Motor noise in S-Flex D

Control: management of fans, temp/rpm monitoring via soft/hardware

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee

Post Reply
line
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 338
Joined: Wed Sep 28, 2005 10:07 pm
Location: Israel

Motor noise in S-Flex D

Post by line » Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm

I bought an S-Flex D 120mm 800rpm fan to replace the stock Antec Tricool fan in an Antec case.

It is quieter than the Tricool @ low but not by as much as I thought it would be. It has a noticeable low-frequency bearing noise that is much louder than the noise of the airflow alone. In a quiet room, I can hear it from 2m away. Undervolting only helps a little but the noise remains loud and dominant.

This is my first S-Flex fan so I'm not sure if this kind of noise is common to this series. I also have a Kama Flex 92mm 1600rpm fan which uses the same bearing type but doesn't make the same noise and is inaudible to me at ~800rpm.

The fan otherwise seems in perfect working order and the motor sounds healthy and doesn't click. Any idea if I my sample is normal or bad?

Thanks

angelkiller
Posts: 871
Joined: Fri Jan 05, 2007 11:37 am
Location: North Carolina

Post by angelkiller » Mon Feb 23, 2009 6:01 pm

I think something is wrong. I have several 800 rpm S-Flex's and they do not have the motor noise that you described. I can only hear it when I'm right next to my system. (~30cm)

line
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 338
Joined: Wed Sep 28, 2005 10:07 pm
Location: Israel

Post by line » Mon Feb 23, 2009 7:22 pm

Thanks. That may be another face of the QC issues that others had with this model (I recall reading about clicking). I might give the S-Flex another go with the F model because it starts reliably at 5V. I originally chose the S-Flex over the Slipstream for longevity because I am still not sure what to make of the sleeve bearing and relatively short life expectancy of the Slipstream. The last thing I'd want is the fan stalling 3 or 4 years from now because the bearings were worn out, but then again people have been running them with no issues so far.

davidh44
Posts: 54
Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2008 8:51 pm
Location: USA

Post by davidh44 » Fri Feb 27, 2009 4:53 pm

I can't even get my S-Flex D to start with 7V. How about you?

Once I feed it higher volts to start, I can lower it down.

line
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 338
Joined: Wed Sep 28, 2005 10:07 pm
Location: Israel

Post by line » Mon Mar 02, 2009 8:10 am

I can't tell exactly because I used a Fanmate but yes the starting voltage is high for this model. SPCR found it to be 8.9V here.

QuietOC
Posts: 1407
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2005 1:08 pm
Location: Michigan
Contact:

Post by QuietOC » Mon Mar 02, 2009 8:34 am

line wrote:Thanks. That may be another face of the QC issues that others had with this model (I recall reading about clicking). I might give the S-Flex another go with the F model because it starts reliably at 5V. I originally chose the S-Flex over the Slipstream for longevity because I am still not sure what to make of the sleeve bearing and relatively short life expectancy of the Slipstream. The last thing I'd want is the fan stalling 3 or 4 years from now because the bearings were worn out, but then again people have been running them with no issues so far.
I have a noisy S-Flex "F".

I recommend the Global Win NCB fans. I have three of those and all are excellent. All three cost less than the one S-Flex. They are only ~1300 rpm, so the "F" does gives better cooling at 12V.

nyonya
Posts: 39
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2008 6:55 am
Location: New York

Post by nyonya » Mon Mar 02, 2009 9:09 am

QuietOC wrote:
line wrote:Thanks. That may be another face of the QC issues that others had with this model (I recall reading about clicking). I might give the S-Flex another go with the F model because it starts reliably at 5V. I originally chose the S-Flex over the Slipstream for longevity because I am still not sure what to make of the sleeve bearing and relatively short life expectancy of the Slipstream. The last thing I'd want is the fan stalling 3 or 4 years from now because the bearings were worn out, but then again people have been running them with no issues so far.
I have a noisy S-Flex "F".

I recommend the Global Win NCB fans. I have three of those and all are excellent. All three cost less than the one S-Flex. They are only ~1300 rpm, so the "F" does gives better cooling at 12V.
Where are you getting the Global Win fans so cheap?

QuietOC
Posts: 1407
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2005 1:08 pm
Location: Michigan
Contact:

Post by QuietOC » Mon Mar 02, 2009 9:54 am

nyonya wrote:Where are you getting the Global Win fans so cheap?
I ordered them 3 years ago from SVC for $5.99 each. It doesn't look like they are currently stocking them, however. :(

Post Reply