Router temperatures

[heysoundude]

My 2bits... Hot air rises + my Asus router was always somewhat jealous of the cool looks of a Nighthawk.
With this mod I combined aesthetics & performance...

Edit: It even supports LED-Off Mode (But not LED-ON ;-)

this ^ is brilliant. You win, @capncybo - I tip my hat to you!


UPDATE- in the ~1hr since I re-oriented mine this way, reported temps have increased by 8-9C to 87. I was bouncing between 75 and 78
while creative and amusing, this is NOT the Way.

 

[capncybo]

this ^ is brilliant. You win, @capncybo - I tip my hat to you!


UPDATE- in the ~1hr since I re-oriented mine this way, reported temps have increased by 8-9C to 87. I was bouncing between 75 and 78
while creative and amusing, this is NOT the Way.

To be honest, I was just being cheeky. But I really have been running my RT-AC68U exactly like this for quite some-time. But I'm doing it more-so for Data Port access & cable MGMT. In my case my 68U is currently holding a stable temp around 80-81C & as Steve/Aka Mr. Merlin has politely tried to point out (many, many times)... These sort of temperatures shouldn't cause any harm. I'm fairly comfortable running around these temps. But you do bring up an excellent point. Perhaps I should right the ol-beast & see if it runs much cooler. Or Maybe If (I/someone) still prefers my tilted option... Maybe try some rubber feet on the actual face... In-fact to do this with an AX86 I think you might have to use some rubber feet as the front is a slight V-shape.

Anyways I actually posted it more for amusement...
IMO this entire Thread-topic is way too serious + sometimes a little discouraging towards all the efforts of Steve/Mr. Merlin. We're all very lucky that he continues sharing his work & knowledge.

 

[Tech9]

my RT-AC68U

The router with heat management issue is RT-AC86U. I sense polite attempts to cover it up and I prefer to stop here.

 

[capncybo]

The router with heat management issue is RT-AC86U. I sense polite attempts to cover it up and I prefer to stop here.

Manufacturers will usually make every attempt to reduce costs hopefully while maintaining or maximizing performance. But perhaps Asus pushed it too far with the RT-AC86U & reduced build quality a tad too much. But obviously thats how buisness & profit margin work. However if you think for one moment that Merlin didn't get MORE than his deserved share of Thermal Complaints for EVERY single router model his firmware supports... you'd be mistaken.

Anyways I'm not saying what you've seen or experienced isn't real or valid.
I just hope Not every RT-AC86U suffers from the hardware shortcuts because I recommended & Installed one of these @ the Wife's Boss's business.

I was hoping for a reasonable combination of performance & reliability.
Hmmmmmm
Now I'm Wonder'n when My Name will be MUD

 

[heysoundude]

To be honest, I was just being cheeky. But I really have been running my RT-AC68U exactly like this for quite some-time. But I'm doing it more-so for Data Port access & cable MGMT. In my case my 68U is currently holding a stable temp around 80-81C & as Steve/Aka Mr. Merlin has politely tried to point out (many, many times)... These sort of temperatures shouldn't cause any harm. I'm fairly comfortable running around these temps. But you do bring up an excellent point. Perhaps I should right the ol-beast & see if it runs much cooler. Or Maybe If (I/someone) still prefers my tilted option... Maybe try some rubber feet on the actual face... In-fact to do this with an AX86 I think you might have to use some rubber feet as the front is a slight V-shape.

Anyways I actually posted it more for amusement...
IMO this entire Thread-topic is way too serious + sometimes a little discouraging towards all the efforts of Steve/Mr. Merlin. We're all very lucky that he continues sharing his work & knowledge.

Cheeky is good (especially in a thread that is WAY too serious and <ahem> hotly debated)! and it made sense to me since there are more (and bigger) vents on the back than the top. but it didn't work out like I thought it might, so live and learn, and now several hours later temps are back to normal...and in my case they're not high to begin with. But I'm still going to put a fan on the sucker in case the sub-standard thermal pads ever dry out/seperate/die a horrible fiery death taking my router with them.

 

[heysoundude]

I just hope Not every RT-AC86U suffers from the hardware shortcuts because I recommended & Installed one of these @ the Wife's Boss's business.

I was hoping for a reasonable combination of performance & reliability.
Hmmmmmm
Now I'm Wonder'n when My Name will be MUD

just take every opportunity to remind them to vacuum it out every so often, and if they really want to be careful, put it near an AC vent or get a wee fan for the beastie. a good business owner will recognize your efforts if it fails, and appreciate that, and if it goes 5 years before it gives up the ghost, I would think most people would be ok with that since it probably outlasted their cell phone.

