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look at my home-made XPS 2 lappie cooler!!! - Page 5

post #81 of 157
7/27/06 at 1:58pm
OK. Theoretical question here. Will blowing air directly into the laptop fans help? (Yes, I know it will...) How much is too much, and how much is not enough? At what point to the fans begin to counteract each other? I have a Targus Chill Mat. It looks like this;



OK. not much I know, but it is effective. Very quiet. Not a ton of airflow. It pulls hot air away from the bottom of the lappy and vents to the rear. It also raises the lappy so it can "breathe" better.

Not the best way (IMHO).

I really like your design. It's lean and it raises the lappy so it can exchange air better. But I digress...

Would fans pushing air into the fans on the lappy provide a great improvement? How much is too much? Is overspeed of the lappy fans a possible issue?

Just tossing things out in the wind here.
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post #82 of 157
7/27/06 at 5:33pm
Thread Starter 
0. Yes it will help if your fans get air blown into them.
1. Your fans do not seem to directly blow air into the vents.
2.I think you'd need to have some hefty air pressure to overcome the helping efefct and go into a degrading effect of airflow to the fans.
3. Raising the lappy and somehow moving the air underneath it is possibly even more important than the actual blowing of air into the vents.
4. Lappy fans cannot overspeed because there is no air being fed to them under pressure.
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post #83 of 157
7/27/06 at 6:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tijgert
1. Your fans do not seem to directly blow air into the vents.
Well on the Targus Chill mat, they dont blow at all. They suck air in, and push it out the rear of the unit.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tijgert
2.I think you'd need to have some hefty air pressure to overcome the helping efefct and go into a degrading effect of airflow to the fans.
3. Raising the lappy and somehow moving the air underneath it is possibly even more important than the actual blowing of air into the vents.
I agree on both counts. I wonder what the best height/benefit ratio is. There has to be a point where elevation will no longer yeild noticable results.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tijgert
4. Lappy fans cannot overspeed because there is no air being fed to them under pressure.
True... But much like the above query, how much is enough? Ther has to be a point where there is no additional benifit.. I guess I'm just trying to min/max the airflow (CFM) and stand-off height.

How much air is pushed out from between your lappy and cooler? I mean in figurative terms? Can you blow dry the cat?

Wonder if a big 120mm fan right in the middle would yeild the same results? (I know you went with the smaller fans due to width/depth.)

I feel a trip to the parts store coming on. Time to look at fans. Any recomendations?
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post #84 of 157
7/27/06 at 9:05pm
Thread Starter 
To suck or to blow... all the same fellatio to me

A simple extra pencil increases airflow substantially, adding a bit more is probably better but who knows what ideal is.
It's a bit of a gut feeling.

I'd go with the thinnest fans and just take several...
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post #85 of 157
7/27/06 at 9:45pm
There is an easier and cheaper approach to this (the laptop cooler not the girlfriend/wife). It is more or less a basic passive cooler. Just take a stick type ball point pen and place a cap on both ends. Angle the caps so they form a base so the pen does not roll and place it under the back of the laptop. For an added feature wrap some Duct Tape around the center of the pen so the take just touches the desk and the bottom of the laptop this will prevent the pen or laptop from sliding. By lifting the back of the laptop off the surface it is on air now get to the fans or vents on the bottom. This method is easier and cheaper thereby allow one to spend more time and money on one's girlfriend or wife so she does not become someone else's girlfriend/wife.

Bob
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post #86 of 157
7/28/06 at 11:57am
Bob, that is choice.

I'm worries that my heavy pounding on the keyboard would dislodge a pen, that is unless I duct taped it to the lappy.

Think I'm gonna look to the super cooled, lower airflow (read: less noise). Just gotta source some peltier units.
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post #87 of 157
7/28/06 at 3:42pm
Sorry for the double post. Check this out;
http://www.frozencpu.com/toy-09.html
Set that up with some heatsinks and fans and you have a cheapo USB cooler....

.....maybe?
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post #88 of 157
7/28/06 at 5:22pm
Thread Starter 
Peltier you said?
Way ahead of you mate, this has been lying and waiting for months now.





Just don't have the time to finish it.

