$9 Router Cooling (RT-AC68U Example)

[red_pope]

Might be worth monitoring the room temperature with and without the fan running: if the air in the small room is not being refreshed because the room is well sealed then the heat generated by the fan's motor (and the fan itself) will only serve to raise the ambient temperature. You could be better off without the fan. A couple of vents in the door, top and bottom, might be more effective than the fan. Worth checking with a thermometer, anyway.

Martin

As soon I read your posting, I did scramble back to the small room to check the ambiance temperature, it actually is running in the 70-75 degrees. I move my outdoor thermostat inside the room, that reads both in Celsius and Fahrenheit plus it has a humidity Gage. What surprise me, and surely did miss-out too notice, the door itself has a Luger small window that you could adjust for ventilation with a screen for bugs. My wife, had already adjust the small ventilation window. I told my wife, Thank You. She told me: If the small window was close, that room will be sealed and it will get hot at the long run. I did replied to my wife: 2 pair of eyes are better than one. Thank You again.

 

[martinr]

Martin

As soon I read your posting, I did scramble back to the small room to check the ambiance temperature, it actually is running in the 70-75 degrees. I move my outdoor thermostat inside the room, that reads both in Celsius and Fahrenheit plus it has a humidity Gage. What surprise me, and surely did miss-out too notice, the door itself has a Luger small window that you could adjust for ventilation with a screen for bugs. My wife, had already adjust the small ventilation window. I told my wife, Thank You. She told me: If the small window was close, that room will be sealed and it will get hot at the long run. I did replied to my wife: 2 pair of eyes are better than one. Thank You again.

You're more than welcome. Yes, 2 heads are always better than one. I'm slowly building up a mental image of your homestead, if that's the right word, from your various postings. It's probably nothing like the reality but it certainly sounds idyllic. Best wishes.

 

[mgeoffriau]

2 week report:

Since adding the fan, my RT-N66U has not dropped a single 2.4Ghz client (knock on wood). I tried the Low setting on the fan and temps stayed in the 41-42° C range, still well down from the peak 55-57° C I was seeing previously. I'm testing it out right now with the fan off, just to see how much of a difference the additional ventilation holes make on their own, but since it's climbing at about 1° C per minute at the moment, I will probably go back to the Low setting.

Preliminary conclusion: If you aren't having problems, and temps are in the normal ranges, don't bother. If you have intermittent problems that seem to resolve after a "cool off" period, then do some testing with a desk fan or laptop cooling pad. It might be all you need.

 

[phillychuck]

I just strapped a 120mm case fan to mine with zip ties and dropped temp from 86c to low 60's so far. My ambient is currently 27c. My main reason for concern is the heat might not kill the processor, but it will kill the caps much faster. I'll just blow it out when cleaning my other computers, the DataVac ED500 is dusts worst enemy .

 

[atkinsom]

Running the AC68U clocked at 1200,666 but started out at 1000,666 to see if it would hold nicely. Everything just seems snappier now. Thought about changing the RAM frequency to 800 but don't really see any overall benefit. Very happy with my temps running John's Fork and setup with an 8 dollar fan from Walmart.

 

[XeoNoX]

i was running around 87C average

so i decided to put a 120mm 12v pc fan on my RT-AC68U using a 12v 1amp (1,000ma) DC power adapter. with the fan on there strapped to the back i am now running at around 46C-53C, with average being 48C-51C depending on time of day. the ambient temp of my room during the day is about 30C (85F).

Best thing about this fan mod is it cools it off very well and it doesnt void the warranty. since my router is kinda hidden i idont care how it looks, for those that care about the way it looks you may wanna go a different route. this is fast and simple, took me about 10 mins.

i just stripped the wires on the fan and dc power supply and connected via crimps the BLACK with the BLACK and the RED with the RED. And then ziptied it to the center of the router.

tools need:
wirestripper
wire crimpers
electrical tap
10-22 gauge crimps


3 zipties - free from a friend
Rosewill 120mm 4 red LED case Fan 7.99 newegg or amazon
120mm fan grill $3.00 ebay
12v 1 amp DC power adapter (free, had one laying around) $7.00 on amazon or $4.00 on ebay

(NOTE: if you want to fan to spin slower cause its too loud, you can lower the RPMs by buying a lower voltage power supply like a 7.5 or 9v, just be sure its 1 amp minimum)

 

[hggomes]

 

[Deleted member 22229]

Try cleaning some of the dirt out of that router and you may not need the fan.

 

[hggomes]

You maybe mean:

"Try not having a cooler sending dust inside the router when is not needed at all, so you don't need to clean it anymore."

 

[rtn66uftw]

I don't think this is necessary. Mine has been running at 85-86C for more than 4 years. Not a single problem

 

[XeoNoX]

Try cleaning some of the dirt out of that router and you may not need the fan.

You maybe mean:

"Try not having a cooler sending dust inside the router when is not needed at all, so you don't need to clean it anymore."

LoL, yea i know, i have it on the floor practically and the fan blows the dust inside, i need to put it a few feet higher up, but i dust out the router and my PC and other expensive electronics around the house once every 3 months or so with my air compressor (with a moisture filter) so the dust is not that big of a deal to me, its due for another cleaning in about a month or so.

