Another Cabinet Cooling Topic

[bsoder52]

OK, read the other 2 strings on Cabinet cooling, but looking for a little more help.

First, what are the best types of fans to buy and the easiest to hook up?  Do they plug into a 12v powerstrip or are we talking about opening up the pc tower case and plugging things into the motherboard?

Next, it seems the general concencious is to have one fan blowing in cool air near the bottom of the cab, and one near the top blowing out the hot air.  Any more thoughts here?

Next, cost, and websites would be apprecated.  I stopped at Radio Shack and Best Buy today and they wanted like $16.00 per fan, those crazy retail chains.  \


Thanks guys!
Bsoder52

[Homebrew]

Well you can take your pic on the fans.  You can get fans that run off AC power(plug directly into your powerstrip/wall socket) or you can get a DC fan that plugs into your PC powersupply.  You're right as far as the general trend with fan placement.  The general idea though seems to suck cool air from down low and blow hot air out the top.  I myself have just one fan mounted low in my cab blowing out the back.  But i also have a large opening behind the tv at the back of the cab so i'm probably getting a bit more air than most people.   For the fans, try http://www.jameco.com/.

-Kevin

[skirge66]

I haven't tackled this problem myself...yet...

but when I was in the navy, we used pairs of 6" fans bolted to a bracket as emergency cabinet cooling for our sonar system, these fans were bought at a local store like home depot,or fry's electronics. they plugged into a standard ac socket, and worked really well.

my plan is to use 6 of them...I know it might be overkill, but in my humble opinion there is no such thing when it comes to cooling electronics. I plan to mount 2 at the bottom front of the cab in intake cool air from outside, 2 mounted in the lower rear to ventilate hot air out, and 2 mounted in the topabove the monitor to ventilate hot air away from the monitor. I plan to have a power strip spacificly for cooling and lighting only. I will try to find a website that carries the fans I'm talking about when i have more time.

[bionicbadger]

I havent installed any cooling in my cabinet either yet, but my setup is a little bit like Homebrews.  I have strip of space open at the top of my back panel 4 or 5", and a couple of smaller holes on the bottom of the back panel to let air in.  

Those little fans are expensive like you said, so I was thinking about going to walmart or someplace and getting an 8" oscilating fan (like you would put on your desk, and they dont have to oscilate) and use that to move air in the cabinet (blow from the bottom up).  Its cheap and moves alot of air, and they arent that noisy.

[bsoder52]

Thanks for all the advice and info guys, and the link homebrew!
How hard is it to plug into the pcs power supply.  I'd ideally like to keep the cabinet and fans seperate from the pc, how do i know if the fan plugs into the pc or the power outlet?  12V is the standard for the power outlet right?  Does anyone know any good buys for fans which will plug into a powerstrip right out of the box I guess is the real question?

[BobA]

If you want to keep the cabinet fans separate from the PC then the easiest ones to use are the 120V AC fans that plug into a regular power outlet as long as you put an AC plug on them.  Where fans are sold the AC ones are usually sold without a plug and one needs to be attached.  

If you want to use 12V computer type fans then you either have to use a disk drive power connector from a PC or use a separate power supply if you require them to be standalone in the cabinet and not attached to the PC.

Please consider NOISE LEVEL when you install your fans.  Some fans are very loud (usually the high cfm ones).  Many AC cabinet type fans are in this catagory.    If you use computer type fans you can get almost silent ones that have less cfm but do not make a noticable noise.   You can also get variable cfm computer fans with manual or automatic operation.  Of course the trade off is price.  These cost more.

In an arcade fan noise might not be a problem but if you want to use the cabinet in a home enviroment or for MP3 play consider the impact of 4 noise generating fans.

BobA

[bsoder52]

Thanks for the added input Boba!  Does anyone know any links or good buys on a quiet fan which will plug into a standard powerstrip?  It seems if I could find a couple fans which fit both of those criteria I will be all set!

[Brad Lee]

I had terrible heating problems when my mobo was mounted in the "front" 1/2 of the cabinet, right behind the coin door, random lockups, all that stuff. I added a few fans- a regualr 80mm case fan blowing IN a little below the board, and a 120mm exhausting out(it exited right below the CP) that helped a bit but I still got some lockups..
Since moving the motherboard to the "back" of the cabinet, remove the back panel, and there it is, below to monitor, I have had no problems with heat, and the only fan running is the one on the CPU. A much larger space made a ton of difference

Of course this is a P3/750mhz.. whenever I get around to upgrading I ma have problems again