As you can read elsewhere in this thread I too was thinking of this.
Using case exhaust fans to blow air radially and splitting it into cooling air for the hot side and deflecting air flow the cold side of the heatsinks into the fans... still sounds like a fun project, but I just don't have the time!
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post #89 of 157
7/28/06 at 6:01pm
Where did you source the Peltier? How much was it? (in Euros is ok)

I read that you had power issues. What is the power consumption like?

Thanks for the photos!
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post #90 of 157
7/28/06 at 6:04pm
Thread Starter 
I got several peltiers off of eBay Germany. Some guy was selling a whole bunch and I got a real big one (180W) and two smaller ones (55W) or something).

They cost me around eh... 40 euro's total I thin, including shipping.

You can never have too many peltiers (or was that playmates?)
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post #91 of 157
7/28/06 at 6:55pm
Looks like a really nice laptop cooler.
I was just wondering how much cooler the laptop runs with the external cooler fans on?
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post #92 of 157
7/28/06 at 7:13pm
Thread Starter 
The temp difference for CPU and GPU can be as little as 5 degrees celcius compared to just putting it on the table. Even compared to putting it on a bed or a couch the difference is not that great. But... if you feel the bottom of the lappy you'll notice that it get's really really warm, almost too warm to touch, espcecially if you put it on a couch or a bed. This is where a lappy cooler saves the day, or at least the lappy. Because high temps are always bad and kill your lappy sooner, the lower temps of other components eventually will extend the life and stability of your lappy.
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post #93 of 157
10/4/06 at 1:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tijgert
And now for the final FINAL shot of my pet project:



Smoothed edges, rounded corners, little rubber feet for spacing with the lappie and little
cloth feet on the bottom for comfort and non scrath stability.
Power plug switchable from 5v USB to 220v external All done!

Tijgert is it possible for you to give me a somwhat detailed explaination on how you managed to convert it from the case power plug to USB? Because I want to try something similar.

Your response is greatly appreciated!!
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post #94 of 157
10/4/06 at 8:59am
Thread Starter 
A detailed description... there isn't actually all that much detail.

You basically connect the + lead from the fans to the + connector of the USB plug and vice versa. All you need is to find out what point in the USB connector connects to where.. well... take a look at this.

It's all really very simple.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.
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post #95 of 157
10/4/06 at 4:07pm
Ok i gotta question. EL usb plugs put out a half amp max per spot, you have like a half dozen fans on one spot. You can see where im going with this cant you....
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post #96 of 157
10/4/06 at 8:09pm
Thread Starter 
Yeah, I feel ya but fear not.

A fan draws about .16 of an amp. My 6 fans should together draw about a whole amp (0.96A).
But that's at 12V and the USB port only delivers 5V.
5V is 42% of 12V meaning the current draw will be about 42% of 0.96 amps = 0.4 Amps.
As you can see, this leaves 20% headroom for startup current or slightly higher current than advertised.

If you have more power hungry fans or you scary easily then you could consider paralleling two USB ports, just like they do with 2,5" USB harddrives.

You'll be fine.
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post #97 of 157
10/4/06 at 10:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tijgert
A detailed description... there isn't actually all that much detail.

You basically connect the + lead from the fans to the + connector of the USB plug and vice versa.
this part is still confusing to me.... is it possible to show me a pic or two of the one you made? (of the cables)

Thanks!!!

Sry for the trouble.
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post #98 of 157
10/5/06 at 7:05am
Thread Starter 
If this still confuses you you might want to think about it some ore before you blow up your expensive lappy.

A basic understanding of electricity is recommended.

I showed you the link that tells which spot in the USB connector gives 5V. Usually the red wire is the + lead and needs to be connected to that.

I'm sorry but pictures are not possibel since I understand you want me to take apart the connector and this is not easy. (it kinda snaps into place).

Edit: Just in case it isn't the USB connector that puzzles you, just bunch together all the red wires and bunch together all the black wires. red = 5V, black = -.

It's really dead easy.
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post #99 of 157
10/5/06 at 10:01am
Ohhhh i get it now, thanks much tijgert!
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post #100 of 157
10/5/06 at 10:27am
So whould it be possible to connect the yellow cable (i beleave the data cable) of the fan to the data cable of the USB?
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