[TenTec] Cooling the Orion

Sat May 8 08:15:10 EDT 2004

Funny you mentioned the darkening of the left hand side of the display... My
Orion's display does that too after about an hour or so of power-up...

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tommy" <aldermant at alltel.net>
To: <tentec at contesting.com>
Sent: Saturday, May 08, 2004 4:31 AM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Cooling the Orion

> I'm really not 'pressurizing' anything, mearly generating a slight air
flow
> out of the top of the Orion through the speaker grill. The intake ports
> would be mainly the ports on the bottom of the radio, especially the ones
> under the front panel. With the fan speed cranked down so the fan makes no
> noise, there is just a gently flow of air exhausted out the top.
>
> One side benefit I have noticed:  the left side of my LCD screen had
become
> slightly darker than the rest of the screen (about an inch wide,
> vertically), now that has completely cleared up.
>
> Tom - W4BQF
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Robert & Linda McGraw K4TAX" <RMcGraw at Blomand.Net>
> To: <tentec at contesting.com>
> Sent: Friday, May 07, 2004 10:01 PM
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] Cooling the Orion
>
>
> > Question:  Are you exhausting air from the cabinet, or pressurizing the
> > cabinet?  And what is expected to be the intake or exhaust ports?
> >
> > 73
> > Bob, K4TAX
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Tommy" <aldermant at alltel.net>
> > To: <tentec at contesting.com>
> > Sent: Friday, May 07, 2004 2:55 PM
> > Subject: [TenTec] Cooling the Orion
> >
> >
> > I do not recommend this mod as there is no engineering/technical
> > justification for it, however it  is my personal choice to do so.
> >
> > Having been a microwave circuit design engineer and having designed
> several
> > integrated circuits in my career, I have an 'obsession' about keeping
heat
> > out of solid state devices. My Orion has the Ten Tec fan on the heat
sink.
> > The Orion sits in a custom shelf, open in the front, back, and both
sides.
> > It sits with the bail up  and about four inches clearance on the top in
> > front, and about seven inches clearance on the top, in the back.
> >
> > During normal operations, meaning with it running all day, I observer
the
> > top of the case getting, not hot, but very warm to the touch. (It is
most
> > likely designed to withstand this (small) heat build-up, but I just
don't
> > like it. A digital therometer just placed on top of the Orion, shows a
15
> to
> > 20 degree F temperature rise above ambient during normal operation
> > (primarily CW).
> >
> > The Orion has one of the best sounding internal speakers I've ever heard
> on
> > a Ten Tec piece of equipment, however I use either headphones or an
> external
> > speaker. Dead PC power supplies normally have a 12 vdc fan in them that
> > seldom go bad. The PC pwr supply fans I have in my junk box have
mounting
> > hole spacings of 3 1/4 inch. Remove the Orion top cover and the internal
> > speaker has mounting holes that are spaced 3 1/4 inches. The depth of
the
> > internal speaker is deeper than that of the pwr supply fans.
> >
> > VERY BASIC
> >
> > Remove the speaker plug from it's socket in the top of the Orion. Remove
> the
> > speaker bracket, then the  four screws holding the speaker to the custom
> > bracket.The holes in the speaker bracket are tapped, so find some
mounting
> > screws that will fit in the tapped holes. (Do not use a washer/nut on
the
> > upper side of the speaker bracket as the top cover would no longer fit
on
> > the Orion.) Select the length of the fan mounting screws so that with
the
> > fan mounted, the end of the screw is at least 1/16 inch below the rubber
> > vibration pad on the speaker bracket.
> >
> > The old PC pwr supply fan is noisy when run at 12vdc. I added a 100 ohm
> > resistor in series with the +12vdc wire going to the fan. (If you do
this,
> > don't forget to put heat shrink tubing over the resistor and the
soldered
> > leads.) The points I selected to obtain +12vdr is the very same point
> where
> > the rear +12vdc RCA connector obtains it's voltage and the ground
> connection
> > is the same point on the vertical PC board in the rear  of the Orion
that
> is
> > used for the +12vdc RCA connector shell. I very carefully soldered the +
> > and - fan dc supply leads to those two points. I ran the fan wires along
> the
> > vertical aluminum panel on the right side, internally, of the Orion and
I
> > used 'spot-tie' to hold it snuggy to the other wires along that same
> > location.
> >
> > RESULTS
> >
> > Not earth-shattering -- doesn't improve/degrade performance the least
> bit --
> > but now there in no temperature rise with  the digital therometer
sitting
> on
> > top of the Orion for a full day's operation. The top cover remains at
> > ambient temperature all day. The main thing that may be gained by doing
> this
> > is some help in possibly preventing long-term failure problems due to
> > sustained heat environment in the Orion.
> >
> > As I said, I'm  kinda obsessed with keeping all solid state devices as
> cool
> > as possible. Took about  2 hours to complete.
> >
> > Tom - W4BQF
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> >
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