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I need advice on adding a fan. HELP!
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Posted by: astrose00

I can't find the answer to my question in any previous posts.

I upgraded my AT&T Series2 130040 Tivo by adding a 120 plus 80GB HDs. The internal temp is steady at 50C. I am thinking of adding a fan. Which should I purchase and where should it be placed in the unit? Do I need to drill holes or can I use velcro tape? I think I read it should blow air onto the power supply. Note, I don't want to replace, I want to ADD. Is the power supply powerful enough?

If there IS a thread with instructions, someone please send it to me.

Thanks.

Posted by: Gadguy

I like the weaknees solution, a bracket that holds the drives and aims a fan at the chips on the motherboard with the heat sinks, and a device that delays the power on of the 2nd drive so that the surge when the unit is turned on is lower. If you just want to add a fan, be careful of the air flow in the box. I'm not sure about your model, but my unit expects air from the front side to be drawn back to the center of the unit. A fan blowing in the wrong direction can create dead zones that are worse than no fan at all.

Posted by: weaknees

The TwinBreeze doesn't work with the 130040 unit. For that, all we have are replacement fans here:

http://www.weaknees.com/tivo_parts_bin.php

That unit should be fine with two drives provided the drives aren't too out of line with regards to heat dissipation. 50C is pretty hot - what type of drives are they?

Michael

Posted by: astrose00

They are WD 7200 RPM drives. 120 and 80GB to be exact. Last night I went back into the unit and hotwired the fan to a Y adapter so it was using 12V instead of 7V. I also had purchased a smaller fan and fastened it to the underside of the HD bracket near the OEM fan. Since I fastened the HD using only 2 screws, there are 2 empty holes. So I used one. The smaller fan is nearly perpendicular to the OEM fan but angled towards it(about 85 degrees). It is exhausting more air from the motherboard/hard drive area and forcing it to the OEM fan which sends it outside of the unit. I can feel more air flowing through the "outflow" side now. The fan does not appear to be obstructing anything on the motherboard.

In addition, I used the rolled up paper trick. I also pointed my house fan in the general vicinity of the left side (inflow) of the TiVo. I plan to purchase a couple of small clip-on fans on the left side of the shelf so the air flow is more direct.

So what's the difference, you ask? I went from 50C to 41-42C. Not too bad. I am hoping that with the clip-on fans, I can get it to below 40. Keep in mind my apartment is like a sauna. It's usually 80F or more.

I would really like to experiment with taking the HDs out of the TiVo completely and housing them elsewhere. I read something about it but I can't find the thread. Does anyone have any suggestions? I would prefer to not have to leave the TiVo case open (not even a little bit)

One more thing, I have a maxtor and a WD HD in my 1998 computer. I touched them and they are both pretty hot and I haven't had a single problem with that computer. It's going strong. Knock wood. So I'm not sure how hot is too hot for a hard drive.

Is 41-42 good enough or should I keep trying to lower it?

Posted by: weaknees

41 to 42 is pretty good. What's amazing is how much heat those WD drives throw off (7200s at least). Any chance you could return those drives and get cooler ones, like Samsungs or Maxtors? I think that would obviate most of the heat-dispersion methods that you're using.

Michael

Posted by: astrose00

I doubt I could return them since I've opened and used them already. I got one from PCwarehouse and the other from CircuityCity ($69 after rebate). If 41-42 is good then I will just see how it goes. I will still try the external clip-on fans to try to get under 39C.

Does anyone know how to house the HDs outside TiVo? I would really like to try this. I really think a major problem with the Orig Series2 I have is that the HDs are too close together.