Router overheating?

[Scheggiaimpazzita]

Actually I cannot do any hw modification to my AC88 because its still under guarantee, so i don't want to loose it. I'm limited myself to seat it over a 20cm noctua with some spacers between noctua/router and noctua/shelf.
But it already allow a 15/20 degree celsius drop with noctua running at minimum speed (by its own noctua speed controller). I didn't notice any wifi problem even if I'm powering the fan by a 5 to 12 V USB adapter. Zero noise.
Related to the various teardowns, I see that the heatsinks are on the top so it will be nice to flip upside down the router, cut the almost closed top shell (maybe finding a spare to work on) to allow air flow, and replace the thermal pads with high performance thermal paste, leaving it on the noctua obviously.
As i said, its crazy (or mush more probably evil...) to let silicon run at so high temperatures. I had a couple of linksys and both suffered of natural death in few years, starting to drop wifi and/or dsl randomly, and both were always very hot.
I tried to search a router that wasn't hot, but it seems that actually in the home/soho segment there isn't one (that has also possibility to run QoS/IPS/Firewall and other cloud services that i need).

 

[M@rco]

M@rco, we use a Noctua NF-A20PWM for ours, usually $25-$30 and other fans for airflow through various units

@st3v3n If you didn't attach the Noctua to your router, how is it positioned currently to cool effectively? I read about your plans, but how do you have it set up currently? And last but not least: you're not experiencing any RFI from the fan or it's power supply (no pun intended)? My neighbourhood is seriously crowded with ridiciously overpowered wifi equipment, so minimizing interference has been (and is still) challenging, so anything which (might) negatively affect the routers signal strength should be taken in consideration before purchasing.

Never thought someone could convince me otherwise, but seeing the huge differences in temperature... Off topic, but I still need to find a silent way to cool my Denon AVR which runs (too) hot inside a cabinet. I think I've found it.

 

[Clark Griswald]

I'm following this technical "ambitious water cooling router project"

https://imgur.com/gallery/UNtvO

 

[TonyH]

Wonder how many routers smoked and went up in flames. Water cooling? I have a router running inside
portable refrigerator running on 12V DC, LOL! Runs lot faster.

 

[st3v3n]

Clark, that certainly is the most ambitious, passive water cooling router rig I've seen (today), hopefully that's one of those trick drink glasses magicians use, turn it over and the water disappears without anything coming out otherwise-when the cat gets curious, *spark*sizzle*snap!sudden darkness, no lights or internet connection, cries from spouse and children at once. Off base, but I saw a chick dump a soft drink into a $50,000.00 mixer console once, and that wasn't a happy day, no insurance for the studio owner, not recommended for good karma. I forget where I saw the write up where a guy actually had water cooling rigged up for his router, now that's sincere dedication for you. I might drop a Corsair unit on the i5-660 in our PfSense router/firewall box, but not one of these units.

M@rco. I have a couple of two-tiered rubber-coated racks with horizontal slats that give everything sitting on it great air-flow; the router sits on the top rack and the fan rests directly under it on the lower shelf; here's a link to a similar rack on amazon, should give you an idea, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0030LZCCM/?tag=snbforums-20

For cooling your gear in the cabinet, depending if your cab is wood, we use two-140 mm fans on low speed to exhaust the warm air out the back, with a floor cut-out and removable filters on the bottom. I copied the pattern from our 19" studio tall-boy rack, and power it with a APC UPS, with an extra outlet strip with 8 outlets and dedicated rocker switches for each outlet, about the same setup for the LAN and video boxes.

A local box store (like wally-world) with an office supply section, hardware or kitchen accessory department should have a selection of racks similar to this, with different colors, sizes, with 1, 2, 3 or even 4 racks. They're called anything from closet/desk/shelf organizers, shoe racks, etc. Many variations of these on Amazon so you should find something that will work for you. I the nice thing with the rubber coating is that you can secure everything with different colored hook/loop (velcro) ties and there are scads of those on Amazon. We found one of those dollar-stores locally (everything is literally a dollar) and they have different colored plastic boxes that are great for storing and sorting parts, cables, etc. Disclaimer, any mention of these vendors is purely to point out different possible solutions, and isn't an inducement to purchase, and unfortunately, we didn't buy their stock when it was cheap. Hope this helps, Cheers.

 

[st3v3n]

TonyH, I've seen one like that only with a breadbox PC build in it; does your fridge have a plexiglass door and a port on the side for cables, with beverages on the lower shelf ?

 

[TonyH]

TonyH, I've seen one like that only with a breadbox PC build in it; does your fridge have a plexiglass door and a port on the side for cables, with beverages on the lower shelf ?

No, that was a joke, sorry. But in my working days I had an occasion to see something like that. Big main frame system definitely ran faster when room temperature went down from normal 72 degs. to below 50 degs due to HVAC system malfunctioning...

 

[st3v3n]

TonyH, Ha Friend of mine built the one I mentioned out of a discarded dorm fridge (condenser was dead); he added a hinged plexiglass door, so I wasn't quite joking. He sat it next to the A/C outlet by his desk with a dryer hose wrapped in foam insulation tunning from the A/C outlet directly into the box, with a small vent hole at the top, to prevent arcing from condensation, anyway, it worked for him. That was years before YouTube or AIO cooling kits, when everyone was into nitrogen, seeing how hot they could run the early AMDs. I've seen so many strange Rube Goldberg jury-rigs, I tend believe what people say unless it sounds too ridiculous, those older fridges had decent insulation compared to the tiny boxes they import now. One company where I worked, the operations room for the Sperry Univac mainframe would've passed for a meat locker, but those things became extremely contrary when the temp got to 55-60F.

