522 Cooling Ideas

[davesbedroom]

I have had my 522 for 4 days now and I have noticed it runs hot.
None of the fans are on and it has plenty of room around it in the entertainment center, but it is hot to the touch.
I also noticed that the room has that hot new electronics smell I dont like.

I was thinking of maybe opening it up and useing jumper wires to make the fans run all the time and not just durring bootup. But that is always risky.

Then since there is a USB port that isn't being used and probably will never be used, maybe I'll just swipe the power off that with one of these options.

Only thing I am worried about is the power supply not being strong enough to handle real USB voltage draw and that making the life of the unit shorter.

What do you guys think?

 

[sattech]

I would call Dish and have it replaced before you void your warranty and have a dead 522

 

[davesbedroom]

I don't think there is anything wrong with it.
I have looked at other thread where people complain about the heat.
These things just run hot hot hot.

 

[j5races]

dave, i agree with you. I think heat is the reason that many of the people on this site have problems with their 522's, 50X's, 721's, 921's etc. I agree the fan is a great idea. I have a couple of quiet computer fans blowing on my 921 constantly and i have almost none of the issues that others have with theirs. I dont know about the USB idea. Just get either fans that run off 110v or computer fans and splice a simple 12v power supply to them. I am not saying the USB will not work, just that i personally dont know if the 522 can supply it or if the 522 will have other problems if you do USB fans.

Good luck.

Jon

 

[rcwilcox]

fans

What I have used are 12v fans but then hook them to a 6 or 9 volt supply. It makes them run quieter and assuming they are DC it doesn't hurt them. Still moves plenty of air just is much quieter. I also have set them on a piece of filter foam to filter the air and cushion it and this too makes it quieter but for sure would not tap in to the machine itself.

 

[davesbedroom]

I just compared my old 510 to my 522 and the top of the 510 looks like a cheese grater where the top of the 522 looks like a good surface to fry and egg. Think I found the design flaw.

I am going ahead with one of the USB fan solutions. I will post back with an update.

 

[maximum]

When I was trying to diagnose problems with my 522 I put a fan in front of it for a few weeks to see if heat was contributing to the playback problems. The fan worked great for keeping everything in the cabinet cool to the touch (looked rather odd having a fan pointed at the entertainment center). But it didn't do squat for solving the problems.

 

[SimpleSimon]

I just compared my old 510 to my 522 and the top of the 510 looks like a cheese grater where the top of the 522 looks like a good surface to fry and egg. Think I found the design flaw.

I am going ahead with one of the USB fan solutions. I will post back with an update.

Yeah - my 501 has bunches of slots on top, and the 921 has none. Strangely enough, my early-version 921 runs cooler than the 501.

 

[dish522noe]

I want a fan for my 522 as well, If DISH lets us, because I'm concerned the box gets warm. At least with the computer, it has a fan to cool the comp.

 

[kbohip]

I just compared my old 510 to my 522 and the top of the 510 looks like a cheese grater where the top of the 522 looks like a good surface to fry and egg. Think I found the design flaw.

I am going ahead with one of the USB fan solutions. I will post back with an update.

I never even knew they made USB fans! I don't know why you'd ever want one for a computer, but for the 522 it should work fine.

My fan on my 522 seems to run quite a bit, although it's still warmer to the touch than my 510 was, and that only had a tiny fan.

 

[Stargazer]

The good thing about not having the slots on top is that there is less dust that gets into the machine. Less risk for a fire if the receiver were to get way too hot. You should have gotten a warning pop up on the screen if the receiver gets too hot.

 

[SimpleSimon]

I never even knew they made USB fans! I don't know why you'd ever want one for a computer, but for the 522 it should work fine. ...

On my laptop, I'm not using a USB fan, but a PS/2 port powered tray.

CPU fan in my old laptop died and no replacement was available. Got an aluminum tray with 2 hefty fans, and made some ducting out of weatherstripping. Pulled the CPU cover, exposing the heatsink, and away I went. CPU now runs about 20 degrees F cooler than before. Course, the laptop ain't near as portable as before, but it lives on a tray next to my comfy chair, so no problem.

 

[bpickell]

I'm currently building a small shelf that my 522 will sit on. It has 4 120mm computer case fans mounted to it. I am using an old 12v cell phone charger to power them. And I am using a variable speed dimmer switch sort of thing to control fan speed. It seems to work great. I have not yet tested it on the unit itself. I am putting finishing touches on the unit and making it a little easier to look at.

 

[supereal]

We use a computer "muffin fan" to circulate the air in our cabinet where all our electronic are housed. A "fan control" rheostat allows us to reduce fan speed to where the noise is acceptable. If you elevate the 522 about an inch above the surface with a couple of pieces of wood, etc. under the feet, it will greatly increase the convection cooling, too. We started this process when we were using a 4DTV, and for a year, the 522 has run below heat alarm level.