Modding Fan on docking station

SoildSnake

SoildSnake

SoildSnake

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15 Feb 2010
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474
I have the star tech dock SATSASBAY3BK and the fan is very loud. If disconnect the fan the warning buzzers goes off; this cannot be turned off. I cannot attach another fan since the connector is unique. So i was thinking of soldering on a fan mate so that i could control the level of the fan. Any other suggestions welcomed

1) Firstly would this work; or would the mod make the fan buzzer go off?

2) Secondly how would i go about doing this, i have no experience with modding/solder work

Thanks
 
You'd need to cut the fan wires and also the fanmate wires and patch the fanmate into the fan circuit. Id imagine you'd solder your fan wire to the pins on the fanmate and just join the other end into your dock wiring.

It's unlikely that a buzzer would go off. It's more likely that it's designed to see only an open circuit on the fan circuit, rather than monitor its speed.
 
Is there an easier way to do this? For example i heard that simply cutting one of the wires would turn a 12v fan into a 5v fan thus run at half the speed?
 
SoildSnake said:
Is there an easier way to do this? For example i heard that simply cutting one of the wires would turn a 12v fan into a 5v fan thus run at half the speed?
Click to expand...

If you cut one of the two wires you get 0v in your circuit. That would be the same as pulling it out of the dock. I think you are confusing something here with swapping the wires on a Molex. Seeing a you have only 12v and 0v you are limited as to what you can do.

To reduce voltage you have to add something into your fan circuit that will impede the current flow.

At a push you could wire a few diodes in series, each diode will drop the voltage by 0.7v.

You could also swap the fan that exists for something slower spining.

Loads of things you can do actually, all easy enough to do if you know a little bit about electronics and how DC fans work.

And to answer your five day old post..... A video? No idea unless someone else has modded their dock and felt the need to share this with other people. There will, however be lots of videos and guides to do with fan controlling and modification of voltage but not necessarily pertinent to your dock. I would suggest looking over that sort of thing. I can't be of much more help without knowing exactly what we are dealing with as regards the fan, size, speed, connectors, space available.
 
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Thanks for the responses

regarding cutting the fan blade what would be best (to reduce noise but allow best air flow for that amount of noise) either cutting off totally a few blades or cutting a little bit of each one?

Okay i wont simply cut anything because the 0v would probably turn on the buzzer.

I cannot swap the fan since the connector is unique. Unless you meant solder on a new fan? But that would be just as or more difficult than soldering the fan mate no?

Adding the diodes seems too difficult to do

As for more info on the issue; its an 80MM fan attached to a dock with a unique connector which takes up 2 5.25 bays. I don't know the speed of the fan but the airflow is not very much despite the noise. And there inst a great amount of space since the dock almost hits my RAM. Thanks for your help
 
Just had a look at the dock and can see the fan has quite a restrictive grille on it. Maybe removal of that, so the fan has unimpeded access to the surrounding air would help.

Any chance of a picture of the fan connector? Fans usually use one of just two or three different types.

If you can also inspect the label on the fan maybe a replacement or something can be found, or at the very least and idea on how it can be slowed using a simple resistor.

I'm afraid that in all likelihood you will need to use a soldering iron if you want lower noise from it, unless removing the grille has a good effect on the noise characteristic.
 
I bought one of those caddy's.

I took the top plate off, and suspended a 140mm over the top of the bay.
Which really cools down the top HDD, which I use the most.
Plus, I removed the back cover, took the rear fan out and attached rubber feet to it, then fastened it back to the PCB with tie back cables.
It's quieter than being inside the back plate.

I'm still looking to replace the fan with a quieter one, but no one seems to know what type of connection the fan uses. So I do know which adapter to buy.

Here's some camera phone photos, if anyone can help.
of59.jpg

^ The lower connector is a standard 3 pin connector, as a comparison).

q8t4.jpg
 
Marzipanogram said:
I'm still looking to replace the fan with a quieter one, but no one seems to know what type of connection the fan uses. So I do know which adapter to buy.

Here's some camera phone photos, if anyone can help.
of59.jpg

^ The lower connector is a standard 3 pin connector, as a comparison).

q8t4.jpg
Click to expand...

I know what type they are.

They are a JST connector PHR-3. Similar but smaller in cavity numbers than the ones we see on graphics cards. I think we use them in work.

I don't really know for any adapters though. Might be easier to lop the end of the attached fan off and attach to the new fan wiring following the correct wiring methodology.

I suppose in an ideal world you'd have a 3 pin fan header on one side, a bit of wire and then the PHR-3 connector so you'd not need to destroy anything.
 
Tealc said:
I know what type they are.

They are a JST connector PHR-3. Similar but smaller in cavity numbers than the ones we see on graphics cards. I think we use them in work.

I don't really know for any adapters though. Might be easier to lop the end of the attached fan off and attach to the new fan wiring following the correct wiring methodology.

I suppose in an ideal world you'd have a 3 pin fan header on one side, a bit of wire and then the PHR-3 connector so you'd not need to destroy anything.
Click to expand...

Fantastic. Thank you very much :D
 
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