Mine was running @ 122F with a dvd player ontop. I removed it and it is now running @ 120F. I say the cooler you can get it the better. Of course not too cool. Everything has an ideal operation temp.
TEMP
MY UNIT IS RUNNING AT 130 DEGREES. IT ALWAYS RAN AT 120 IS THIS NORMAL???
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I rigged up a fan that is powered by the rear USB port and have it start blowing into the unit as it powers up/through power down. So as long as the unit is on it has constant air movement - just enough to keep it a little cooler in there.
I got mine down to 86 degrees with a small external fan blowing on it. Blows in one side and out the other since it is vented on all sided. Maybe not the wisest way to cool it, but it does show it can be greatly reduced with some good cooling. Radio shack has a usb powered fan that sits on top of the box and exhausts the heat. Thats probably the best bet from what I have read.sansabar said:I rigged up a fan that is powered by the rear USB port and have it start blowing into the unit as it powers up/through power down. So as long as the unit is on it has constant air movement - just enough to keep it a little cooler in there.
127 is the normal operating temperature.
130 isn't all that bad...
Just make sure you have a good air flow in the cabinet the unit is in.
130 isn't all that bad...
Just make sure you have a good air flow in the cabinet the unit is in.
As the owner of the above-referenced Radio Shack fan, I have to say it's a good little unit. I was worried about the HR20 running too hot in its new home (entertainment center with plenty of room around it, but glass doors) but the fan, turned to medium speed, keeps it 111-120 with no drama at all.
Yes I have been meaning to get one, but none of the stores aroudn here carry it. So will order it on their site I guess. Is it very noisy? Did you try it at high speed, what temp did you get at high?lamontcranston said:As the owner of the above-referenced Radio Shack fan, I have to say it's a good little unit. I was worried about the HR20 running too hot in its new home (entertainment center with plenty of room around it, but glass doors) but the fan, turned to medium speed, keeps it 111-120 with no drama at all.
I presume you could get a usb hub and operate 2 of them? I guess I am a freak for low temp electronics.
Your best bet usually is to have the fan on top and have it pull air up through the unit.sansabar said:I rigged up a fan that is powered by the rear USB port and have it start blowing into the unit as it powers up/through power down. So as long as the unit is on it has constant air movement - just enough to keep it a little cooler in there.
GH
It's not super noisy but you can hear it when there's no other noise in the room. It has a knob on it to adjust airflow, so you can decide the best tradeoff between noise and performance.HolmesCo said:Yes I have been meaning to get one, but none of the stores aroudn here carry it. So will order it on their site I guess. Is it very noisy? Did you try it at high speed, what temp did you get at high?
I presume you could get a usb hub and operate 2 of them? I guess I am a freak for low temp electronics.
The best performance I got was with the fan on high and placed right over the hard drive for two hours. 91 degrees with the glass doors closed, recording two things at the same time and it was two hours after an RBR so the housekeeping tasks were going on.
However, my loving and understanding wife who is always supportive and tolerant, asked gently if I would move the fan back to the rear top of the HR20, and turn the speed down just to the point where it was maintaining a safe temperature. That's fair, I'd say.
any chance it is due to the storms that have been hitting the SW?tiggerbo said:MY UNIT IS RUNNING AT 130 DEGREES. IT ALWAYS RAN AT 120 IS THIS NORMAL???
These work great.Groundhog45 said:Your best bet usually is to have the fan on top and have it pull air up through the unit. GH
http://www.spirecoolers.com/acc.asp?ProdID=85
Upside down on top of the HR20 (you have to buy some small rubber stick-on feet) and facing to the rear. USB powered and two speed. At the low speed the fans are barely audible and keep my HR20 at a constant 100 degrees. Pretty blue LED's as a bonus (?) that match the ones on the DVR.
I also use one on my H20-600 which typically runs hot and as a result can spontaniously reboot, but with the fans no problems.
Only a recommendation....do not blow INTO the unit, turn the fan around and have it extract. I know this sounds strange but you want to remove the ambient heat around the HDD and ICs not blow air onto them. The issue long term is your are putting dust into the box. This dust will settle and there is good probability it will cause a short. This happens alot in PCs. It is good once a year to unplug your PC, open the cover and use one of the compressed air cans and blow out the dust. You will be amazed how much is in there. There is alot of metal in household dust and the distances across IC pins is very small....it does not take alot to close the gap.sansabar said:I rigged up a fan that is powered by the rear USB port and have it start blowing into the unit as it powers up/through power down. So as long as the unit is on it has constant air movement - just enough to keep it a little cooler in there.
If you want a cheap solution google on laptop cooler or go to local PC store....they are about $20. Put is upside down on top of HR20 and extract heat. There is ones powered by USB (plug into HR20s...it is powered) and others by AC. Also, as FYI if you are looking for real cooling solutions to a heat problem in your cabnet here is good site: http://www.cool-components.com/33.html
Just my two cents.
