Anyone added a fan to an Asus N66U or other ways to keep it cool?

[JoBo]

My new Asus certified N66R router has been running over a month without any burps and two weeks ago I flashed to John's "forked" version of Merlin's software and everything is good
Usually it's just one user, me, wired and one or two of my Android devices using 2.4 GHz.
Early on and now my daughter and two grand children are here for a few days and they tend to be heavy wireless users consisting of an apple phone using 5GHz an ipad and a Kindle on 2.4 GHz.
I have my router sitting on my desk using the provided stand and the temperatures of the 2.4 and 5 under "cooler status" has been 53c & 54c and seems to be constant regardless of users.

I've read here that 50c seems to be the border between warm and hot and am thinking about ways to cool it. I've not opened the case yet and am wondering if there are any provisions to mount a small fan internally?

thanks
JoBo

 

[hggomes]

Do you really think that ASUS would release passive routers to the market if they were not ready to work that way or without doing several temperature enviroment testing?

1. You will loose your warranty after modding / installing a cooler or opening the case.
2. You will increase noise, power consumption and dust inside the router.

If you are being paranoid that much with temperatures then just open the case and you will have exactly the same results as with a cooler installation, you will avoid noise and power consumption at least.

You shoud read the tech docs, CPU TJMAX is 130º and RADIOS TJMAX is 90º, so nothing is wrong on your router.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

I agree with the post above those radio temps are normal and nothing to worry about.

 

[Pierino]

I added a fan to a used rt-n66u that I bought on eBay. It kept rebooting, I posted about it in a thread and every one said it was within tolerance but since installing the fan it never reboots.

 

[hggomes]

That's because your heatsink on the router is not making contact like it should with the shields or the heatpads are not in place, it's not the first router on those conditions and it will not be the last, specially when routers are disassembled by users without having the care later of installing the cooling system properly.

I ask the same to you:

Do you really think that ASUS would release passive routers to the market if they were not ready to work that way or without doing several temperature enviroment testing?

Those situations are isulated cases, you can fix it easily by disassembling the router and put all parts in place and then remove the fan, you will notice that after will work just fine without a glitch.

You should have monitorized your router temperatures at the time it was rebooting so you could do a comparation, even now with active cooling i bet the temperatures are higher than they should be with a fan installed, and that's because the situation i previous described, you should fix it.

 

[helomoto]

CPU temperature dropped from 83 to 63.

However, since I returned my ac68U, its cooling my old Asus N16 now.(Not that it really needs cooling)

 

[hggomes]

Nice Boing 787

You will get the same temperatures with AC68U opened, why you have used it?

 

[Pierino]

Hggomes, I checked the heatsink before I did any of that.
It was even sent to asus for them to fix it, they wanted $110 to repair it.
I declined as I could have bought a new one for that.
Something was causing the router to ever heat. Shortly after I got it back from asus, two of the lan ports stopped working, so I assume something was/is wrong with the hardware but the heatsink was not the problem.

I never said my fan solved the problem but it did lower the temperatures. I monitored them before the fan. I posted those temps here in the forum. Now they are about 10 degrees lower.
I've never said anything before because you have helped me and others but sometimes you come off as condescending.
My warranty was voided. I bought it as non functioning on eBay. One fan for $6, some hot glue, a few minutes work and I have a router that doesn't reboot.

Here is my previous thread. http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=19822

 

[helomoto]

Nice Boing 787

You will get the same temperatures with AC68U opened, why you have used it?

If you are referring to the noise it makes, it was almost silent with those mini fans. I used it mostly because I overclocked cpu to 1.2Ghz and increased TX power to 500 mW. It probably didn't really need a fan, but it cost me only 9 bucks, so why not. Also, I can probably reuse it for cooling harddrives, etc.

About the ac68u with open case, lets face it, looks better with case on. Plus you lose warranty if you open it.

 

[hggomes]

I guess then you have USB cooling system.

 

[wh7qq]

I used it mostly because I overclocked cpu to 1.2Ghz and increased TX power to 500 mW.

Don't hold it near your head! If the fans ever quit, you might just have a fire. Are Asus cases certified to UL 94?

 

[KevTech]

I wonder if fans are increasing the electrical noise that the radios would have to deal with.

The first version of the RT-N66U had a fan but that version was never released.

Maybe Asus found the fan increased the noise level that the radios had to deal with.

 

[xeqw]

Get one of these and plug it into the usb port.

Talking about heat though, why do Asus routers run so hot? My Archer C7 runs barely warm, and I hear that Netgear doesn't heat up much either.

 

[msb]

Product Engineering

The product was engineered to be used as it is sold. You can rest assured that operating temperatures played a major role in the design of the product.

 

[wouterv]

Get one of these and plug it into the usb port.

