Receiver Cooling Fan

[Hifirob2]

Rob,

Good point about the dust going in due to the air blowing in. Here some other options I've found.

http://www.directron.com/ecnp701.html?gsear=1 -Not sure what direction the fans turn and how I'd need to set it. At the price it may be worth a try either way.

http://www.buyextras.com/dualfanhardr1.html - This looks like the ticket. I would just have to wire up my own power supply. Not a fan of the yellow, but I can always paint it. I also don't think I can make a two fan operation for much cheaper.

Thoughts on these?

First, I do agree that a fan should only be used when needed. My main amp has a tuner and EQ stacked on top of it, so it really doesn't have good ventilation - however, it still never gets more than a little warm, so I don't use a fan.

My receivers do need extra help. Their heat sinks aren't as large as they need to be, so the heat is noticeable, and I worry about it enough to use fans. My AV amps must have some design flaw - the heat sinks are huge, and remain very cool. However, it has some sort of video enhancer amp that gets very hot - so I need the fans. Dust is an issue, but I clean my amps regularly, so I'm not too worried.

The first link you posted - the laptop cooler - intrigues me. But if I'm interpreting the noise level correctly (<19dBA), it will be very noisy.

The second one looks like a great one - aside from the color. It looks like it has a traditional 3 prong plug for a tower computer. You'll just need to use two of them hooked up to a transformer. I think the yellow wire is to activate the fan at a certain temp. That will be of no use on your receiver I would think. I'm also thinking it will be ok noise-wise, because most 12V computer fans run at 6 volts and work fine. I'd still run it at 3 or 4.5 volts - to make it silent, yet still completely effective.

You sure know how to research these - and find GREAT prices! :thmbsp:

Rob