[TenTec] Loud fan PS 963

[Gary Hoffman]

Jerry is correct in what he says below of course.  Another thing to consider 
is the space between finger guards, filters, perforated metal, or anything 
else the air has to flow through.  If the fan blades are spinning very 
closely spaced to items such as these, they will make loud, often tonal, 
noise.  Increasing the spacing or removing the obstructions (if practical) 
will often reduce noise.  Clean the blades off also - built up stuff on the 
edges will make lots of noise.

73 de Gary, AA2IZ


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dr. Gerald N. Johnson" <geraldj at weather.net>
To: <tentec at contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 27, 2009 7:46 PM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Loud fan PS 963


> On Sun, 2009-09-27 at 15:31 -0400, Martin Ewing wrote:
>> Greg,
>>
>> I agree that the fan is too loud.  I have lived with it for a long time, 
>> but
>> now you're making me think that action may be required!
>>
>> You could take Tony's approach, but another way to do it would be to put 
>> a
>> resistor in series with the fan.  That would limit its maximum speed 
>> (noise
>> is a rapidly increasing function of rpm).  The cooling would be less, and
>> the thermal switch would stay "on" for a greater percentage of the time, 
>> but
>> the noise would be less.
>>
>> You could also bypass the thermal switch and let the fan run 
>> continuously,
>> but more slowly.  You'd have to satisfy yourself that the PS is cool 
>> enough
>> under max. load and at max. ambient temperature.  You might replace the 
>> fan
>> with a slower, quieter model if you ran it continuously.
>>
>> The on-off "bang bang" temperature controller is cheap, but rather crude. 
>> A
>> proportional controller that adjusts rpm smoothly would be a lot 
>> friendlier
>> - similar to what you get with some computer systems.
>>
>> 73 Martin AA6E
>>
>> On Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 8:25 AM, Tony Berg <tony.w1ot at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>
> Fans are made noisy and are made quiet. Noise can be bearings or wind.
> Bearing noise indicates a need for lubrication. Usually its right
> through the middle of the label on a muffin fan. Cut an X with a sharp
> knife and inject a bit of sewing machine oil.
>
> Alternatively measure the fan dimensions and see if you can find its air
> flow rating, then go to a major distributor like Mouser (www.mouser.com)
> and browse their selection of muffin fans for a fan with the same
> voltage rating, same size, but a quieter noise rating. The quietest
> muffin fans have serrated trailing edges on the blades. A lot like a
> bird's wing feathers. New small fans are not expensive and Mouser is a
> good place to deal with.
>
> 73, Jerry, K0CQ
>
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