Fan mod - added 2 extra fans to N2100 (pics)

[leyton01]

**Note: connecting multiple fans to the one header is probably not a good idea This is still a work in progress***

My N2100 sits in a cabinet that doesn't have the best air flow and it hit the 65 degree limit the other day and shut down so I decided to do a mod by adding some extra fans.

The only decent place internally was down the side beside the HDDs on the opposite side to the ram. I had thought about adding a large 80mm fan (white) to the top of the unit but that would add to the dimensions.

I use 2 x 40mm fans (50mm will also fit) and initially used some 10mm thick ones but wasn't happy with the air they pushed so I put in some 40x40x20mm ones (note 25mm thick ones will not fit).

I used a some metal mesh (AC Ryan MeshX) that I cut to fit the sides. This was used to cover up the holes and cuts made for the fans. The silver fits in really well with the white/silver of the thecus. All holes, screws and mesh were cut using a dremel.


Holes on the RAM side (opposite to fans) to allow air flow:



Outside of air holes covered in mesh (when at an angle the holes in the thecus are not obvious - just looks like mesh covering):



Inside view of rectangle cut for fans:



Outside view of mesh covering rectangle:



Angled views of outside - mesh blends well with the look of the unit:




Parts used - 2 x fans, 2 x 3-pin y-adaptors, nuts and bolts:



Fans installed in hole (bolted in place):



Cabling and existing fan:



Hard drives re-installed:



Close up of fans in place:

[leyton01]

* I didn't do any before or after temperature tests so I don't know how effective the mod is but it must do some good with the increased air movement. I will run it in the cabinet in the next few weeks and see if it every overheats.

[N2100Owner]

What about adding heat sink on your HDD cage? That should help a little.

[ryebank]

Pity Thecus airflow design is so bad to start with - it is a good box in general but the lack of air inlets means the fan is always trying to suck a vacuum which will never be good - and the position of the fan blocked by the SATA riser is also poor.

Interestingly I have noticed mine runs cooler on it's side rather than flat on the desk - I think this is because the fan is then at the top of the unit and the hot air rises

[leyton01]

admin said:

What about adding heat sink on your HDD cage? That should help a little.

The cage itself does a pretty good job at the heat sink thing - I am not sure if increasing the surface area would do that much in a stock N2100 at least because air flow is the major problem. The inside is always much hotter than the outside and this is where the thermal transfer has to occuer: inside --> out. Might be worth experimenting with when I have more time though.

[ss42]

I'm lazy: My three 2100's are in the basement. I just want the OEM fans to run at full speed all the time. I guess I should just cut pin 2 of the fan connector and hook it to 12V?

[sbv3000]

Hi all
I'm surprised at how 'hot' the yes box runs ever with 1 drive.

I've been working on a multi-fan (up to 6) upgrade that aims to circulate the air and push it towards the built in fan for extraction.

This solution doesn't require case modification so keeps the warranty.

I'll post details of the solution after I've experimented and got some temperature stats to relate.

[krunk]

sbv3000 said:

Hi all
I'm surprised at how 'hot' the yes box runs ever with 1 drive.

I've been working on a multi-fan (up to 6) upgrade that aims to circulate the air and push it towards the built in fan for extraction.

This solution doesn't require case modification so keeps the warranty.

I'll post details of the solution after I've experimented and got some temperature stats to relate.

I'm looking forward to your solution.

[marty]

I found out that if you tighten the HDD screws more the temperature is one or two degrees lower. I guest the heat dissipates thru the aluminum cage better when you increase the contact area.

[ktulaman]

leyton, looks like you did a really good job on the mod. What tool did you use to cut the hole on the side to fit the two fans? Is your mod effective in lowering the operating temperature of the disk drives? Are the fans you installed sucking air in or blowing air out?

If i keep the lid on for my N2100, the disk drives would get to about 50 degrees C. This summer on one particular hot weekend (temperature in the high 90s fahrenheit), it went as high as 57 degrees C. If i remove the lid and have a fan blow toward the box, then the temperature of the disk drives would go down to about 40 degrees C.

[leyton01]

I used a Dremel to cut the plastic, the screws and the mesh. Any similar high-speed rotary tool used for fine cutting work would do.

