable outlet on my preamp. I was a little concerned that the fan would create an electrical noise in my system but I have not had any problems. My closet stays very cool with this setup.

Mike

any pictures?