1U 4 Fan Rack Mount Fan Noctua Conversion

ZachsBack17 · June 24, 2020

Hey guys,

So I bought myself a 15U Navepoint 450mm rack cabinet to house all of my equipment as I'm entering the realm of rack mountable devices. Just got the UDM-Pro for it which is great along with my Synology DS1819+. Long story short, things are starting to get a bit toasty. I mean I can't even close the cabinet door. Granted this comes with one exhaust fan on top. So I bought a couple of AC Infinity Rack Roof exhaust fans to try and help as well as this cheap 1U fan to get some more airflow. Everything appears to work, but man is that fan loud! It would be nice to throw some noctua fans in as a replacement, but I believe it's 120v though I don't know (haven't opened it up yet). I've seen (if it is 120v) that I can likely get a 120v plug to molex connector and then a molex to 4x 3/4 pin connectors to try to get it to work.

I guess the question is, is this the best route? Am I missing something obvious instead? I'm trying to keep the budget down obviously (as I've spent enough lately) and am somewhat limited. Additionally, I have concerns that the db trade-off will substantially impact the cooling capability. I have been digging into CFM vs m³/h and seem to have a rough grasp on airflow vs. static pressure but not enough to determine which will favor me better vs what I actually need.

Anyone have any thoughts or how to complete this or just a better alternative? Ultimately i'd like to keep things cool as well as keep the noise down as it is in my bedroom closet and it is a bit noisy. Also, I have the top exhaust going though flex duct lines into the attic to minimize sucking in hot air.

Windows7ge · June 24, 2020

Noctua fans do not run on 120V AC. They run on 12V DC. A 120V AC to Molex to 4-pin adapter would melt/explode the noctua fans.

You could rig up your own contraption running off a 12v wall adapter or a spare ATX PSU. You might like the Noctua NF-F12 industrial 3000RPM fans. They may be less noisy than what you're working with now.

W-L · June 24, 2020

1 hour ago, ZachsBack17 said:

Hey guys,

So I bought myself a 15U Navepoint 450mm rack cabinet to house all of my equipment as I'm entering the realm of rack mountable devices. Just got the UDM-Pro for it which is great along with my Synology DS1819+. Long story short, things are starting to get a bit toasty. I mean I can't even close the cabinet door. Granted this comes with one exhaust fan on top. So I bought a couple of AC Infinity Rack Roof exhaust fans to try and help as well as this cheap 1U fan to get some more airflow. Everything appears to work, but man is that fan loud! It would be nice to throw some noctua fans in as a replacement, but I believe it's 120v though I don't know (haven't opened it up yet). I've seen (if it is 120v) that I can likely get a 120v plug to molex connector and then a molex to 4x 3/4 pin connectors to try to get it to work.

I guess the question is, is this the best route? Am I missing something obvious instead? I'm trying to keep the budget down obviously (as I've spent enough lately) and am somewhat limited. Additionally, I have concerns that the db trade-off will substantially impact the cooling capability. I have been digging into CFM vs m³/h and seem to have a rough grasp on airflow vs. static pressure but not enough to determine which will favor me better vs what I actually need.

Anyone have any thoughts or how to complete this or just a better alternative? Ultimately i'd like to keep things cool as well as keep the noise down as it is in my bedroom closet and it is a bit noisy. Also, I have the top exhaust going though flex duct lines into the attic to minimize sucking in hot air.

That 120V fan set in the top is speed adjustable so you can tun down the noise level as for the 1U that is probably your noisiest part being 42-48 dB. As said you would need to get a power adapter and some relatively powerful but quieter fans.

I would suggest to look at getting a server cabinet that has free airflow front and back to let the servers and components inside to properly breath since that unit is almost completely sealed.