NSA325 V2 noise

All,

I've been running NSA325v2 only on demand with WOL, because I can't stand the noise. From what I've read (I don't have the V1) it is a great improvement over the V1. However, still it's just a little bit too much during the night, I can hear it from a different room (cursed with good hearing :). On a whim, I took the front panel door off, and now I can barely hear it in the same room :) So it is not really the fan noise, it is a resonance from the enclosure, indirectly caused by the fan spinning.

Any idea other than taking the front panel off permanently or drilling holes on the front panel (I would)? Is there anything else that could make the resonance go away? using a mouse pad underneath did not make much difference.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)

I line my enclosures with acoustic foam. The slf adhesive type. You could try that if the space allows.

If the acoustic foam does not work, you could try "mass dampening" which is a term that refers to if you add mass in the form of metal or putty to a flat surface that the added mass (weight) changes the resonance frequency of the flat surface and will either remove the resonance or cause it to be greatly diminished. Search on the internet for Dynamat which is a dempening sheet you could use to accomplish this.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/21/2015 11:35AM by LeggoMyEggo.

Thank you all! I'll try the ideas.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)

For experimentation with what I suggested, you could use SillyPutty or Playdoh - maybe put some non-marring masking tape down first so you don't have to worry about oil staining.

LeggoMyEggo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> For experimentation with what I suggested, you
> could use SillyPutty or Playdoh - maybe put some
> non-marring masking tape down first so you don't
> have to worry about oil staining.

Thanks! Interesting: putty & playdoh :) about the Dynamat, certainly inexpensive if I can find a small size pack (hard to find though).

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/21/2015 08:08PM by bodhi.

bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I can find a
> small size pack (hard to find though).

Look for a "door kit" for Dynamat or one the clones. eBay always has some. You want the stuff with the foil face as it's not tacky on the foil side. You might find a similar product at a car dealership as they use sheets of the stuff to dampen resonances on car panels.

I'd try a rubber band around it and see if that's enough gentle pressure. Unless it's a living room centerpiece, then you'd prolly not want it looking goofy like that. A rubber band might keep the airflow as designed.

> I'd try a rubber band around it and see if that's
> enough gentle pressure. Unless it's a living room
> centerpiece, then you'd prolly not want it looking
> goofy like that. A rubber band might keep the
> airflow as designed.

Another interesting idea :) although I think it is a resonance kind of hum, not vibration (the case assembly is solid but is made of metal).

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)

Some computer specific case silencing products:

http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l2/g33/c117/list/p1/Ultra_Quiet-Computer_Case_Silencing.html

Thanks for the thanks, and also nice link LME.
I'd only mention this because it's the Off-Topic forum, but, when I posted the idea of rubber bands, I have a large jar of them on my desktop.

The thought occurred to me, rubber bands remind me of the women in my life: they're flexible and keep everything together until I have confidence everything's alright, and then they snap when i'm not looking.

LeggoMyEggo,

> Some computer specific case silencing products:
>
> http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l2/g33/c117/list/p1/U
> ltra_Quiet-Computer_Case_Silencing.html

This is great! 7mm thick sheet.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)

JoeyPogoPlugE02 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The thought occurred to me, rubber bands remind me
> of the women in my life: they're flexible and keep
> everything together until I have confidence
> everything's alright, and then they snap when i'm
> not looking.

Most women like that let you know at the beginning that they are like that. You just have to look for the clues. As they say, if it walks and talks like a duck, it is a duck. So run like hell away from the duck as you are better off being lonely then being with a quack ....................or join a monastery.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/2015 06:12PM by LeggoMyEggo.

I've ordered this Dynamat sheet pack. It seems to be a little less expensive than the Acoustic Pack at frozencpu. I've figured this will be good for a few small boxes such as the NSA32x.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00020CATC/ref=pe_385040_127745480_TE_item

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/2015 03:45AM by bodhi.

looks good - should work quite well

bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've ordered this Dynamat sheet pack. It seems to
> be a little less expensive than the Acoustic Pack
> at frozencpu. I've figured this will be good for a
> few small boxes such as the NSA32x.
> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00020CATC/ref=pe_385040_
> 127745480_TE_item

Did you install this yet or is it on the forever growing todo list LOL?

LeggoMyEggo,

> Did you install this yet or is it on the forever
> growing todo list LOL?

:)) I have not have a chance to shutdown the NS325V2. I did only the front door so far and it has not helped yet.

But this stuff works wonder! I have an ethernet powerline plug that's been making a whining sound of electronics. I cut a little piece, sticked it to the back, and the sound went away, dead silence :) amazing. I wonder if this powerline plug unit is about to die? these things run hot all the time.

Thanks Leggo! this is going to work great.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)

bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> LeggoMyEggo,
>
> > Did you install this yet or is it on the
> forever
> > growing todo list LOL?
>
> :)) I have not have a chance to shutdown the
> NS325V2. I did only the front door so far and it
> has not helped yet.

Let me guess, the rubber band worked better? That would figure :{

LeggoMyEggo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Let me guess, the rubber band worked better? That
> would figure :{

I've been running it with the door opened slightly about 1/4 inch. The air gap does eliminate the resonance noise. But I hope to be able to close it as it should be.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)

I'd think the bottom mounts either need more isolation (four rubber disks), or more mass (epoxy bottom mounts to a brick). Both sound extreme, but just making a point. In the old days of PCs my throw-together computers had lots of fans and resonance problems like that. One time a solution was to sit it on top of a regular construction brick.

But having said that, it was noticeably worse if I had ALL the screws in ALL the internal drives. I'd actually complained when the computer repair place returned my computer one time and there were two screws in the CD drive, two holding the floppy etc. Yet their way was much more silent.

The former solution above, isolation is based on my experience with turntables and extremely loud music. I used to have these floating corner mounts for the four bottom turntable mounts and it had to be set right so they were all floating equal pressure - very nice with Cerwin Vega speakers and my trusty old 440-watt class A power amp in the 80s :-)

The point being, either more coupling to high mass, or less coupling and balanced floating are Yinner and Yanger...

Seems that Zyxel enclosure is small for turntable floats but you never know. Can't tell you how many times 20 years ago I almost bought a dorm refrigerator to put noisy electronic devices in.

-edited- and lastly, if it's resonating something is out of balance. And even if a hard drive is in balance... i could be wrong lately because the study I'm thinking of probably goes back to 1999, but for a time it was said that mounting rubber mounts on a hard drive increased the seek time, and that a hard-mounted hard drive had faster access, because of the jello dynamic of it all.

Experiment, write it off as research.

=========
-= Cloud 9 =-



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/2015 12:17AM by JoeyPogoPlugE02.

> I'd think the bottom mounts either need more
> isolation (four rubber disks), or more mass (epoxy
> bottom mounts to a brick).

Yeah, it was worse when initially I put it on a glass top side table. I used a mousepad to fix that. So stability or balance is taken cared of. Currently, the resonance is gone with the air gap at front door (I can only hear the fan running standing about 6-7 ft near the box. Hope to make it perfect with the Dynamat stick to all 3 case's sidewalls :)

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)

Wow! that's all I can say :) the Dynamat works wonderfully. I can hardly hear anything standing 3ft away from the box. Now the only noise that I can hear is the fan spinning, and it's already quite low in this V2 sersion. I should get a meter to measure the actual decibels :)

Thanks guys for all the great ideas!

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)