Add Cooling Fan to A/V Cabinet

If you don't know enough electrical to add a fan to a cabinet (really one of the simplest things you can do), then stay the hell away from line voltage (110 VAC) altogether. Use a PC fan that takes 12 VDC. A small wall wart will produce enough juice to turn the fan. You would cut the plug end off the wall wart cord and connect the wires to the two prongs on the fan. Find someone that knows how to solder to do this.

*Any* fan you put in an A/V cabinet has the potential to be distractingly noisy. Line voltage fans especially, but even common PC fans. One way to deal with that is to buy a "quiet" fan. Another is to use a wall wart that puts out less voltage, like 7 VDC.

If my reply doesn't make sense to you, then you really don't want to mess with this at all. Get soneone to do it for you.

(And don't forget that you'll need a hole in the cabinet to let out the hot air, and one to let in the cool.)

For a 2U rack panel with 3 80mm DC fans, each with it's own on/off switch, and it also comes with the 12v power supply. For a reasonable $70, or $140 with Vantech thermal fans. Look here http://www.triktags.com/html/vantech...nt_panels.html

Here is a pic of it with the Vantec thermal fans.

I have, I got it in about 3 days after I ordered it. Just remember this was designed primarily as a rack mount product. So it may need to be adapted to fit in other types of applications.

I have it mounted in the back of a wood cabinet, so I can't actually measure it anymore. But it's just a standard 2U rack mount panel with 3 80mm fans added to it. Standard rack mount spacing is 19" wide, and the 2U size means it should/will be 3 1/2" tall.
As for the noise, my guess is that at about 5 feet away and out in the open, that it's probably about 25-35db. They claim it's 28.5db, but they don't say at what distance either. And depending upon how and where it's actually mounted in a cabinet or a rack, then it can probably be even a bit less noise than that, because putting it in something like the back of a cabinet it will muffle it some. Also if you turn 1 or 2 of them off, then the noise will go down even more. But it is after all, 3 80mm computer type fans, so it will never be totally silent.

I found pricing listed by a dealer online. See this link. Seems pretty pricey. Are these the kind of prices you got from them?

Pretty pricey is putting it mildly.....
Even if you were to replace all 3 fans in the version from Triktags, for about a additional $30. With thermal "silent" type fans, like the Vantec ThermoFlow temp sensing, or some other temp sensing variable speed fans. You would still be under $100 total for almost the same thing that Active Thermal is asking very close to $300 for.

Active Thermal is expensive. The 2 kit is nearly $300.00 with shipping for two fans with variable speed. I went to http://www.siliconacoustics.com/fans.html and ordered two Super Quiet Nexxus fans, a thermal regulator, and a splitter.

1 NoiseMagic NMT-3 15.00, 2 Nexus 120 mm Real Silent Case Fan (black and white)33.90, 1 3-Pin Y Splitter 3.00 Subtotal: 51.90. second day UPS added about $15.00.

Now, I need a 12 volt wall wart from Radio shack that can .60amps or 3.6watts and it's done. For a whole lot less moola. Radio Shack sells a 3v to 12v 1000mA AC/DC converter for 17.99.

For less than $100.00, I'll have something very similar. However, I'll know where to get parts if anything goes wrong.

There might be a little more risk in doing it myself, but since ATM requires that I pull out a hole saw to my entertainment center's cabinet, I'm already taking risks.

I've seen these advertised in the Smarthome catalog. I need to check into one of these.. Very expensive stuff, then again prices seem to be straight MSRP with them. Good service, though.

I'd like to follow your lead on this cooling system. If I have a cabinet with 5 fans how many 3 Pin Y Splitter, and NoiseMagic NMT-3 would I need? I assume these shut the fan down completely when not needed? Also, what is the 12 volt wall wart from Radio shack that can .60amps or 3.6watts for?
Thanks for saving me a whole lot of money!

A friend recently bought a very quiet fan from a site called hometheatercooling . He said they were quite helpful. Wish I had come across it before I scrounged up my solution.

50 dollars for a 120mm computer fan with an ac cord?

Hmmm...

Two PC power supply fans. Free

One 12v 300mA power supply with the end cut off Free

Tiny bit of solder and shrink tubing Free!

Nice cool components with barely a whisper from the fans Priceless.

Seriously. that's exactly what I did. The fans sit directly on top of my gear. Near the back of each piece. They cannot be seen unless you look really hard.

I tried line voltage fans. The whine was intolerable.

It seems like that Tirktags solution is REALLY well priced, and perfect if you have a rackmounted system.

I would also imagine that line voltage fans could cause some level of interference through the powerstrip, or circuit you plug it into so if it's the same one as your equiptment that could cause some quality issues.

I'm going to do a home-grown system. All from Radio Shack just because it's easy and since it's my frist time it'll be kind of trial and error so I might have to return some stuff. Here's my parts list that I'm thinking about:

120mm Thermaltake fan - qty 2
Thermaltake noise killer kit (I'm sure some rubber washers from HD would also do the trick)
12vdc 1000ma wall wart
Project case (for all wiring and Pot)
potentiometer

I'm hoping I can use a potentiometer as a speed control for the fans. I'm not sure if this will work or not, and also not sure what kind of pot I'll need. With my ability to control the fan speed I should be able to keep them quiet. I'd also like to pick up a cheap thermometer to keep track of the temp in there as various fan speeds.

Jeff

I purchased the YampaNet A/V Cooling system and it has been pretty good. Four fans for $100. Go to www.yampanet.com. Good luck!!

You don't need to have a rackmount system to use it, I just made a 2U sized cutout in the back of my cabinet and screwed it right into the wood.

I picked up the parts. Wasn't sure what to use to control the speed of the fan so I picked up a reostat. It does work to control the speed but it does get a little warm and it doesn't make it super slow. They only had one fan at RS so they are going to send me the other one.

The fan seems kind of loud. I was hoping it would be a little quieter, it's rated at 21 db. I might try a Silenx ixtrima pro fan, they are 2.5x the price but only 11 db.

Jeff

The silenx fans are nice, but not 11 db. They inflate their ratings. Try a decent panaflo or similar for the same results but at a cheaper price.

CJ

I actually replaced all the Panaflo's in my PC and A/V cabinet (all 80mm) with Arctic Silencer Fan 8's (AF8). I must say that the AF8 moves more air and is even more silent.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835186006

[quote=Grimdeath]I actually replaced all the Panaflo's in my PC and A/V cabinet (all 80mm) with Arctic Silencer Fan 8's (AF8). I must say that the AF8 moves more air and is even more silent.



The specs call out a fixed 2000 rpm. Could these still be used with a controller that varies the speed like the Yampanet system noted above, or do you actually need a fan that has a stated variable rpm output. I'm kind of ignorant with elctronic components. Thanks

[quote=kpblade]
Yes they can be used; any DC brushless fan can be used in a variable speed application. The AF8 can only be mounted as an exhaust fan, however.

Ordered up. Even though it's so much smaller I hope it's quite.

They do make a 92mm and 120mm version also!

[quote=Grimdeath]
Thanks for the info. My plan is to mount them on the back panels of my Salamander unit. I assume I have to drill the flow-through holes on the back panel, and mount the fans on the outside of them, so as to draw the air out of the cabinet. I'm hoping the perforated steel doors in front would be adequate for the inflow.

[quote=kpblade]
I went with 80mm fans because it's hard to find a whole saw bigger than 80mm. I mounted the fan inside the cabinet blowing out; nothing is visible on the outside.