I placed the fans side by side on a piece of paper and traced around them so I knew how large the rectangle needed to be. I then transferred the measurements of the rectangle on to the side of the machine for cutting. I took the motherboard and everything else out of the case for cutting and when measuring where the fans go on the side I needed to take into account that the motherboard is slightly off the bottom of the case. You can't place your fans too low!

My N2100 was originally placed in a small cabinet and a couple of times it hit 65 degrees at full load (this is the shut down temp). After the fan mod it ran at about 55 degrees - still a bit high for me. I took it out of the cabinet and it is now 45 degrees under full load (2 x 500GB seagates) and 40 degrees idle (I am not sure if the sleep function for the HDDs is running or not, no real way to tell).

It is definitely noisier (no surprise with 2 extra fans) but heat was my main concern. I will try running the fan control on low when the new firmware arrives and see how that affects the heat and noise. Hopefully with the 2 extra fans and extra air holes it will still be cool enough when run on low. The single fan is hopelessly inadequate.

Both of the fans blow out of the case, the idea is to have a cross flow going with fresh cool air coming in through the holes on the other side and comig across the HDDs.

An 80mm/120mm external fan would have been quieter and might have improved the cooling even more but as far as I could tell this is the only way of installing fans internally - there just isnt room to do it with any other combination. I wanted the N2100 to maintain its portability and robustness.

[ktulaman]

Thanks for the info Leyton. I went out and bought a Dremel rotary kit. I drilled about 20 holes on the side of case close to the memory module, and on the opposite side of the case, i cut a hole big enough to fit two Link Depot 40x40x20mm fans. The Link Depot fans supposedly have air flow capacity of 8.5 CFM. I don't have the "fancy" metal mesh yet since i want to make sure this solution is actually working for me before pretty it up.

I don't seem to be having the success that you are having. With ambient room temperature at about 75 degrees F (24 degrees C), the idle temperature is 47 - 48 degrees C. It does not appear that the newly installed fans are drawing enough hot air away from the disk drives. Under load, the temperature increases by 1 or 2 degrees C. Not sure if it makes any difference - i have two Seagate Barracuda 400 GB SATA 3.0Gbps disk drives in JBOD configuration. So in theory, only one disk drive should be active at any one time.

I have been collecting temperature stats from the N2100 the previous day. I wrote a simple script and configured the cron in the N2100 to write the temperature reading every minute. I noticed that even when idle, with the lid removed, the temperature of the disk drives would be about 45-46 degrees C. When i had a fan blowing toward N2100, then the disk drive temperature would lower to about 39-40 degrees C.

If i am not mistaken, you are using the Spire fans (www.coolerguys.com/840556058212.html) in your mod right? May be the fans i installed are not pushing enough hot air out of the case.

[leyton01]

What fan speed do you have it set to - high/low or auto?

Also adding the fan speed to the monitoring script might be an idea.

[ktulaman]

The latest beta firmware from Thecus allows the fan speed to be set at either normal or high. I have it running at high.

It seems like because i am sharing the power outlet for the fan among three fans, the overall fan speed for the three fans when comparing with just using one fan has dropped significantly, from a normal of about 4000-5000 RPM to 1000-2000 RPM.

[leyton01]

Technically the fans should all run at about full speed but do you know which one you are monitoring? Also how have you split the cables to go to fans (y-connectors)? Only 1 will be able to supply RPM details (the one with the yellow wire running to it). I was thinking about this this afternoon and I'm not sure if its possible but can you run the fans all off an external power supply? If you have a PSU sitting around and some molex to 3 pin adaptors try running them all at full speed to see if that improves the temps. Obviously it is not a long term solution but it at least tells you where the problem might lie.

Because they are all running off the same motherboard header you have to be careful not to draw too much power (3 small fans should be ok) and it might suffer from this slow down problem. Also how effective is the new beta software in actually controlling the fan - have you noticed any change in the rpms when it heats up or cools down?

Remember you can also fit 50mmx20mm fans in but 60mm are too big from memory.

When I have more time I will have to investigate how well my other 2 fans are being powered and what rpm they are actually running at.