Adding a USB fan is sort of anti perpetium mobile.
The fan drains power from the USB port, more power consumption means more heat production.
By nature electronics generate heat. The generated heat adds up to the ambient temperature. The higher the ambient temperature, the more problems are expected.
The router must placed such that the heat can escape and the router does not get heated by other devices.
Place the router on a hard surface (leaving some space under its bottom), in an open space with free air circulation (not inside a cabinet) and not on top of an other electronic device (e.g. Modem, TV or DVD player).

 

[helomoto]

Adding a USB fan is sort of anti perpetium mobile.
The fan drains power from the USB port, more power consumption means more heat production.
By nature electronics generate heat. The generated heat adds up to the ambient temperature. The higher the ambient temperature, the more problems are expected.
The router must placed such that the heat can escape and the router does not get heated by other devices.
Place the router on a hard surface (leaving some space under its bottom), in an open space with free air circulation (not inside a cabinet) and not on top of an other electronic device (e.g. Modem, TV or DVD player).

Yea, except in this case the "cool" wins over the "heat". Heatsinks work best when they can trap cool air

The product was engineered to be used as it is sold. You can rest assured that operating temperatures played a major role in the design of the product.

I think you are giving them too much credit. They design them, first of all, to look aesthetically pleasing and be able to last for at least a warranty period and maybe few years after it ends. After that you are expected to throw away/sell your old router to buy a shiny new one.

 

[msb]

Yea, except in this case the "cool" wins over the "heat". Heatsinks work best when they can trap cool air



I think you are giving them too much credit. They design them, first of all, to look aesthetically pleasing and be able to last for at least a warranty period and maybe few years after it ends. After that you are expected to throw away/sell your old router to buy a shiny new one.

Of course they are not designed to last forever, but I'm sure that consideration was given to operating temperatures and component tolerances during product development, if for no other reason, to ensure that they survive beyond their warranty. I don't buy into the frequent talk of heat causing intermittent issues, heat failures are fatal.

 

[Nullity]

Yea, except in this case the "cool" wins over the "heat". Heatsinks work best when they can trap cool air



I think you are giving them too much credit. They design them, first of all, to look aesthetically pleasing and be able to last for at least a warranty period and maybe few years after it ends. After that you are expected to throw away/sell your old router to buy a shiny new one.

The electronics on the inside of my RT-N66U are ugly and looks to have been designed by an electrical engineer. The case undoubtedly focuses on aesthetics. I could be wrong, but I think the case and internal electronics were designed by two separate groups, each with very different goals.

In my opinion, the fact that the case is hot is proof that the heat dissipates away from the critical electronics efficiently.

Respect must be given to the designer of the RT-N66U's exterior. I mostly prefer function over form, but damn... that thing looks wicked.

 

[wh7qq]

The electronics on the inside of my RT-N66U are ugly and looks to have been designed by an electrical engineer. The case undoubtedly focuses on aesthetics. I could be wrong, but I think the case and internal electronics were designed by two separate groups, each with very different goals.

In my opinion, the fact that the case is hot is proof that the heat dissipates away from the critical electronics efficiently.

Respect must be given to the designer of the RT-N66U's exterior. I mostly prefer function over form, but damn... that thing looks wicked.

First off, see http://www.electronics-cooling.com/2004/02/the-temperature-ratings-of-electronic-parts/ for some reality regarding semiconductor temperature tolerance. From this I would say that 70C is a realistic limiting point but well below the smoke level

Asus is one of the more reputable mfgrs of computer components, including motherboards, drives and networking appliances such as routers. They have a reputation for solid reliability across their lines but no semiconductor device is immune from failure at any time in its life, from the first second it is turned on.

Heat, humidity and pollution are the enemy. Capacitors, especially on switching power supplies, take a terrific beating from heat unless they have very low internal series resistance. Asus and their Chinese contract manufacturers buy their parts on the open market like everyone else. They all hope that they get authentic products and not counterfeits that don't meet specs.

I can tell you from experience working in the field of electronics product development, that there is always some tension between engineering, industrial design and marketing departments and case design and operating temperatures are always a consideration. Marketing always wants an attractive product, as small as possible, and without fans if at all possible. Industrial design follows with a small, pretty face, and engineering provides the sanity check when the board they design won't operate within acceptable parameters inside the confining case, without a fan or exposed heat sinks. It is always a bargaining session. Hopefully the end product has the issues worked out in favor of reliable operation. It depends a bit on the organizational culture and balance of power.

A fan is always a last resort from a design standpoint because they too are prone to fail and if the design depends on them for adequate cooling, the product will follow.

 

[KevTech]

I remember when most Motherboard manufacturers started using fans to cool the chipset...then the fans would fail or slow down...motherboard would lock up or fail...many people calling support.

Fans are no longer favored on Motherboards as most if not all manufacturers now just use heatsinks.