The 3745 router I bought to replace my old core router is one heck of a packet-routing beast, but it was also ridiculously loud. You guys have heard the Bobulator and you know that I don't mind moderately loud equipment, but this router was easily 3-4x as loud as my PC. Even with my tolerance for fan whine, this thing was simply
way too loud.
Of course, I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to use this beast for my core router, so I did something about it...
With the flash on, you can vaguely make out the four 92mm Delta fans behind the front cover. They spin at nearly 3000RPM and produce a combined 216 cubic feet of airflow per minute... through a half cubic foot box. Overkill?
The front cover is a two-piece assembly that forms a box, wherein the fans lie.
Once the front cover is removed, four screws must be removed to separate the cover into two pieces.
...like so.
Each of the four fans is held in place by four two-piece plastic clips. The center protrusion on the interior side must be knocked downward to release the pin.
Once the center pin has been knocked down, the entire retention doo-dad can be pulled out from the exterior side. A small claw hammer works wonders for this.
Once all four pins are removed, the fan can be pulled away from the cover.
These are the fans I purchased to replace the OEM ones. They are three-speed fans that push 28CFM at a whisper-quiet 21db. I can amp them up to 38CFM at 28db, but I don't think that's necessary. The old fans must be removed first. The fan power pigtails were ridiculously long, so I left enough wire on the fans to allow them to be reattached if need be (or if used for a future project).
I taped up the pigtails for each fan as I cut them off to ensure I didn't cross any wires.
The new fans were installed using the same clips that held in the original fans, although the screws that came with the new fans would have also worked.
The wires from the original pigtails were mated with the wires from the new fans using Scotch wire connectors. They're a bit pricey, but you can simply insert both wires and clamp down on the connector with a pair of pliers. This is a big time saver when you've got to crimp a bunch of low-voltage wires.
Here's a final shot before I cleaned up the wiring and put everything back together.
And here's the completed and reassembled fan tray/cover. After putting the router back together, I can hardly tell it's even running.
Of course, I was careful to ensure the router stayed nice and cool, and I honestly can't tell the difference in terms of temperature. If I was running all four power supplies (I only have one in mine) and had all of the expansion bays stuffed, I might need more airflow. However, 84CFM through a box that is a half cubic foot in size is more than enough for what I'm running. There is no way I could have used the router in my office with the OEM fans, so I'd say this was a fairly successful ghetto-mod!
-b0b
(...ghetto modding for the win!)