HDPVR fan mod

[Hatterasman]

I added a fan to my hdpvr today and am very happy with the results. Hauppauge designed the hd-pvr to have a fan and I took advantage of the following features:

1) The hd-pvr has a 5-volt fan header on the system board.
2) There is a space in the clear section of the top of the case that is exactly 80 mm wide.
3) There are 8 led mounts in the clear section of the top. 2 of the 4 blue leds obstruct the 80mm hole and can be relocated to empty mounting holes.

Materials used:
80 mm 5-volt fan (evercool)
(2) 80 mm mesh grills
2-pin male fan jack

Procedure:
Disassemble hdpvr (4 screws under rubber feet)
Case mod – cut a custom grill hole in silver top (search goggle for “case mods fan grills” for ideas) I made sure this lined up with the 80 mm hole in the clear section of the top.
Installed fan sandwiched between mesh grills. Top grill keeps fingers out, bottom grill keeps led wires out of fan.
Insert 2-pin fan plug into holes in system board from the bottom and solder in place from the top.
Plug fan in.
Reassembly hdpvr.

The 5-volt fan header is “smart” in that the hdpvr only applies voltage to the pins when it is recording, otherwise the fan is off.

-Jeff

[sic0048]

Got any pictures? I've read about people doing fan mods before, but I haven't heard of utilizing the fan header and case design to do it.

I'd like to get more information.

[Hatterasman]

The fan, an Evercool EC8015, grill and a 3-pin plug are available from frozenCPU.com. I pulled the 3rd fan speed pin from the connector before using.

I'll take and post some pictures soon.

Jeff

[ericscottf]

I wonder what kind of amperage is safe to pull from that header. Is it mentioned anywhere?

Right now, i have a 120vac fan blowing across my stack of two cable boxes, two HD-pvrs and 1 hdhr, and it is externally cool, but probably still hot on the inside. The fan also runs constantly.

The 5v header sounds nice, but i'd be worried about blowing it if i didn't know what it was meant to put out.

[KeithAbbott]

I'll add a couple more questions to the previous posting.

• Was the fan installed inside of the hdpvr, or bolted on top of the case?
• Is the fan mounted such that airflow is blowing out of the case, or into the case?
• frozenCPU also carries an Evercool EC8025 fan, which is similar except that it is 25mm deep instead of 15mm. Assuming the fan is mounted inside of the hdpvr case, is there enough room to use the 25mm fan, or are we limited to a 15mm fan?

[ericscottf]

To add on even more --
The fan blows either in or out, are there holes elsewhere in the box to let the air travel through the box?

[MattHelm]

Originally Posted by Hatterasman

3) There are 8 led mounts in the clear section of the top. 2 of the 4 blue leds obstruct the 80mm hole and can be relocated to empty mounting holes.
-Jeff

Can we rip these out, throw them on the floor and jump up and down on them?

[wrems]

Originally Posted by MattHelm

Can we rip these out, throw them on the floor and jump up and down on them?

I couldn't resist

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...70494980077764

[Spectrum]

Originally Posted by MattHelm

Can we rip these out, throw them on the floor and jump up and down on them?

Here here!

1. Since LED's are diodes they provide a small voltage drop and next to no resistance. That's why you have to put a resistor in series with them to keep them from burning themselves out.
2. In theory you should be able to cut them off the board, or cut a trace if they are SMT devices, and the hardware would never know the difference unless it had a continuity test circuit for them, and if it did because of 1 you should be able to just twist wires together or run a jumper around the diode, after you have disconnected it, and the continuity check should pass and the circuit should not be damaged.

If you try it, let us know how it works

Originally Posted by wrems

I couldn't resist

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...70494980077764

HAH now I gotta watch Office Space again!

[Hatterasman]

Originally Posted by KeithAbbott

I'll add a couple more questions to the previous posting.

• Was the fan installed inside of the hdpvr, or bolted on top of the case?
• Is the fan mounted such that airflow is blowing out of the case, or into the case?
• frozenCPU also carries an Evercool EC8025 fan, which is similar except that it is 25mm deep instead of 15mm. Assuming the fan is mounted inside of the hdpvr case, is there enough room to use the 25mm fan, or are we limited to a 15mm fan?

Fan is mounted inside,attached to the underside of the top.

Fan is blowing up/out

I'll take it apart again and take better measurements of the depth.

[Hatterasman]

Originally Posted by MattHelm

Can we rip these out, throw them on the floor and jump up and down on them?

Yes, each of the 4 LEDs are held in place by a dab of hot melt glue. I simply picked the glue off with my fingernail and the LED comes right out. All 4 LEDs wire to a common plug on the system board.

All that is needed to make them available for stomping is to unplug them.

[Hatterasman]

Originally Posted by ericscottf

I wonder what kind of amperage is safe to pull from that header. Is it mentioned anywhere?

Right now, i have a 120vac fan blowing across my stack of two cable boxes, two HD-pvrs and 1 hdhr, and it is externally cool, but probably still hot on the inside. The fan also runs constantly.

