Hello fellas. Do you have a PC at home? Well, I bet most of you do and I think some of you are concerned about the dust that seeps in to your monitor and especially the heat it can generate especially if your rig is stored inside a room thats not well ventilated.
Here's a nifty tip to lower the monitors a bit and suck up dust that has not settled in yet: use two brushless fans. 🙂
If you look closely at your monitor, it has slats/vents either on the side or on top. These allow the air to come inside the monitor to cool down the monitor' innards. Well, you know all that. However, you probably also know that these slats/vents allow for dust "inhalation" and is not really 100% effective in lowering the hear inside the monitor. This is where the brushless fans come in.
Get yourself two brushless fans (12V) and position it on the monitor side/top or where you feel heat comes out more. Attach it to the monitor using small strips of velcro. Using velcro allows you to remove the fan for replacement or maintenance. Then, as a power source, use standard AC adapter that has a 12 volt function or if you have an AVR that has a 12V output, use that. Wiring is simple: red is positive and black is negative, although some adapters and fans use a black/black-white combo.
Now, you have several options for the fans. If you want low noise, you can use fans that have around 1,000-1,500 RPM. These fans generate only about 15-17 decibels of noise - pretty low. Good choice for small rooms where a mouse's whisper may sound like a BB gun shot. If you want more "cooling" power and don't mind the noise, you can go for fans with 11,000 - 14,000 RPM. These babies produce around 30-40 decibels of noise. This is what I used to (used to because my PC got nuked a long time ago) and I tell you, these things are noisy but they did work better than the two 1,000 RPM fans I had used before. However, I think there are newer fan models that produce the same or much higher RPM but with lower noise.
Power consumption/requirement of the fan is a measly 0.5-2.6 watts, depending on the RPM and the fan.
This solution worked for me in keeping my old CRT monitor cool and it did lower the dust levels inside my monitor. If it worked for me, I'm pretty sure it would work for you.
Check your fans regularly though and keep the blades clean.
Good luck and happy DIY-ing.
🙂
Re: Cool down that CRT monitor!
thanks nico!
this is a great tip...
Re: Cool down that CRT monitor!
Nico, any brushless fan that I can use with all my old cellphone charger lying around the house? Last I looked, I had two Ericksson chargers, and assorted other chargers for obsolete phones. Being the pack rat I am, I never threw these away, figuring that they would come in hand.
Re: Cool down that CRT monitor!
Nico, any brushless fan that I can use with all my old cellphone charger lying around the house? Last I looked, I had two Ericksson chargers, and assorted other chargers for obsolete phones. Being the pack rat I am, I never threw these away, figuring that they would come in hand.
Hi 'ya 2diy4. Are you asking if for brushless fans for use on your chargers or are you asking of you can use the brushless fan from your old charges?
For the former, one or two 1,500 RPM fans would do the trick. For the latter question, yep - you can use those. The 1st fans I used on my old monitor were fans I ripped out from old power supply units.
🙂
Re: Cool down that CRT monitor!
Thanks Nico. I intend to use a surplus brushless fan driven by an old charger.
Re: Cool down that CRT monitor!
Here's an idea to dampen the noise: use thin strips of insulating foam or any thin strip of good foam. Cut the foam intro strips to the width of the fan base or the side where the fan would be mounted on the monitor. Use strong double adhesive tapes to mount the foam on the base of the fans, then the foamed-fans on the monitor. However, this would only work if you mount the fans on top of the monitor - mounting the foamed-fans on the side may cause the foam and fan assembly to split away from one another due to vibrations and, well, gravity.
Re: Cool down that CRT monitor!
Actually, I use the brushless to cool my stereo amp/receiver. I just put it on top of the receiver. Haven't had any heat problems since.
