Adsl Modem Cooling Fan Mod

Intro: Adsl Modem Cooling Fan Mod

In this hot summer days, your modem may be get crashed in cause of high temperatures. and high temperatures can make your modem work slower. just a small fan can make your modem cool enough. cause you just need to supply air circulation.
here's the things we'll need:

-cutting blade
-soldering iron
-a piece of soldering wire
-knife
-nail cutter
-double-sided adheshive tape
-a computer fan of your choice
note: the fan should use the same voltage with the modem, and the modem+fan power(generally in mA unit) shouldn't exceed power adaptors power. example, my modem wants 800 mA, and fan needs 170 mA. my modems adaptor can give up to 1000mA realtime. this is okay.
-your modem, of course.

STEP 1: Cutting the Fan Air Hole

in this step, you need to decide to where will you open the hole.
after this, heat your soldering iron, and open the hole. then fine edges with nail cutter.

STEP 2: Installing the Double Side Tape to Mount the Fan

first, place a piece of tape under the fan(air out side).
thenshape it with cutting blade.

note: if you want to mount your fan with screws, you wont need this step.

STEP 3: Mounting the Fan

remove the protect paper-film on the tape. then place it on the air hole. do not forget to take the power cables to the inside.

STEP 4: Testing and Soldering the Power Wires

first, test you fan to solder it in right "current direction"(?). then solder it to power pins on your modem board.

STEP 5: Reassemblying the Modem, and the Finish.

reassembly your modem. and start using it!

Comments

[jcsantos]

what would be the direction of the fan? is it going in or going out?

[gez]

ivaneduardo747 says pulling air out is better.

[ivaneduardo747]

Hey, the fan should be pulling out air because hot air accumulates in the top!

[gez]

i did not have that knowledge that time, thanks.

[rayjai]

I tried connecting a 12v pc fan and it won't work. How are you making it work?

[gez]

hello, sorry for late reply, i never visit my instructables account and rarely check my emails.
at first, for making a 12v pc fan work, your modem's power adapter should be at the same voltage (you need a 12v output adapter in this case). then, your modems wattage and your fans wattage shouldn't exceed your dc power adapters wattage. if exceed, fan and modem may work, adapter may heat exceededly or modem could reset oftenly. be sure your fan is working and you're connecting them with the right polarity(+ to +, - to -. if doesn't work, try the reverse, sometimes cable colors may be confusing)/

[rayjai]

How are you powering the fan?

[grk2meet]

hi, you had 3 wires coming from the fan but now u only have 2...which one did u pull off?

[gez]

The yellow one, of course. Red is for positive, black is for ground, and the other one works for rpm measuring, maybe yellow, maybe white, whatever they wanted to do.

[zack247]

you... do know that melting the plastic with the soldering iron is a bad idea, right? the fumes from the melting plastic can sometimes be toxic.

Great idea btw! if my modem wasnt leased i would do this. (sasktel gave me a old one that has no air holes, so it gets quite hot)

[AnonyMouse69]

great mod... however.. if you lease the modem from the ISP, I doubt they will want you to cut holes and solder wires, cause if anything happens to it, they wont replace it and make you pay for the one you modified. just a FYI for anyone who leases the modems from their ISP like me :) the easiesy way is to just double stick the fan to the top and make a double jack for the modems power supply, where you plugh the power supply in, and have one lead go to the modem and plug into its jack and another power the fan. that way if you need to have the modem serviced, you wont get caught in the "you break it you buy it" clause in your TOS

[gez]

It was a modem from the times we were buying our own modems. And it is still the best way to have a modem in Turkey. They want you have the Internet service from their ISP for 2 years continuously with really bad quality, if you want free modem.

[Holden_vy_s]

You put the hole where the fan's blind spot is, BTW.

[gez]

I know it. it looks like you say at step 3, but I cut more after I took that image. just forgot to update images.

[mani.fc]

 hi, 

nice work , i was thinking will it have some effect on number of volts being given to modem , ?

[gez]

No, it doesn't. It only decreases the maximum ampers that modem can consume from power adapter.

[gez]

yea, it worked. is there a reason to put it here if it didn't work :) ?. as you can see in the picture, fan is working. and power adaptor doesn't get overloaded.

[raedamof2]

Nice mod but i was wondering did it really work?

[mikeycav]

Is this fan audible?

[gez]

mine is noisy because of its age. if you use a new fan and good air hole, or using pot to decrease rpm, it wont be audible.