Case fan noise

Jlawson40

I have a 6600 that sits right in front of me. I can barely hear the fans spin up from time to time. The fans on my 6500 were a little louder but still not objectionable for me. Love the 6600. The fans on both my laptops are louder than either the 6600 or 6500.

Wim

My 6500 was louder but these fans on the 6600 are still very noticeable to me, 
the transceiver is on my desk in front of me.
Putting it in a remote rack is an option ...

AA0KM

When the 6500 fan's kick in high speed you will know it.

Sounds like a jet air plane taking off. Over all running just sounds like an older desktop computer tower to me that had no modulating fans just full on unlike the new computers do as they modulate up and down.

Mike W1BFA in Maine

I experienced the 6500 rev up this morning for the first time in two years. I typically run 40-50 watts in digital modes but had turned it up to 75 on a hard QST. I forgot to back it down and called cq and ended up running half a dozen stations and all of a sudden the fan stepped up, pretty impressive noise. It took it about 30 seconds to drop back to normal. I have been thinking of doing a DNC on it... annual thing with the pc’s etc. so imagine it’s due. Temp was around 135 F I think when it came up in speed.

henrylance

Thanks everyone for your replies and comments. I should add some more info, in reply to thoughts.

First off, having had desktop computer since the 80's, and just about every rig and amp made, I'm a good judge of cooling system noise, as well and laboratory instrumentation. The current computer is a Apple Mac Mini, and there is no noise. My Macbook Pro and Samsung laptops are noise free. I had an actual Windows Desktop here a few weeks back and it had hardly any fan noise.

My Kenwood 590SG will only cycle the cooling fan on if it is pushed **** digital modes, and its fan is about 1/3 of the 6500. I did have a icom 7300, and sold it because on transmit ( keying of any kind ), the fan ramped up to full take off and was awful. Some people have replaced the fan with a better unit with better bearings, and better shaped blades and a better frame.

But …. some people have hit upon something I have been thinking of, but haven't seen in the Flex manual. Is/does, the 6000 series of radios have temperature controlled case fans ?? This is not new and is actually common ?? What I maybe failed to mention, but I thought it was normal, is that right from the turn on … the fan speed to me seems to high and loud. It does not change at all ( either up or down ), depending on work load. I have run 30 min or more of FT8 station after station, and been watching the temps, and the speed stays the same. The temps go up, but never to a level that is dangerous, and if there is a 30 second break the temps will come right back to basically base line.

From what I am reading others seem to have a change in fan speed vs load.

Yes I have done the case fan and CPU fans cleaning, as recommended by Flex. Thought I had a CPU fan problem, but Tim Emailed me the outline to check the RPM's and they were fine, and yes I can hear them, and know that they will have a sound of their own.

So my question now would be, are the case fans temp controlled. If they are, then than would be my answer.

Lastly, as some people have pointed out, noise is a matter of each persons perception, as well as how good their own hearing is. To me the 6500 I have is louder than 95 % + of all other rigs I have heard, for standby mode. I have no problem with rigs that ramp up the cooling fan/blowers speeds and the temps rise.

Could I build up a special enclosure to dampen the sound, sure. But why should that be needed.

What I am seeing is that other people also feel the same way, and others don't, as well as, some people are feeling that way about the new radios.

Does any one, or has anyone done a retrofit of the fans ?? I am sure they are not the best fans that can be had.

FYI: My hearing is tested on a regular basis ( abt every 2 years ), and I have a slight fall off in the midrange, but only very, very slight, so I am probably about like most people in my age group.

henrylance

Thanks, see my comment below

henrylance

See my comment below, thanks

henrylance

Thanks for all the above, see my reply below

Bill -VA3WTB

The chassis fans will spin up to high when the internal temp reaches 60 deg C (140 deg F)
It is best to replace any fan with the exact fan, or at least the same air flow.

The 6500 is so well engineered everything was taken into consideration. The fans are what they are.

Gary L. Robinson

I have had a similar experience having owned a 6300 for two years and then upgrading to a 6400.  The 6300 was fairly quiet unless I did a very long digital transmission.  The 6400 is even better - I have, so far, never heard the fan get louder even on very long digital transmissions (4-5 minutes on Olivia - I'm a rag chewer hihi).  And I monitor the temperature and it runs cooler than the 6300.

---Gary WB8ROL

henrylance

Don't think I have seen the temp get that high.  If ..... I had the exact specs, I'm sure I could find a better fan.  The Flex is well engineered, but, it was or is not a price was no object product, and yes that can be said of almost anything.  I don't have a sound good sound level meter to take readings.

henrylance

I'm sure they have a goal set to improve with every generation.

Alan - KA4B

Henry, I just tested my 6500, tuning at 35 watts into a dummy load for a few minutes, and using Flex Meter V1.2 to measure temperature.  The fan goes into high speed mode at 70C, which is about 158F.  At that point it is quite loud.  When the temperature came back down to about 56C, the fan speed dropped back to the normal mode.  Like you, I prefer not to have extra noise, and I think the 6500 at idle is the loudest thing in my house.  I think it would be a significant improvement if they had a multistep temperature control for the fan.

W9ILY

Have you followed the procedure for cleaning the fans? This is really important in order to lower noise and increase fan life.

AH0U

My 6700 fans run all the time at a fairly high speed... I would say rather loud and much louder than the computer sitting next to them... in fact, the 6700 cover up the computer....... I wear headphones now so I dont have to hear the fans which are louder than my PGXL at idle

DH2ID

As W9ILY wrote, cleaning the fans and the inside of the enclosure would be the first step. I do this once every year, although I live in a fairly clean environment with little dust.