The 5v header sounds nice, but i'd be worried about blowing it if i didn't know what it was meant to put out.

The fan I purchased is the Evercool EC8015M05CA 2500 rpm fan.

Evercool's website does not list the specs for this fan however their specs list a 8010L low speed 2500 rpm 5v fan rated at .28 amp, and a 8010M medium speed fans show a speed of 3000 and is rated at .5 amp.

They also list an 8010LL low low speed 2000 rpm gan rated at .26 amp

The "M" in the model number indicates a medium speed fan, but the specs (2500 rpm) put it in the low speed range of the 10mm fan.

[Hatterasman]

Originally Posted by ericscottf

To add on even more --
The fan blows either in or out, are there holes elsewhere in the box to let the air travel through the box?

There are four inlet holes/grills in the bottom of the hdpvr.

[Hatterasman]

Finished

[davephan]

What did you use to cut the holes in the plastic top cover?

I had the top cover off my HD-PVR for about 6 months and still have failures every 2 - 3 weeks. The HD-PVR seems to be more reliable just by removing the top cover. Have you noticed any improvement in the reliability with the fan? Maybe adding the fan would help. I've done all the HD-PVR recommendations, except for the fan and the auto power cycling.

Dave

[Hatterasman]

I cut the holes with a Dremel Multi-Max with the 1" wide saw blade that it came with. I also took a hack saw blade and ground the end down to a point so it looked like a mini sawz-all blade.

Steps to cutting the hole:

Created template (see attached pdf)
Located the center of the cover and aligned with center of template
Squared template with cover and taped it down.
"Traced" the 4 cut out holes with a razor knife.
Removed template and completely covered top with clear packing tape.
Cut inside of "lines" left by the razor knife with the Multi-Max.
Used the hack saw blade to finish out the cuts into the corners by hand. I trimed some of the corners and edges with a razor knife.
I used a small triangle file to clean up the straight cuts to the lines left by the razor knife.
I used a 1" wide strip of 220 grit sandpaper folded into a 1/2" x 1" rectangle to clean up the curved cuts.

Notes:
The Multi-Max is best on its lowest speed. My first curved cut is less than perfect because the higher speed melted the plastic a little.

I probably would not drill the holes for the screws if I had to do it again. The fan fits tightly in the 80mm hole in the clear plastic LED plate and could easily be held in place with a bead of hot melt glue on each side of the fan.

The top is three pieces that snap together. A black outer cover that the screws go into. A clear section that the LEDS light up (only the 1/8" edge of this is visible from the outside) and the silver top. I used a letter opener to reach between the clear mid section and the silver top to push on the little locking tab. Once one of the tabs is freee the top is easy to pop apart. I popped them apart from the inside to not scratch the top.

You could also drill/cut a single round 80 mm hole in the top and use one of the many laser cut grills on top of the hole. (You would need the screw holes then.)

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/atta...1&d=1284493460

[Hatterasman]

Originally Posted by davephan

Have you noticed any improvement in the reliability with the fan?
Dave

I think it's to soon to say if this helps with errors. (Trying to type with fingers crossed...I haven't had a problem...YET) My problems are usually ..."an error occured in playback"... type messages.

I use a headless WHS and have recently noticed that these errors occur after I have logged inusing remote desktop (RDP into WHS gives you a server 2003 desktop)

This does not seem to happen if I use the WHS Console. My guess is that there is a piece of the software or driver that is being loaded when the server boots and the Sage TV service starts that is attempting to load again when I login causing the hd-pvr driver to crash. Re-booting usually cures the problem. I have had an occasion or two where the hd-pvr is not found on the first re-boot or the program guide is missing.

I have tried using the /admin switch of RDP to log into the console session rather than the typical secondary login you get when RDPing into a server OS, but it does not seem to make a difference.

Jeff

[davephan]

You could try the free program VNC for remote control. I usually use VNC for remote control. Maybe the problem would not occur with VNC.

Dave

[thomaszoo]

Originally Posted by Hatterasman

Procedure:
Insert 2-pin fan plug into holes in system board from the bottom and solder in

Are the holes labeled on the bottom of the board? I didn't see anything on the top that indicated it was for a fan.

Originally Posted by Hatterasman

Fan is mounted inside,attached to the underside of the top.

Fan is blowing up/out

Was there a particular reason you have the fan blowing up and out? In general you should get better cooling by blowing down into the HDPVR. I currently have a fan sitting on top blowing in that is connected to an external PS, but would like a cleaner solution.

Thanks.

Wayne

[Hatterasman]

Originally Posted by thomaszoo

Are the holes labeled on the bottom of the board? I didn't see anything on the top that indicated it was for a fan.




Was there a particular reason you have the fan blowing up and out? In general you should get better cooling by blowing down into the HDPVR. I currently have a fan sitting on top blowing in that is connected to an external PS, but would like a cleaner solution.

Thanks.

Wayne

The holes are labeled +5v and GND. There is also an outine of the shape of the older style 2-pin fan header plug.

My thought was pulling less dust in from the bottom. I did consider one of the add-on grills that contain a filter if I went for blowing in.