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RX-18 Cooling Fan

Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 9:40 am
by Mackem
Hi all,

As we know it's a now a standard mod to fit a cooling fan to HL boards, especially as you pile on the metal upgrades.
My PzIV has an RX-18 and as far as I can see to gain any benefit from fitting a cooling fan you would have to drill
holes in the front and back of the boards plastic casing, or remove the casing altogether.
So, has anyone fitted a cooling fan to an RX-18 yet?

Cheers
John

Re: RX-18 Cooling Fan

Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 12:25 pm
by tankman
Not yet Mackem but I just got my new RX18 board from Andy and see what you mean. looks loke the dremel will be out later on and I will be drilling a few holes round the base of the box and a few in the top. Will post pictures later. Must say though I am impressed with what you get with the new RX 18 board as all the wires are included in the price this will allow you to extend or shorten motor,speaker,smoker,battery wiring to your custom specifications. All the best for now
Alan   

Re: RX-18 Cooling Fan

Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 12:58 pm
by 971wright
Hi when I get round to it Im going to cut a hole the size of fan and glue fan to case so tis blowing in as much air as posible and drill some holes at rear edge to let air out it should be ok like this .

  regards pete

Re: RX-18 Cooling Fan

Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 1:14 pm
by tankman
Hi guy's just done the holes in the plastic RX 18 box, not a lot of room for making ventilation holes and air flow will be restricted as the board is a snug fit in the lower half. So I have drilled as many holes as I can in the top and side of the box. I hope this will allow a lot of the air from a 40 or 60mm fan to circulate round the fet's and help in cooling them a bit more than standard. All the best for now
Alan

Re: RX-18 Cooling Fan

Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 3:52 pm
by Ex_Pat_Tanker
Looking at those pics I'd say you'd be better off cuting a single large hole for the 40mm fan on top and screw the fan directly to the case (screw from the inside of the case into the fan - probably need a dollop of Miliput in each of the screw holes in the fan). that way you would get better flow. The vent holes around the outside are perfect tho.  ;D
Cheer's
Mart

Re: RX-18 Cooling Fan

Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 4:13 pm
by tankman
Mart looking at it you are right so I will go and cut out the centre of the silver bit and tack a fan in place with a bit of superglue. Also tested a fan on the board by connecting the fan to the smoker wires and the battery to the board feed wires, switched the smoker switch on and off she went. So now I know I have a switched fan Which I will just leave on. These boards are so much better than the old RX 13's and a definate improvement over the RX 14's in a lot of areas especialy in the fact that it's not as easy to short one out by touching it with the reciver board or other metalic objects. All the best for now
Alan

Re: RX-18 Cooling Fan

Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 5:20 pm
by tankman
Right guy's cut out the centre of the silver bit on the top of the RX 18. So far so good now for the bad news a 40mm fan is to big the centre of the fan almost covers the hole so very little air get's circulated. I tried a 25mm fan which worked much better. Now for the problem it's a flipping 12v unit and sometimes failes to start it also runs a bit slower than optimum. What I need is a 25mm fan running on 5v anyone know where I can get a couple PLEASE. All the best for now
Alan

Re: RX-18 Cooling Fan

Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 5:50 pm
by Ex_Pat_Tanker
I'll have a looksie, have you tried putting the return directly back to the battery instead of the smoker? I have 12V 30mm fans and haven't had any trouble wiring them that way.
(edit)
I can't find any listed on the websites of my usual sources in the UK - looks like a job for ebay!?
I use these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835119047
They are 12V, but I wire them between the power feed to the board (after the master on switch) and the return lead to the battery.
I couldn't find any 5V fans over here either :(

Re: RX-18 Cooling Fan

Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 5:55 pm
by Tailend charlie
Here's a place that have different size 5volts.  http://www.buyextras.com/dc5vfaforlan.h ... awodjBJWCw  Just googled 25mm 5 volt fans and a bunch came up. Including evilbay. Hope this helps.

Re: RX-18 Cooling Fan

Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 7:31 pm
by tankman
Cheers Guy's, in answer to your question ex pat I have tried to wire the fan direct to the battery and I have the same problem every now and again the fan fails to start running just twitches. If it's not 99 % reliable I won't chance using it in a HL especialy my new RX 18 boards. Not so worried about the RX 14's I am using in earlier models as I have 5v x 60mm fans onboard these blast out a lot of cool air. Thank you Tailend charlie I will be checking out the site you have found. Checked out the link Tailend charlieand found lot's of 25mm fan's as you said. Then serched some more and found 5v 17mmx17mmx10mm fan's  at Maplins and all for £4.99 each. Hope this is of use to someone. All the best for now
Alan