Quiet 60 mm fans?

fri2219 · Post by **fri2219** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 8:07 pm

Don't laugh, but I didn't see it covered elsewhere. I know I'm fighting physics here.

I have an AMS Venus external 2-Drive (Oxford Chipset) Enclosure that I hang off my 802.11n (Draft 2) Access Point. It's fast, has built in JBOD,0,1 RAID, well constructed, works great with Linux, Windows, and MacOS X, but has one little teensy tiny problem- the enclosure's fan is louder than a normal conversation. I can hear it through two closed doors. It's really that bad.

So, I've found potential replacements from Panaflo with similar dimensions:

One purports "hyper-airflow", while other is merely "ultra-quiet".

Does anyone have comments about either?

Marketing hyperbole aside, I'm hoping that one of these Panaflo fans will be quieter than what I have now. If that doesn't work, I'm going to try one of the NoiseMagic thermal controllers.

angelkiller · Post by **angelkiller** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 5:32 am

I personally think that any 12v 60mm fan is gonna be loud. What about undervolting it? I had a old P3 system with a 60mm fan. I hooked up a fanmate and set it to its lowest setting, and the fan became very very quiet. I'd that before changing the fan because it's so cheap.

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 5:50 am

What about undervolting it?

problem is, airflow w/ these fans is already poor (e.g. 12CFM MAX for the L1), undervolted you're probably better off just blowing on it with your mouth. assuming Panaflo uses same dBA test method for both fans (fair assumption) the L1 is quieter. also note the L1 is 15mm thick while the H1 is 25mm.

Sylph-DS · Post by **Sylph-DS** » Tue May 01, 2007 6:35 am

Buy a panaflo and undervolt it to about 7 volts or something? I'd say that should still get you some airflow.

It's not like they're very expensive, so you could at least try it

IsaacKuo · Post by **IsaacKuo** » Tue May 01, 2007 7:58 am

How much are you willing to modify this thing? If it were me, I'd remove the 60mm fan and add a couple 80mm exhaust fans to the sides (one on each side). This involves cutting up the sides, of course, and the result will be pretty ugly. The former 60mm fan location will become an intake, along with the front intake openings.

fri2219 · Post by **fri2219** » Fri May 11, 2007 3:25 pm

IsaacKuo wrote:If it were me, I'd remove the 60mm fan and add a couple 80mm exhaust fans to the sides (one on each side).

I think that's where I'm going to go with it if simply replacing the fan and/or enlarging the hole doesn't work.

About the case:

The case has two rails for drives, which plug directly into a circuit board on the back.

The fan pulls air from the case through the hole in the circuit board and blows it out the holes in the back.

The manufacturer used a different fan from what they said in the description- it's a T&T 6015L12C ND5, not a Sunon. It is supposedly rated at 31 dBA, which is fanciful at best. Maybe they rated the noise from it at 1 kilometer, not 1 foot.

What I'm going to do:

Try a lower speed Sunon Fan and have it blow in, instead of out. It doesn't seem like it is actually helping cool the drives right now.

Since the connector is a two-pin fan, I'm going to have to look up how to wire the connectors properly.

Looking at the design of the holes, I'd guess that the fan doesn't actually move much air. I think cutting a hole where the vents are now and putting on a piece of mesh or acoustic fabric would probably help.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions.

iSAWaUFO · Post by **iSAWaUFO** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 1:14 pm

I have this same enclosure. Did you find a good replacement fan or solution to the noise problem?

fri2219 · Post by **fri2219** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 8:53 am

iSAWaUFO wrote:I have this same enclosure. Did you find a good replacement fan or solution to the noise problem?

I tried opening up the holes and a Sunon fan, but the solution that worked best was "retasking" it. While I still use it for creating disk images, I usually just leave the room when its on.

I use a Synology NAS in its place, which is about the size of two coffee mugs, is quiet, and draws very little power.

iSAWaUFO · Post by **iSAWaUFO** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 9:03 am

I ordered a replacement fan from AMSelectronics.
They sent me a

SUNON MagLev
KDE1206PHV3
MS.A.GN
DC12V 0.6W

Very expensive from AMS, but I think they can be found much cheaper elsewhere.

A few weeks later, the whole unit went bad, sort of working but not really.
Not sure if replacing the fan was related to the problem.

reddyuday · Post by **reddyuday** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 10:38 am

All decent fans should list their maximum airflow levels and the maximum noise level, which are presumably reached when the fan runs at 12V.

Scythe Mini Kaze fans seem to do a good job very quietly. People that replace their CPU fans with the Scythe's go gaga over them! They cost only about $10 a piece.

edit: Interesting. I tried to find out whether they really did cost $10, and then discovered that no 60mm Scythes were being sold in USA. Imagine! I guess you have to order them from the UK then. Try this search: http://www.google.co.uk/products?q=scythe+60mm&hl=en

reddyuday · Post by **reddyuday** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 4:52 am

Another idea would be to use a 60mm to 80mm adapter such as this one and install a regular 80mm quiet fan on it. You might wan to calculate the resulting air flow

[80mm fan air flow in CFM] * 80^2 / 60^2

and check to see whether it is enough.

Quiet 60 mm fans?

Quiet 60 mm fans?

Thanks for your suggestions

Any good solution?

Re: Any good solution?