RT-AC68U temperatures

[Chrysalis]

I googled but found nothing, what I am looking for i something that reduces the voltage but without needing me to cut cables etc. just plug and play.

 

[ColinTaylor]

It's a bit expensive if you want a ready made solution, but...

http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_18053.html
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00A5TFJ34/?tag=smallncom-21
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Fans-Coo...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=DWK1S0JD1ZCNH7YKBEQ0

P.S. My AC68U runs at 86-90 degrees without cooling.

 

[Chrysalis]

you sure thats right? I want usb both ends not 3 pin.

The fan has a usb connector for power not 3 pin.

So I need usb to usb.

Although I guess I can use one of my pc fans, but I need to then make a stand or something for the fan as I no longer want to attach it directly to the router.

 

[ColinTaylor]

@Chrysalis Sorry, I thought you were attaching a quiet PC fan to the case. My mistake.

 

[wocram]

P.S. My AC68U runs at 86-90 degrees without cooling.

Since how long does it run like that Colin?

I know the Broadcom CPU's are rated for 120-130C max, but several years of sustained high temperatures like that might degrade the internal components (capacitors and such)?
Maybe it is not needed, but 65C with cooling gives me some peace of mind

 

[hggomes]

TJ MAX: 125ºC

 

[L&LD]

Since how long does it run like that Colin?

I know the Broadcom CPU's are rated for 120-130C max, but several years of sustained high temperatures like that might degrade the internal components (capacitors and such)?
Maybe it is not needed, but 65C with cooling gives me some peace of mind

There are many that have been running like that or warmer since introduction (3 years ago), or else we would have had a huge thread on it.

Many of my customers are slightly warmer and have been running for over 2 1/2 years without issues.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Since how long does it run like that Colin?

I know the Broadcom CPU's are rated for 120-130C max, but several years of sustained high temperatures like that might degrade the internal components (capacitors and such)?
Maybe it is not needed, but 65C with cooling gives me some peace of mind

It's been running like that since I bought it 1 month ago. I'm not worried about the temperatures as they are within spec.

Most electrical failures occur in the first couple of months anyway. If it does die within the first 2 years I'll just get it replaced under warranty. After 2 years and I'll probably be looking to replace it anyway.

 

[Chrysalis]

@Chrysalis Sorry, I thought you were attaching a quiet PC fan to the case. My mistake.

I was initially I previously have ran two different PC fans on the back of the router.

I stopped using the first as I felt was a bit too noisy.
The second initially was great until the weird rattling vibration type noises.
The one I tested most recently which I would like to use in the summer is a small usb desktop fan.

 

[chris2kari]

There are many that have been running like that or warmer since introduction (3 years ago), or else we would have had a huge thread on it.

Many of my customers are slightly warmer and have been running for over 2 1/2 years without issues.

It depends on your local conditions.

Sitting in an air conditioned room or temperate climate, you can get away with running fanless.

Those of us living in subtropical or tropical climates find this model cooks itself.

At fanless temps of 100c+ (Idle) the CPU has very little head room. Work the CPU hard and lockups become inevitable.

Almost all fans available are spinning too fast.

The AC68U only needs gentle air flow to dramatically reduce its CPU temp to a reliable range.

Running a small 12v fan off a 5v the USB 2.0 connection is a simple neat all in one solution.

 

[L&LD]

It depends on your local conditions.

Sitting in an air conditioned room or temperate climate, you can get away with running fanless.

Those of us living in subtropical or tropical climates find this model cooks itself.

At fanless temps of 100c+ (Idle) the CPU has very little head room. Work the CPU hard and lockups become inevitable.

Almost all fans available are spinning too fast.

The AC68U only needs gentle air flow to dramatically reduce its CPU temp to a reliable range.

Running a small 12v fan off a 5v the USB 2.0 connection is a simple neat all in one solution.

My reply was in regards to the mid 80's to low 90's. No issues.

The temps of the chip (as I'm stating them) is an absolute. Doesn't matter what the ambient temperatures are as long as the chip(s) are below 100C (as you note, too).

Running a fan may be simple, but it isn't 'neat', imo. And certainly nothing I would recommend to a customer (I'd be looking for different hardware for them first).

 

[chris2kari]

My reply was in regards to the mid 80's to low 90's. No issues.

The temps of the chip (as I'm stating them) is an absolute. Doesn't matter what the ambient temperatures are as long as the chip(s) are below 100C (as you note, too).

Running a fan may be simple, but it isn't 'neat', imo. And certainly nothing I would recommend to a customer (I'd be looking for different hardware for them first).

I understand.

I disagree that ambient temps + workload don't matter. In my part of the world they clearly do. YMMV.

I do agree these units can't be recommended to my customers for unattended fanless operation in my location.

These are wonderful little workhorses but the decision by Asus to overclock the CPU and cheap out on dodgy heat sink fitment is regrettable.

Great for home use or in colder countries or air conditioned offices.

Maybe some production runs had correct heat sink fitment but after ordering several of these over a period of time we found it a lotto wheel.

 

[L&LD]

I disagree that ambient temps + workload don't matter. In my part of the world they clearly do. YMMV.

I never said that. I stated that all the units I have overseen that run up to the low 90's don't have issues.

