Lorex NVR noise solution

[abrams7g 0]

First post ever. Just want to share how I solved the noise

problem of the Lorex NVR I bought from Costco.

 

The unit is not as loud as some of the 1U servers I've dealt

with, but it's definitely too loud for a home environment.

Most of the noise comes from the 40mm fan in the power

supply unit. The fan is soldered to the board within PSU so

it can not be swapped easily for a quieter fan. The

PSU has a standard FlexATX form factor, but in addition to

12V output it also has 52V output for the onboard POE switch.

I can't easily find a PSU with 52V output.

 

At that point I was ready to return the unit. But thanks for

the instructions in this forum on how to set up cameras on

a separate POE, I put all 4 cameras on a separate fanless

POE switch that I already have and verified everything works

fine.

 

Without the need for 52V output, it's much easier to replace

the loud PSU. The main board and hard drive are powered

by a 6-pin PCIe connector. I could replace the PSU with a

quiet FlexATX PSU, but a cheaper solution is to get a molex

power adapter and a molex to PCIe 6-pin connector. I bought

them from amazon (search for "molex power adapter",

"6 pin pcie" and also "molex y splitter") for about $20 total.

Then I replaced onboard PSU with the molex power brick.

Powered on, everything's good and much quieter, but

the case fan is still making a bit of noise.

 

I let it run for a while, played with the system while watching

its power draw with kill-a-watt. The whole thing never went

beyond 14W, and the case is just barely warm to the touch.

At that point, I'm pretty confident it doesn't need the

case fan, so I just disconnected the fan from the main board.

Voila! A totally quiet NVR! It's been a week and no problem

whatsover.

 

TL;DR: I killed Lorex NVR noise by putting cameras on a

separate fanless POE switch and replaced PSU with an

external molex power adapter

[evnldr 0]

I don't see where it is loud.

[Kawboy12R 0]

"Loud" is different for everybody. At work I don't mind loud. At home sometimes I hate loud. For instance, any computer fans running by a TV bug me because it makes it harder to hear quiet moments in movies but sleep with a fan running every night to drown out background noise. Every person and situation is different.

[dsap 0]

I'm curious to know how things are going with your mod. Have you had any issues arise? I have your same system (but with 8 cameras), my nvr is in a closet attached to my home theatre room. When the fans crank up they are really loud! Much too loud to be so close to where we sit and watch tv.

[xgsound 0]

A $6 fix for cooling fan. viewtopic.php?f=3&t=49949

 

Jim

[mrdwongsf 0]

Thanks Jim! The cooling fan replacement is way quieter than the stock one.

 

Second, in case anyone finds this post in the hope of solving the noisy Lorex NVR, there has been some changes since the original post or maybe it's specific to my NVR (NR8081 included in the HDIP84W package). The PSU does still supply power (52v) for the internal POE switch and another wire to power the "motherboard" and hard drives, but the wire to the motherboard/hard drives do not use a PCIe 6-pin connector. It uses a 4 (1x4) pin connector and despite all my research, I could not find a name for it nor a molex adapter. I thought I had to go back to the old PSU, but I thought I'd try something...

 

I disconnected the PSU fan. It's no longer hardwired and I did not connect the wire to the internal POE switch. My guess is if the PSU wasn't drawing the power to power the POE switch, it should run cooler. Is there anything horribly wrong with my logic? It's been an hour and the PSU is warm to the touch. Granted, it's outside of the case for now, but I'll update this post when I put everything back together again and if I run into any trouble.

[Puppysrawesome 0]

Thanks Jim! The cooling fan replacement is way quieter than the stock one.

 

Second, in case anyone finds this post in the hope of solving the noisy Lorex NVR, there has been some changes since the original post or maybe it's specific to my NVR (NR8081 included in the HDIP84W package). The PSU does still supply power (52v) for the internal POE switch and another wire to power the "motherboard" and hard drives, but the wire to the motherboard/hard drives do not use a PCIe 6-pin connector. It uses a 4 (1x4) pin connector and despite all my research, I could not find a name for it nor a molex adapter. I thought I had to go back to the old PSU, but I thought I'd try something...

 

I disconnected the PSU fan. It's no longer hardwired and I did not connect the wire to the internal POE switch. My guess is if the PSU wasn't drawing the power to power the POE switch, it should run cooler. Is there anything horribly wrong with my logic? It's been an hour and the PSU is warm to the touch. Granted, it's outside of the case for now, but I'll update this post when I put everything back together again and if I run into any trouble.