 

[E3000]

My 2bits... Hot air rises + my Asus router was always somewhat jealous of the cool looks of a Nighthawk.
With this mod I combined aesthetics & performance...

Edit: It even supports LED-Off Mode (But not LED-ON ;-)

It already has vents at the top so hot air can still rise lol

 

[JacquesR]

While I didn't think the temperature of my RT-AC86U was anything to worry about (80-ish), this never-ending discussion piqued my interest, so I just picked up a cheap USB fan (15x8cm, with only a 2.4w draw), and plugged it into the NAS, aiming at the back of the router. Result = 52-ish degrees.

 

[askan7]

While I didn't think the temperature of my RT-AC86U was anything to worry about (80-ish), this never-ending discussion piqued my interest, so I just picked up a cheap USB fan (15x8cm, with only a 2.4w draw), and plugged it into the NAS, aiming at the back of the router. Result = 52-ish degrees.

Is my ac86u broken ? I have no fan, normal upright position.

Never had temperature issues and temp didn't increase with 386.1.

 

[Matthew Patrick]

Is my ac86u broken ? I have no fan, normal upright position.
View attachment 32183

Never had temperature issues and temp didn't increase with 386.1.

Either you're lucky AF in the HW department, or your environment temp is cold AF

 

[askan7]

Either you're lucky AF in the HW department, or your environment temp is cold AF

It's a 2020 router at 17°C ambient

 

[JacquesR]

It's a 2020 router at 17°C ambient

It's Summer here in South Africa, 25°C or so today. The firmware that brought us the temp increase wasn't around in our Winter, so I have no idea what my temps were then...

 

[ColDen]

It's a 2020 router at 17°C ambient

Mine is also a 2020 at 22°C ambient and the temperature only increased 4°C with 386.1 (was 70° before)

 

[gattaca]

^^^ My results for resting the router onto it's front side are similar to what @heysoundude posted. I also ran these other tests just for record and aid for those reading this thread:

1. Router resting on front with no fan -> reports hotter than vertical with no fan.
2. Router resting on front with fan strapped torear of router + exhausting out the rear -> reports hotter temps than vertical with same fan.
3. Router resting on front with fan strapped to rear of router + blowing INTO the rear of the router -> reports hotter temps than vertical with same fan, same orientation.

I think I've found the quietest compromise to where I cannot hear the fan but it keeps the temps per below and uses the USB 5VDC port for the miniscule amount of power these models need to spin up. Do not assume all 12VDC models can spin up at 5VDC... these NF-P* seem to be engineered to do that!

Stay safe, stay alive.

 

[heysoundude]

^^^ My results for resting the router onto it's front side are similar to what @heysoundude posted. I also ran these other tests just for record and aid for those reading this thread:

1. Router resting on front with no fan -> reports hotter than vertical with no fan.
2. Router resting on front with fan strapped torear of router + exhausting out the rear -> reports hotter temps than vertical with same fan.
3. Router resting on front with fan strapped to rear of router + blowing INTO the rear of the router -> reports hotter temps than vertical with same fan, same orientation.

I think I've found the quietest compromise to where I cannot hear the fan but it keeps the temps per below and uses the USB 5VDC port for the miniscule amount of power these models need to spin up. Do not assume all 12VDC models can spin up at 5VDC... these NF-P* seem to be engineered to do that!

woah, this is commitment.
but it's solid and almost scientific and hopefully puts to rest this discussion once and for all.
Good job @gattaca. And Thank you.
I'm sure any 12vdc fan running on 5vdc pushing a mass of air to absorb the router's heat into the back of it will do a more than acceptable job. it all gets down to how much noise is acceptable in the environment.

 

[pinkgrae]

AC86U here - 2019 version set as the main router for an Aimesh network - all temperatures below measured after letting the router settle for at least 2 hours after making the change

Prior to upgrading to 386.1_2, I had three (very) active LAN ports, all serving various clients via switches. I had no need to touch default pwr config settings as temperatures were always within a couple of degrees of 80C:

• 384.19, 3x LAN ports active, pwr config --cpuwait on, --eee off: consistent 79-82C

Upgrading to 386.1_2 I experienced a temperature increase to more than 96C with default settings for that version (i.e. cpuwait off). As this left very little headroom to the 100C throttling point, I decided to play with the pwr config settings, with the following results:

• 386.1_2, 3x LAN ports active, pwr config --wait off, --eee off: consistent 95-98C
• 386.1_2, 3x LAN ports active, pwr config --wait on, --eee off: consistent 92-95C
• 386.1_2, 3x LAN ports active, pwr config --wait off, --eee on: consistent 90-94C
• 386.1_2, 3x LAN ports active, pwr config --wait on, --eee on: consistent 88-92C

I felt this was still a bit high, so decided to daisy chain my existing switches with a fourth switch immediately behind the AC86U, leaving only one of the LAN ports on the router active. Results:

• 386.1_2, 1x LAN ports active, pwr config --wait off, --eee off: consistent 84-86C
• 386.1_2, 1x LAN ports active, pwr config --wait on, --eee off: consistent 80-83C
• 386.1_2, 1x LAN ports active, pwr config --wait on, --eee on: consistent 80-83C

So in my case, upgrading from 384.19 to 386.1_2 resulted in a temperature jump of ~16C, to within a few degrees of 100C. Reducing the number of active LAN ports resulted in a ~12C reduction in temperature, and enabling cpuwait gave me a further ~3C drop, very close to the temperatures experienced under 384.19. As expected, enabling eee had no effect with only one active LAN port, though it did reduce temperatures by ~2C when three LAN ports were active.

Edit: CPU temperature just dropped to 79C, current weather 37.0C / 14% humidity.

 

[mromero]

Meanwhile back at the ranch with last good firmware Asus RT AC 86U Merlin 384.19 no fans or gizmos 5 clients, streaming movies, music, working etc.

Current weather 22°C Precipitation: 44% Humidity: 96%

Current Temperatures: 47 °C - 53 °C - 75 °C

 

[Kees17760]

Does anyone know how much of a difference in temps and noise to expect, using the same fan to suck air OUT vs. blow air IN?
TIA

 

[MvW]

^^^ My results for resting the router onto it's front side are similar to what @heysoundude posted. I also ran these other tests just for record and aid for those reading this thread:

1. Router resting on front with no fan -> reports hotter than vertical with no fan.
2. Router resting on front with fan strapped torear of router + exhausting out the rear -> reports hotter temps than vertical with same fan.
3. Router resting on front with fan strapped to rear of router + blowing INTO the rear of the router -> reports hotter temps than vertical with same fan, same orientation.

I think I've found the quietest compromise to where I cannot hear the fan but it keeps the temps per below and uses the USB 5VDC port for the miniscule amount of power these models need to spin up. Do not assume all 12VDC models can spin up at 5VDC... these NF-P* seem to be engineered to do that!

View attachment 32208

Stay safe, stay alive.

Thanks for your guide. One question: the two 70mm (noisy) fans fit perfectly on the left and right backside if the router, with heightened center column in the middle. How do mount as 120 mm Noctua fan the most effective way?

I made a small shopping list with the fan you suggested, some corner pieces to reduce vibration, a pwm speed controller and an external power unit so I don't have to use the routers usb port. It'll set me down about 50 euros but it's better than the continuous noise I have in my living room right now. Unfortunately I do have no possibility to hide the router in a closet or something alike (which would probably affect airflow and temperature anyway).

 

[chongnt]

Thanks for your guide. One question: the two 70mm (noisy) fans fit perfectly on the left and right backside if the router, with heightened center column in the middle. How do mount as 120 mm Noctua fan the most effective way?

I made a small shopping list with the fan you suggested, some corner pieces to reduce vibration, a pwm speed controller and an external power unit so I don't have to use the routers usb port. It'll set me down about 50 euros but it's better than the continuous noise I have in my living room right now. Unfortunately I do have no possibility to hide the router in a closet or something alike (which would probably affect airflow and temperature anyway).

View attachment 32209

You have a nice list there. Would like to see how it turns out.
I reuse an old 12V 120mm fan, powered from one of the router usb port itself. I place the fan right at the center of the router. Since I position the fan to blow in to the vent, I can put a double sided tape at the center of the fan and stick to the back of the router. At first I use those plastic twist with wire at the center to hang the fan to the middle antenna. Later I read that it may cause unnecessary pressure to the antenna though the fan is not heavy. I then link up few cable ties and tie it across the router horizontally. It has been like this for two months now. I also add an usb cable on the other usb port to extend the thumb drive to behind the fan. This way the thumb drive doesn't get warm compared to directly plugin to the usb port.
By the way, another way to check the temperature from webpage is

http://router.asus.com/ajax_coretmp.asp