habusho 0 Posted November 20, 2007 Hi everybody, this forum was really helpful in me getting the correct DVR for our office. I have just one question, my CpCam 501\AVTech 781 is really loud and messes up the ambience in my room because it's right next to my chair. Is there any way to quiet down this beast? Possibly a suggestion for a replacement fan or something... Would it be wise to remove the fan? The DVR does exactly what I need it to do it's just loud as hell, the fans not the hard drive. Last question, we used to have a quad installed, I can just throw that away now right??? Thank you. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scorpion 0 Posted November 21, 2007 I would donate the quad to a charity, and gain some fame from an article in the news paper. Your DVR will have a whirring noise, but it should not be that loud unless your environment is really quiet. If it is under warranty, and it is extremely loud then I would suggest going back to your dealer to get their responce to the noise level. You can match a fan from a computer store. Pretest the new fan to make sure is does not have the same noise level as the one that you allready have. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kiwi 0 Posted November 21, 2007 If it's anything like my AvTech 782 you have my sympathy. If it's designed the same you could move the fan to in-between the disk underside and CPU. I cut a suitable hole in the disk bracket and glued the fan with epoxy to the underside. It now cools the CPU and disk directly and is quieter. You could also place the DVR unit in a small cabinet to try and contain the noise somewhat. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
habusho 0 Posted November 21, 2007 If it's anything like my AvTech 782 you have my sympathy. If it's designed the same you could move the fan to in-between the disk underside and CPU. I cut a suitable hole in the disk bracket and glued the fan with epoxy to the underside. It now cools the CPU and disk directly and is quieter. You could also place the DVR unit in a small cabinet to try and contain the noise somewhat. It's just so damn loud. I think I'm going to just remove the fan from there. I mean there's no CPU or anything else running, I don't think it can get hot enough to break. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted November 21, 2007 The board still gets hot, thats probably what the fan is for, also chips should be embedded on the board. I would just check that it is clean for starters, and if so and still loud, source a new fan that is quieter. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scorpion 0 Posted November 21, 2007 Do not remove the fan! WARNING! You are doing alot of video processing, and it is very taxing on the chips! It will work fine without the fan, but you will be shortening the life span of the product! Depending on the installation environment I may actually "glue" on extra heat sinks to the video processor chip (chips). I also educate the customers not to block the airvents, such as stacking them among hometheater equipment, and cable/sat boxes. Do not ever put a DVR on top of an amp/receiver. I know the customers do it anyways, but at least I told them so. I preach the same as Rory about using battery back with line filtration products or UPS. This will make or break the longevity of the DVR as well. DVRs do have some noise to them. If yours is that loud then I would recommend replacing it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cctv_down_under 0 Posted November 21, 2007 A lot of manufactured products have overly powered fans to accomodate every location, what y7ou could do is introduce a resistor to the fan inline, you can then regulate the speed of the fan and hence the noise. I do this with my pc at home...it is in an old style wooden desk, I have made airflow by creating a hole near the bottom of the desk where it is enclosed and at the back of the desk is a large 12v fan run off...you guessed it a camera power supply, I use a regulator to adjust the spin speed and hence the noise. In saying that, perhaps it is a big and noisy fan for a reason, some chips do get very hot, but my PC allows me to adjust to low speed for winter and high speed for summer! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
habusho 0 Posted November 21, 2007 Do not remove the fan! WARNING! You are doing alot of video processing, and it is very taxing on the chips! It will work fine without the fan, but you will be shortening the life span of the product! Depending on the installation environment I may actually "glue" on extra heat sinks to the video processor chip (chips). I also educate the customers not to block the airvents, such as stacking them among hometheater equipment, and cable/sat boxes. Do not ever put a DVR on top of an amp/receiver. I know the customers do it anyways, but at least I told them so. I preach the same as Rory about using battery back with line filtration products or UPS. This will make or break the longevity of the DVR as well. DVRs do have some noise to them. If yours is that loud then I would recommend replacing it. I'm going to try to buy either a replacement fan or a resistor and see if it quiets it down some. Would you guys know where I can buy the fans\resistors or heatsinks to put on this thing? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted November 21, 2007 I'm going to try to buy either a replacement fan or a resistor and see if it quiets it down some. Would you guys know where I can buy the fans\resistors or heatsinks to put on this thing? You could also try an external fan controller that ties into the fan's power lead. These type of things are sold at regular PC stores, or most PC retailers online. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Scruit 0 Posted November 21, 2007 I have a CPCam CP576W which is very similar and equally loud. However it's not a problem for me because it's installed in a commercial DVR lockbox. Much quieter now. (DVR is no good to me if it gets stolen during a burglary) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kiwi 0 Posted November 22, 2007 I'm going to try to buy either a replacement fan or a resistor and see if it quiets it down some. Would you guys know where I can buy the fans\resistors or heatsinks to put on this thing? As pointed out, the unit is continuously encoding four channels of video - this is not a trivial computational task and I think you will find that the CPU already has a heat sink *and* expects at least light air flow. From an engineering perspective - in my opinion the forced cooling in the similar 782 is poorly designed and marginal anyway, and to disable it or reduce its effectiveness further with a resistor would be foolish unless you really know what you are doing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cctv_down_under 0 Posted November 22, 2007 Yes Rory, thats what I use inline with my fan, it has a small dial to adjust the speed. You could purchase a laser thermal gun to point the laser at the chip once you reduce the speed of the fan...if that is possible to get the laser onto it (Ie I assume the fan covers it)...I cant vouch for how accurate they are but I have seen them used to measure compression chip temperatures. I tend to agree with Kiwi though, Id bet that lowering the fan speed may make your DVR too hot, so perhaps purchase a whicper fan from absolute cool or someone like that..so long as it is the same or more powerfull rating...if your fan is 12v, and you go for a more powerfull one, make sure to power it from another source, like a camera power supply asd it may require more juice than the old one did and the DVR may not handle it. Perhaps even try to contact the supplier...they may have had this issue before and may be familiar with a solution, however that would obviously risk your warranty. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
