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Got tired of the noise in my home rack

Zangmonkey

Zangmonkey

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Jul 6, 2005
Messages
5,811
This PoE switch had two mega noisy fans in it.
I decided to give up 1U for this upgrade. I wish I had done it a long time ago....

Drilled a corresponding hole in the case and just plugged this fan right into where the old fan was.

1534.jpg
 
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Thinking about doing something like this for my old Cisco Catalyst (non-poe) switch that I got cheap off eBay. The sound is manageable during normal operation, but if it ever needs power cycled, the initial fan startup is deafening! Does your switch have any sort of hardware monitoring to track the temperatures?
 
jardows said:
Thinking about doing something like this for my old Cisco Catalyst (non-poe) switch that I got cheap off eBay. The sound is manageable during normal operation, but if it ever needs power cycled, the initial fan startup is deafening! Does your switch have any sort of hardware monitoring to track the temperatures?
Click to expand...
Just check as many of those you can not change the actual fans, OR, if you do, it will overheat. Seen plenty do this with brocade switches, they just swap the delta for some low noise Noctua's which can not handle the heat and now your switch it always shutting down..

The solution done here, tends to be better, cut a hole and get more air so the fans don't rev..

But with that, why would you be rebooting your switch so often? It does that to check to make sure all fans are working and can reach max RPMs.
 
MrGuvernment said:
Just check as many of those you can not change the actual fans, OR, if you do, it will overheat. Seen plenty do this with brocade switches, they just swap the delta for some low noise Noctua's which can not handle the heat and now your switch it always shutting down..

The solution done here, tends to be better, cut a hole and get more air so the fans don't rev..

But with that, why would you be rebooting your switch so often? It does that to check to make sure all fans are working and can reach max RPMs.
Click to expand...

Ya lots of these are intended for racks where noise doesn't matter so jet-turbine noise is fine.
Putting in quieter fans almost certainly reduces airflow. That's why I added this 120mm instead of swapping out the 40mm fans.

A noctua 40mm will have less flow than a 40mm switch fan... But a 120mm noctua has more :)

In the data center a U is the main currency. In my home rack can trade U's for silence.
 
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jardows said:
Thinking about doing something like this for my old Cisco Catalyst (non-poe) switch that I got cheap off eBay. The sound is manageable during normal operation, but if it ever needs power cycled, the initial fan startup is deafening! Does your switch have any sort of hardware monitoring to track the temperatures?
Click to expand...
This is a good thing. Helps blow out buildup. If it ramps down why change?
 
MrGuvernment said:
Just check as many of those you can not change the actual fans, OR, if you do, it will overheat. Seen plenty do this with brocade switches, they just swap the delta for some low noise Noctua's which can not handle the heat and now your switch it always shutting down..

The solution done here, tends to be better, cut a hole and get more air so the fans don't rev..

But with that, why would you be rebooting your switch so often? It does that to check to make sure all fans are working and can reach max RPMs.
Click to expand...
It’s not that often but we tend to get a few extended power outages each year that extends beyond my UPS's capabilities. If the power is off for more than a few seconds, I'm usually going in and doing a full graceful shutdown of my systems.
German Muscle said:
This is a good thing. Helps blow out buildup. If it ramps down why change?
Click to expand...
It is so loud that I cannot be in the room while it is in that mode, and it takes several minutes before ramping down. Even at normal, it's noticeable, but tolerable. In my mind, noisy fans = insufficient or failing airflow. I also know that these systems are often overbuilt for maximum reliability. I won't bother changing fans if I can't reliably monitor temperatures, or unless I can find a way to go totally overkill, which might negate the reason for changing in the first place.

But hey, it was cheap, it is old, so why not try to improve it!
 
I like absolute quiet so when I put network gear near my main computer I put it in a cabinet that I lined with dynamat. Go-ahead little old switch do your thing.
 
Yeah, they didn't anticipate running those equipment without backup power, probably. Fans probably aren't designed to ramp that high as often as they were, may not have lasted as long because of it...although they'd probably still last >10 years.
 
jardows said:
It is so loud that I cannot be in the room while it is in that mode, and it takes several minutes before ramping down. Even at normal, it's noticeable, but tolerable. In my mind, noisy fans = insufficient or failing airflow. I also know that these systems are often overbuilt for maximum reliability. I won't bother changing fans if I can't reliably monitor temperatures, or unless I can find a way to go totally overkill, which might negate the reason for changing in the first place.

But hey, it was cheap, it is old, so why not try to improve it!
Click to expand...
Why dont you replace it since its such a big problem? Also since you cant handle the rampup dont get an enterprise switch. All enterprise gear does the rampup on boot.

The absolute best enterprise switch for quieter home use that ive ran across is the Brocade/Ruckus ICX7250. The non POE 24 port version settles down and idles near silent with stock fans. The only switch ive found that you can manually change the fan on is the Arista 7050s. If you need absolute silence then get a passive switch.
 
German Muscle said:
Why dont you replace it since its such a big problem? Also since you cant handle the rampup dont get an enterprise switch. All enterprise gear does the rampup on boot.

The absolute best enterprise switch for quieter home use that ive ran across is the Brocade/Ruckus ICX7250. The non POE 24 port version settles down and idles near silent with stock fans. The only switch ive found that you can manually change the fan on is the Arista 7050s. If you need absolute silence then get a passive switch.
Click to expand...
It isn't that big of a problem, or I would have replaced it. It is an annoyance, and the OP prompted me to think more about eliminating the annoyance. I bought the thing for $50 to learn some Cisco switch configuration, and when my fanless unmanaged switch died, it was a suitable immediate replacement that has continued to serve my home network purposes well. As a proud member of the [ H ] community, I'd rather try to mod what I already have than throw it away and buy something new.
 
jardows said:
It isn't that big of a problem, or I would have replaced it. It is an annoyance, and the OP prompted me to think more about eliminating the annoyance. I bought the thing for $50 to learn some Cisco switch configuration, and when my fanless unmanaged switch died, it was a suitable immediate replacement that has continued to serve my home network purposes well. As a proud member of the [ H ] community, I'd rather try to mod what I already have than throw it away and buy something new.
Click to expand...
What cisco switch do you have?
 
Id upgrade the switch to a brocade 7250 personally as there are some on ebay for 80 bucks. Crazy bargain for 8x10g and 24 gigabit rj45 with full license unlock for lab use.

However that one doesnt even have a fanwall. Its just a singular blower thats exhausting out the back. Yours actually might be a good candidate for a pair of noctua 40s as it runs nearly passive.

https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/172zj5s/cisco_2960x24psl_fan_replacement/
 
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