Tuesday 12 July 2011

toasty modem!

BT business broadband modems run hot (at least the 2Wire ones do). They also have no heatsinks or fans, but then at "room temperature" this isn't a problem.
The problem arises when you put said modem in a smallish room with about 800w of computing equipment and two people. On a warm day the room hit's between 25 and 27°C and the modem gets a little flakey.


Enter: the big fan!

From modem

I chose this one because it runs quite happily on 5v and is nice and quiet, screwed it onto the lid of a spare modem and swapped the lids over this morning. (hopefully) problem solved!

1 comment:

  1. I find it's usually enough not to bother with a fan, just take the cover, put masking tape over it then mark a grid on it and drill a bunch of ventilation holes. If the processor has no heatsink at all you could use thermal epoxy to attach one, but I'd do the vent holes first then wait and see if it needs more.

    Fans can be necessary in some situations but can clog it up with dust, get noisy on a device with 24/7 use after some bearing wear, and in many cases these devices have front LED indicators with clear plastic light guides, which if you put holes in the casing top, create a cool glow of light effect shining out the top.

    ReplyDelete