Macintosh SE Fan Mod - 2016

[BadGoldEagle]

Hi

I'm going to add a SCSI2SD to a M5010 SE ( that's the one without the HD and the two floppy drives). So the only noisy thing in there apart from the FDDs is the fan, which is QUITE LOUD. 

This SE was manufactured in 1987, making it one of the very early ones. It originally had the squirrel cage fan, but apparently this one was removed and replaced by a more common axial one when the Mac was serviced on the 8th of August 1991 (the guy left a sticker on the bottom).

So it's not original anymore, and that means I can tinker with it  }

I was thinking about adding one of these:

The AcoustiFan Dustproof Series: it's supposed to be very quiet, about 15dB when running at full speed.

This thing moves roughly 13 CPM. I know, not that much but it will fit nicely as this is a 60mm fan, like the one used on the SE. Now, I don't know how much CFM the original axial fan outputs, but I think this one is similar. I want to keep the same proportions as I don't want to hack the casing.

It comes with 4 wires using a 3-Speed Fan Cable. The original SE fan only had 2 wires, positive and negative. What do you think will happen if I leave the two other wires disconnected? The fan will run @12V if the "tacho" is disconnected, right?

And is it possible to add that thermostat? (n00b question)

The PWM (4th one) isn't a necessity, right?

Oh and if you know of a 60mm fan that is better and quieter, let me know. I'm all ears.

Thanks!

 

[techknight]

you either dont have tinnitus (like I do) or you live in a really really quiet environment, as I cannot really hear my SEs fan. 

 

[BadGoldEagle]

Sometimes I do get tinnitus, but that fan is bothering me. It's not right. I actually have two options: either get a new quieter fan, or go old school and get a squirrel cage one... The one in my SE/30 needs lubricant ! It is appalling. But I don't want to replace that one. Keepin' things original.

---

After doing some more research, I found the original fan's specifications. The Sanyo 109P0612M402 moves 12 CFM according to this site.

So the AcoustiFan is one better.   At least it will be quiet!

The Nanoxia Deep Silence 60 mm - 2000 rpm may be a better product (16CFM, 12dB), but it's green. It won't look good. Why can't they make a black one!

 

[Carboy7]

Green? Seriously? xx(

 

[BadGoldEagle]

Yep. Green.

Won't look good on an SE.

 

[omidimo]

I went with the Noctua clad in beige and brown! 

 

[Reasons.]

I did that Noctua in my SE/30, as well. It's this one. It's a pretty penny, but it works well. As a bonus, it comes with a variety of cables that allows you to mount it without soldering by powering it through a hard drive pass-though, if that's your thing (though I would recommend soldering it in place). I can heartily recommend it. It's not quite silent, but it is darn quiet.

 

[omidimo]

The airflow of the Noctua w/ the LNA adapter is near perfect balance: 2400rpm, 23.5cfm all at a nice low 14.5dB. I have not soldered anything since I am still working on the restoration project.

Re: bracket, industrial velcro is an awesome thing! 

 

[BadGoldEagle]

Thanks guys for all the info. Could you please take a pic of the back of your SE-SE/30 with the fan mounted? That would be great!

The Noctura looks like it's covered in chocolate and cream. Yummy. But, again, I don't want the fan to interfere with the design too much... 

Noctura manufactures grey ones as well, but these only go down to 80mms.

Now, about that wiring, what should I do? I'm quite a newbie when it comes to modding computers.

How and where do you install that LNA adapter? I see you can get the Noctura fan with only 2 wires, which will make this one run @12V constantly (no tacho), but is it recommended? 

 

[techknight]

Sometimes I do get tinnitus, but that fan is bothering me. It's not right. I actually have two options: either get a new quieter fan, or go old school and get a squirrel cage one... The one in my SE/30 needs lubricant ! It is appalling. But I don't want to replace that one. Keepin' things original.

---

After doing some more research, I found the original fan's specifications. The Sanyo 109P0612M402 moves 12 CFM according to this site.

So the AcoustiFan is one better.   At least it will be quiet!

The Nanoxia Deep Silence 60 mm - 2000 rpm may be a better product (16CFM, 12dB), but it's green. It won't look good. Why can't they make a black one!

Well, if the bearings are bad and its making a ton of noise thats a different story. 

 

[just.in.time]

Just went ahead and put in an order on Amazon for the Noctua it will be heading into my SE/30. If it works out well in there, I'll get another two, one for my SE FDHD, and the other for a little hack project to get it into the vent space above the analog board at the rear of my Plus.

 

[Crutch]

The airflow of the Noctua w/ the LNA adapter is near perfect balance: 2400rpm, 23.5cfm all at a nice low 14.5dB. I have not soldered anything since I am still working on the restoration project.

Re: bracket, industrial velcro is an awesome thing! 

Stumbled on this thread after it was linked by @JDW today and just wanted to correct the record - the fan you linked with the LNA @omidimo, per that linked page, doesn’t run at 23.5 CFM (cubic feet per minute) but rather m3/h (cubic meters per hour) which is only 13.8 CFM. Without the LNA it runs at a speedier 17.2 CFM. 

Here’s a converter http://www.endmemo.com/sconvert/m3_hft3_min.php

 

[maceffects]

I wanted to also add that I bought the mold for a clear SE & SE/30 fan and have a limited amount and they have green LEDs.  My fans run at 24 CFM, though they aren't "quiet" fans they are similar to OEM.  If anyone needs one please PM me.  I hate to see flyback transformers overheat and die.

 

[Reasons.]

Resurrecting this to say that I just replaced a couple of SE/30 fans with Sunons (the MF60251V1-1000U-A99, specifically). These are replacing a Noctua and an original Sanyo. These have substantially better static pressure and CFM than the Noctua (0.21"H2O vs. 0.09"H20 and 23.5CFM vs. 17.19CFM, respectively) with a higher noise (27 dBA vs. 19.3 dBA). I don't find them super audible from the distance I use the machine from, but if you're sensitive to it I'll note that the fan noise is less pleasantly tuned than the Noctua. That said, it's much quieter on top of my desk than the Quicksilver under it.

I replaced the fan because I was concerned about the cooling performance of the Noctua with the number of upgrades I have in it. In that regard I'm happy, as the fans are clearly moving much more air through the back than the Noctuas they replaced at a much lower volume than the originals. Plus, they're cheaper and less fiddly to install (two wires vs three).

 

[Joopmac]

Funny, i tried some fans and also ended up with the Sunons! They have a pleasant sound, but i do like the Panaflow's originally
Yes the noctua does not push enough air!

 

[CC_333]

Funny, i tried some fans and also ended up with the Sunons! They have a pleasant sound, but i do like the Panaflow's originally
Yes the noctua does not push enough air!

I think striving for absolute silence isn't reasonable in many cases, especially when running a system, that produces any kind of heat output. Instead, I like to use fans that aren't annoying when they push lots of air around.

That said, I can deal with almost any fan, as long as the bearings aren't junk, causing the fan to growl, grind and squeak in annoying ways. I also find high speed, small-diameter fans to be quite whiny and annoying (and they don't even push that much air, for all that noise).

So, if I want a quiet system, I find that having a good, temperature-controlled fan (for newer systems, temperature-based speed control is often built into the motherboard, which is nice because I can use any 4-pin fan) is more effective at quieting down a system than getting the quietest fans I can find, and it retains that extra cooling capacity so the fans can speed up as needed when things start getting too warm.

c