The KiwiSDR 2 online store is open for orders! Please visit kiwisdr.nz
first fan died... how long do these things last- what other cooling alternatives ?
I've got some more of these little fanlets from another application, and I'll try and splice in that mini-connector with some careful soldering and heat shrink. I know these are not mil-spec fans and are Chineseium consumables, but how long have others had 'em running?
I love this radio!
John
I love this radio!
John
Comments
Alternative fans and ideas are mentioned in these posts:
http://forum.kiwisdr.com/discussion/comment/8667#Comment_8667
http://forum.kiwisdr.com/discussion/comment/7102
In a posting about this same issue here a year or so ago I specified a cost-effective, good quality, known-brand ball-bearing alternate from a surplus source that I and others have used - in this case, the forum's search will probably be your friend.
73,
Clint
KA7OEI
Appreciate it!
John
Ron
KA7U
Perfect for the job.
I want original replacement fans if possible. It do help if the quality is better too as the original fan from Seed is a joke with such a short life span.
Update:
Found it in anther thread, here: https://www.alltronics.com/cgi-bin/item/28F082/search/Sunon-5V-Fan-Size--30mm-x-30mm-x-6mm-
Thanks.
I too had problems with the factory fan and replaced several with Clint's suggestion https://www.alltronics.com//cgi-bin/item/28F082/search/Sunon-5V-Fan-Size--30mm-x-30mm-x-6mm-
I've now replaced four fans with this alternative but have just recently had to replace one of the alternatives when it too started to get noisy at the remote, poorly climate-conditioned site. It gets both hot and cold at that remote site so maybe this is to be expected. If someone finds an even better substitute or can identify a good maintenance plan for these (change oil every 20k km?) I'd be interested. Maybe this is just going to be part of the cost of keeping a Kiwi running continuously...
One of my ball bearing fans (installed on May 1--see above) got noisy and was failing . Peeling back the label and putting some thin synthetic lubricant has made it like new at least for the time being (thank you Ron!)
While I was at it, I decided to see if I could quiet one of the fans in my Pi stack that is serving some other SDRs with sleeve bearing-ed fans of the same tiny size as these. No dice.
Looks like 7 months before servicing. Not too terrible for cheap Chineseium fans, but kind of a pain to get to in order to service. I think next time I might take the end pieces off the kiwi cabinets and aim the airflow from a 120mm 12V fan running on 5 V into the end. I suspect I'd net more air with longer fan life and with less noise.
John
Two of my KiwiSDR units lost the fans finally. So I took them out, blew out the bugs, and put them back together without the fans. Set the two units on edge, with one end elevated 1 1/2" by using a book for a shim. Both of them ran fanless through the summer in the garage. High temperature in there was 95 degrees F this summer and the low is 55 in the winter. ( heated garage). Don't know if the on edge and elevating one end was necessary, but blowing out the bugs was seriously needed. LOL
They continue to run fine.
Ron - KA7U