 

[M@rco]

@st3v3n: How about a laptop cooler stand like this:

According to several reviews it's extremely quiet, usb powered (which can be easily solved by using an external - multi voltage controllable? - usb power supply) and I would presumably have to unscrew the fan and rotate it 180 degrees to make it blow cool air instead of drawing warm air by design. The feet at the back are non-detachable, so I have to think of a way to make the surface a flat level again. Or I could just make a flat surface at the front of it, so cool air is blown into my RT-AC68A at a slight angle. What do you think? It'll cost me, out of the box, around 40 USD (33 EUR) and I don't expect modifying it will cost anything (beside the fact that I'll most likely lose my warranty for unscrewing the fan on arrival....)

 

[unsynaps]

I've seen many 'solutions' around the web, to cool routers (as well as other equipment) down. Maybe it will extend its lifespan, I don't know, but it could be. I think the RT-AC68U, one of the most popular routers ASUS ever made, isn't known for its notoriously short lifetime. Many people upgrade to a newer model and are still using it as an AP or keep it on the shelf for backup purposes. I can't recall I've ever had a router dying on me, I still have all my old Netgear/dd-wrt equipment on the attic and I'm sure if I try them, they'll all just still work fine. Maybe I'm lucky...

If someone feels the need to cool it, plenty of solutions around, dyi or pre-made... Most of the times there's a new model around in a couple of years which interests me and when that happens it means something else is going up the attic for backup purposes, after I justified the expense to myself . I'd rather save my money to invest it in a new router, when the time comes and if it's significantly better. Untill then, I'm fairly sure, my RT-AC68U White won't let me down (knocks on wood) .

Have to say this looks really slick. Gonna look into this when I bite the bullet and upgrade from my 87U (which lays flat) to the 86U (which stands up like this).

 

[st3v3n]

M@rco, That's a nice looking cooler and looks like it would do the job of helping to cool that router. Fellowes has been making accessories for a long time and one large fan shouldn't generate the RFI of cheaper or multi-fan coolers as many have tried. Hopefully the the Fellowes engineers used a good fan and the quiet claims are true.

I'm sure you've thought of this, so not to sound silly, but before you disassemble the fan, ask your executive assistant to help you conduct an experiment. If you have a short piece of soft sponge or foam to place between the edge of the cooler and router to avoid scratches, this will help you and your assistant remain calm during the test, and to avoid scratching the router and cooler. Give it as many practice runs as you need to make sure it goes well. When you're both ready, power everything up, with router at normal operating temp, and so you can observe the GUI during the test.

If you don't have a separate A/C USB power source such as a cell phone or tablet charger or similar wall charging port has, if you're comfortable with plugging the cooler's USB cord into the USB 3.0 port of the router, either USB port should have enough power the brief test period.

Place the router steadily on it's side with your assistant seated comfortably, then holding the router and foam so the router can't shift or fall, damaging either unit. Place the laptop cooler against or in close proximity to the bottom of the router to see if drawing air away from the router will lower temps sufficiently while you observe the GUI. When you're satisfied the temperature is as low as will drop, help move the cooler away from the router and allow the CPU temp to rise where it was prior to the first part of the test.

Then reverse the position of the cooler so the fan is actively blowing air into the router, as would be the case if you had actually removed the fan from the cooler and reversed it as you mention, while observing how much better the cooling effect is, without voiding your warranty or return privilege.

Depending on where your router is located, a 6-inch A/C desktop fan may also offer you enough cooling without blowing directly into the router. It worked for one of our routers and was about $10 US. It didn't look nearly as cool as the Fellowes laptop cooler, no pun intended. Desktop fans are usually quiet and can be placed several inches to a foot away and aren't likely to induce any electrical noise. That said, as most of these small units, they're usually made in china, so YMMV. Cheers.

 

[st3v3n]

M@rco, I hope you didn't mind me giving your assistant a pay raise, my own likes the honorary 'executive' title

 

[M@rco]

M@rco, I hope you didn't mind me giving your assistant a pay raise, my own likes the honorary 'executive' title

I'm still searching the house for him/her, wasn't aware I had someone like that. Tried the dog yesterday but he thought licking the router was the most efficient way to cool it and the wiggling with his tail didn't exactly help holding things 'steady' while experimenting...

 

[st3v3n]

That would be a video to remember, the dog licking router (zapp, dog leaps away). I pictured a gal-friend or discrete neighbor to help you, as long as they're of sound and sober mind, unlike the Cheech and Chong variety. Luckily, honorable Wife is technically proficient handling machines and tools; she even fixed a lawnmower I gave up on, but doesn't type. Except for the iPad, she isn't into intricacies involved in routing/networking or software and systems-building. Her opinions and and task-handling improve on mine, sometimes. If only she would flash the routers. Thankfully, Mr. dog isn't curious about anything unless it smells tasty or offers to pet him.

One of the local big box stores has four and six-inch fan models, a bit different than the pic posted, for $8. On amazon they're $12-$25 but I've seen them for $7. On the shelf our fan pushes air across the modem and video gear. then past the rear of the electronics package on the 4K TV. It puts out a good stream but isn't audible until you're next to it. I added foam pads under it to soak up vibration. The convective heat transfer is pumped by the airflow from the fan, so might be a way to go with the router if you didn't use a dedicated fan. Even eight feet away from the fan, the air coming off the back TV is warmed by the heat transferred off the TV CPU. In summer the TV gets a fan of it's own. Slightly related, the LCD screen on our DM24 mixing boards was an expensive part guaranteed to fail prematurely which meant a cross-country trip to the service center. I was already using Noctuas by then and used one to pull air down through the screen grill, and it also managed to cool the PSU on the way out. Never found hot electronics that a fan couldn't help. Cheers.