Yes basically true, however the hr20 is vented on all sides and anything that is blown into it will blow right out the other side. PCs are closed in, and have exhaust fans, and still get dust on them. I beleive with a strong fan blowing into one side of the hr20 and out the other, it will not cuase what you are saying. That being said, I still think the best solution as I noted above, is the top exhaust fan from Radio Shack. But it too will pull IN any dust that is surrounding the box from the household, via the air vents on the side, and hopfully blow it out. Just as my other alternative blows it right thru the box. 6 of one, half dozen of the other IMOthekochs said:Only a recommendation....do not blow INTO the unit, turn the fan around and have it extract. I know this sounds strange but you want to remove the ambient heat around the HDD and ICs not blow air onto them. The issue long term is your are putting dust into the box. This dust will settle and there is good probability it will cause a short. This happens alot in PCs. It is good once a year to unplug your PC, open the cover and use one of the compressed air cans and blow out the dust. You will be amazed how much is in there. There is alot of metal in household dust and the distances across IC pins is very small....it does not take alot to close the gap.
If you want a cheap solution google on laptop cooler or go to local PC store....they are about $20. Put is upside down on top of HR20 and extract heat. There is ones powered by USB (plug into HR20s...it is powered) and others by AC. Also, as FYI if you are looking for real cooling solutions to a heat problem in your cabnet here is good site: http://www.cool-components.com/33.html
Just my two cents.
I guess we both agree that airflow is key. If you look at the PCs though the intake and output fans are typically arranged in good cases to move air across the components and out. Ala, there is usually enough out flow as there is in....and strategically located. From the posts above I got the impression most/some were just blowing a single fan into the HR20. If so, while there are vents in the side I would be concerned nothing is actively drawing the air/dust out. Like you said it is probably six-in-one/half-dozen-in-the-other but since everyone probably has a choice my recommendation would be to pull the air out of the HR20, not push. Obviously, if you can create a combination...even better.HolmesCo said:Yes basically true, however the hr20 is vented on all sides and anything that is blown into it will blow right out the other side. PCs are closed in, and have exhaust fans, and still get dust on them. I beleive with a strong fan blowing into one side of the hr20 and out the other, it will not cuase what you are saying. That being said, I still think the best solution as I noted above, is the top exhaust fan from Radio Shack. But it too will pull IN any dust that is surrounding the box from the household, via the air vents on the side, and hopfully blow it out. Just as my other alternative blows it right thru the box. 6 of one, half dozen of the other IMO
When displaying the temperature, can it display every number? Whenever I've checked it (admittedly, not very often), it's either 120 or 127. I've never seen any other number. It just seems that those numbers are far enough apart that I would have seen a number in between at some point.
So far in this thread, I've seen reported 130, 120, 122, 86, 127, 91, and 100.
So far in this thread, I've seen reported 130, 120, 122, 86, 127, 91, and 100.
I've seen alot of temps on mine......122, 124, 127, 129. I'm not 100% sure what the # represents but I'm guessing based on other comments by Earl it is centered around HDD. Makes sense since this is most sensistive component to heat. Anyway, for Seagates CE version of their HDDs the max temp operating range is 60C...which is 140F. Typical HDD are 55C which is 131F. So, anything 131F and below is fine....if you add an extraction fan...even a small one....it brings down to 120F and less.mtnagel said:When displaying the temperature, can it display every number? Whenever I've checked it (admittedly, not very often), it's either 120 or 127. I've never seen any other number. It just seems that those numbers are far enough apart that I would have seen a number in between at some point.
So far in this thread, I've seen reported 130, 120, 122, 86, 127, 91, and 100.
Cool. I guess my unit just made me a liar. I just checked again and it's 122.thekochs said:I've seen alot of temps on mine......122, 124, 127, 129.
Why is everyone hooking up these external fans? I opened the unit and it has a fan built into it. It is set up to blow on the hard drive. It didn't blow while I had the top off and the unit powered up, so I am guessing it is either temperature activated on DirecTV hasn't enabled that feature yet! !rollingtiggerbo said:MY UNIT IS RUNNING AT 130 DEGREES. IT ALWAYS RAN AT 120 IS THIS NORMAL???
The CPU has a heat sink. I really wouldn't be so concerned about it.
That is hysterical !!! :lol:marty45714 said:It didn't blow while I had the top off and the unit powered up, so I am guessing it is either temperature activated or DirecTV hasn't enabled that feature yet! !rolling
My only concern is I used to be a stupid user of PCs and put extra HDDs in those 3.5" internal slots in the PC and it cooked the HDDs. They failed on me in less than a year. Well, I finally learned after years to read the friggin specs and make sure airflow is across the HDDs. I have since put HDD coolers on my PC HDDs dropping their temp from 45C to 29C. My SMART monitors shows the new TEC dates out as infinite with this adder....without my SMART software shows TEC dates of 3-5 years. Basically, TEC date is calculated failure date. Anyway, none of this really matters for HR20 since the temps everyone have is fine and I'm sure D* has turned on the fan feature from it's onboard thermystor since there are threads complaining about the fan noise. !rolling
Sorry couldn't resist that one.
Good point. I'm an IT guy, and I've had multiple hard drive failures on the small pizza box Gateway computers that pack everything in mega-tight. You're right about the heat causing HDD faiures.thekochs said:My only concern is I used to be a stupid user of PCs and put extra HDDs in those 3.5" internal slots in the PC and it cooked the HDDs. They failed on me in less than a year.
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