 

[wocram]

Speeds of RT-AC1900P (and AC68U) should be sufficient for at least the coming 5-10 years, so when I can prevent replacing it after 5 years I'll take the fans

Most manufacturers design electronics to last at least until the warranty is finished (MTTF) and they have no benefit to make it last for 10 years or longer. Adding a fan by the manufacturer would possible result in warranty claims because of failing ventilator's.

Until I bought this Asus 2.5 months ago, I was running a wired (10/100mbps) Billion Bipac 640SE router for over 10 years, so my AC1900P should be able to get close to that

 

[chris2kari]

I never said that. I stated that all the units I have overseen that run up to the low 90's don't have issues.

Respectfully, that has not been my experience.

 

[chris2kari]

Speeds of RT-AC1900P (and AC68U) should be sufficient for at least the coming 5-10 years, so when I can prevent replacing it after 5 years I'll take the fans

Most manufacturers design electronics to last at least until the warranty is finished (MTTF) and they have no benefit to make it last for 10 years or longer. Adding a fan by the manufacturer would possible result in warranty claims because of failing ventilator's.

Until I bought this Asus 2.5 months ago, I was running a wired (10/100mbps) Billion Bipac 640SE router for over 10 years, so my AC1900P should be able to get close to that

Those Billions were great value for money back in the day. I see you are in Indonesia, I have units operating in Philippines & Northern Australia. Understand completely your decision to add auxiliary cooling.

 

[wocram]

Those Billions were great value for money back in the day. I see you are in Indonesia, I have units operating in Philippines & Northern Australia. Understand completely your decision to add auxiliary cooling.

Yes I am in Indonesia (natively Dutch) and during the day living room temperatures are around 30C year round here.
At the moment we have ADSL at 7mbps down and 1.5mbps upload speeds here. Near future might see an upgrade to glassfiber here which will provide 10mbps download so my RT-AC1900P will be able to cover the technological revolution here for "a few" more years

 

[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)

 

[Insight]

I found this router on sale as a refurb unit for $65 on newegg last weekend (7/9/17). I saw many people have had a lot of issues with wireless dropouts and whatever else and it was a buyer beware type of purchase. I've played around on the N66U enough on a special project and thought I'd give this unit a chance. Personally, I've never had any major issues with any of the units I've had starting from the RT-N12 and this being the replacement for the 7 or 8 year long running RT-N16 as the main router.

The router came with fairly dated firmware, about a year old. I flashed with the latest from ASUS as a stepping stone and then to Merlins. Upon bootup, I saw the temperatures were mid to upper 70s on the cpu without any load and was not pleased. I decided to rip the thing apart and use some high quality pads from thermal grizzy ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZJS8RWQ/?tag=snbforums-20) and have yet to see anything in the upper 70s even under a heavy load and idles right around 67c, though I've only been using it for about 12 hours. The stock pads are very cheap and felt almost waxy. I had both 1.0mm and 0.5mm thickness on hand and went with the 1mm pad because there is a slight convex surface to the heatsink and wanted to have decent contact/pressure between the radios/cpu and heatsink. It may have been worth while to use .5mm on the outer components and the 1mm on the center but so far so good.

This may be a worthwhile investment to other owners, it took a little over an hour and about $15. I'm hoping this mod will increase the longevity of the product and counter any type of heat related dropouts. I know in other communities liquid metal compound is the real deal for killing heat between two surfaces (laptops especially). This may be my next step, if things change but so far, just wanted to share my results. I was able to remove the back sticker without any damage caused and took a credit card and small phillips head around the cover and managed not to break any tabs, ymmv.

If you have any questions or have any benchmark/stress testing you'd like me to try, let me know. Looking forward to using this router.

Also a shout out to Merlin on his work, very impressed by the stock feel of the asus UI but the stability/features of *wrt. Thank you!

 

[veccini]

First of all, my apologies, I am Spanish-speaking and I have used Google XD translator

I have to say that I have been following this thread for many months, and for some reason I was not encouraged to share what I did on my rt-ac68u router to solve the harmful temperatures that this unit has.

And it's just that silicon pads that comes factory-fitted, are not at all the best if heat dissipation problems are dealt with.

I mentioned that I have had a series of problems with these silicone pads not only in laptops but also in other devices, I decided to obtain copper sheets in different thickness and size, and for this I had to resort to ebay, in my case , the wait took more than a month and a half until they finally arrived from China to Mexico.

Due to the different thickness configurations of the different areas where I applied the copper sheets, I had to use a configuration of two sheets of copper bound together, in some cases like the radio frequency chips, below the radiofrequency shield , the thickness is somewhat like 1.8 mm.

I have used thermal glue in some parts and where the blade rests with the SoC for example, I used thermal paste, with the idea that a possible future retreat is not complicated.

Measures of thickness of copper pads:

Below the radiofrequency shield of both chips: thickness 1.8 mm, and above the shield: 1 mm

Underneath the SoC shield (dual core CPU) 0.5 mm, and above the shield 1 mm

On the measurements of the copper pads in the back area of the SoC, here the silicone pad is thinner compared to other areas, and this data will be passed later.

https://s26.postimg.org/5nhy2ahyx/IMG_20170927_162358.jpg

Here I had to reconstruct the threads of the screws holding the PCB, it has been so much heat, that I toasted the threads, I had to use epoxy glue and carefully rebuild the screw threads.

https://s26.postimg.org/9sxg1y54p/IMG_20170927_162410.jpg

https://s26.postimg.org/oq5x2yid5/IMG_20170927_162406.jpg