 

[hggomes]

TJMAX is 125ºC, there's not much more to say about it, active cooling is simply not needed / non-sense, there's a good reason for manufacturer not use it.

I'm sure you clean your computer with an air compressor to remove the dust, but you probably not doing the same on your router, unless you open it (and loose warranty), dust get stucked inside making temperatures go even higher.

I usually recommend people which add fans on the routers to give a try on LN2 instead, the temperatures are definitely lower and no dust inside, if you know what i mean...

 

[XeoNoX]

TJMAX is 125ºC, there's not much more to say about it, active cooling is simply not needed / non-sense, there's a good reason for manufacturer not use it.

I'm sure you clean your computer with an air compressor to remove the dust, but you probably not doing the same on your router, unless you open it (and loose warranty), dust get stucked inside making temperatures go even higher.

I usually recommend people which add fans on the routers to give a try on LN2 instead, the temperatures are definitely lower and no dust inside, if you know what i mean...

as the famous saying goes ... "to each their own"... its a known fact that heat lowers the life cycle of electronics, figuring i plan on keeping it well past the warranty period i figure i would add a fan, im sure there are others that feel the same way as i am sure there are others that feel the way you do, thus i say again...to each their own.

 

[Makaveli]

lol why all the hate for adding $20 coolers to these routers.

Yes TJMAX is 125c but in all my years of overclocking hardware I would rather it be running as cool as possible even if it can take it.

I got a 20c drop in temps when I added a laptop cooling pad to mine and very happy I did.

 

[hggomes]

Are you really comparing temperatures on an overclocked computer vs an overclocked router?

Those are not even comparable, in case you didn't tested the router stock vs overclocked temperatures at it's worst will be extra 1-3ºC (even 100% overclocked ex: AC68U 800@1600mhz), not the case on a computer which can increase 30ºC or even more.

That's the main reason for computers use active cooling and routers don't, as mentioned before you can add any cooling system to your router, active cooling, water cooling or even LN2 if you feel the need, but it's something not needed at all.

 

[XeoNoX]

Are you really comparing temperatures on an overclocked computer vs an overclocked router?

Those are not even comparable, in case you didn't tested the router stock vs overclocked temperatures at it's worst will be extra 1-3ºC (even 100% overclocked ex: AC68U 800@1600mhz), not the case on a computer which can increase 30ºC or even more.

That's the main reason for computers use active cooling and routers don't, as mentioned before you can add any cooling system to your router, active cooling, water cooling or even LN2 if you feel the need, but it's something not needed at all.

i dont think at any point he said he specifically said he overclocked the router, he made a general statement about overclocking hardware in the past.
Anywho....overclocked or not, heat is known to damage electronics over time, and the hotter the faster it deteriorates, therefore making cooler always better. u can argue with the world's top engineers that theory of heat and the deterioration of electronics if you think otherwise, most would also agree cooler is better.

 

[Makaveli]

Are you really comparing temperatures on an overclocked computer vs an overclocked router?

Those are not even comparable, in case you didn't tested the router stock vs overclocked temperatures at it's worst will be extra 1-3ºC (even 100% overclocked ex: AC68U 800@1600mhz), not the case on a computer which can increase 30ºC or even more.

That's the main reason for computers use active cooling and routers don't, as mentioned before you can add any cooling system to your router, active cooling, water cooling or even LN2 if you feel the need, but it's something not needed at all.

Just forget it dude people are free to do what they want with their own gear. I just find the attitude on here about it amusing like someone took the money of out of your own pocket.

 

[hggomes]

Not at all and I'm not sure why you see it that way, I was only sharing my opinion about it based on official manufacturer documentation that's all, main reason why I said that you can choose to install any cooling system on your router, though not needed.

Hate? Attitude amusing?

@XeoNoX - He mentioned overclocking, so I concluded that he also had his router overclocked, we were not talking about computers, but routers.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/9-router-cooling-rt-ac68u-example.26733/#post-201600

 

[XeoNoX]

i could put $$$ on the fact if u did a study out of 100 routers and took 50 of them constantly running at 125c and the other 50 constantly running at 60c that the batch running at 60c would have a lower failure rate after 5 years.

Kinda reminds me of the first batch of Microsoft xbox 360s and their overheating RROD problem they had, the chip could handle the heat but didnt mean the rest of the 360 unit could.

to insinuate that running the router at 125C is good is not the best idea, im sure it will run fine, but its not the best idea.

 

[hggomes]

Have you read my previous link posted?? No one is arguing about it.

This SoC is not a XBOX360, it's designed to work at different / higher temperatures.

You should say that to Broadcom, but you are definitely distort the facts here and putting words in my mouth, no one ever insinuated that is good idea to run the router at 125ºC, in fact there's no router reaching those temperatures at all (including yours), that's the TJMAX value so different things, you should understand it.

The usual temperatures on the routers is around 70-85ºC, in hot days it can go close to 90ºC, in rare situations can go slightly higher, so the room left to reach TJMAX is still ~35ºC, so quite a different scenario from the one you are paiting.