Rigol 1052e Fan Replacement

[phunk]

Hey guys,

i´ve been visiting this site from time to time and bought a Rigol 1052e lately
due to the blog episode, the many good reviews and other recommendations.
Like most people i am pretty happy with it. One big thing that bothers me though
is the annoying fan noise, that is IMO quite distracting/disturbing in a quite
DIYers paradise.

Long story short, i decided to take the thing apart and replace the fan without
worsing the overall cooling of the scope and i think that worked out very well.

1. You void your Warranty and 120V/240V is lethal, so do this at your own risk

The factory mounted fan that came with my Rigol was a "GLOFN GFA06015H12H".
That is a 60x60mm running with 5500rpm @12V DC. According to the manufacturers
website it has an air flow of 34.2m3/h  and makes 36.5dBA noise, thus no wonder
it´s getting a little louder in the room when powering on the chinese friend...

Replacing the factory fan with just another 60x60mm fan, that has
the same air flow specs wouldnt make much sense IMO, since you probably
wont find one that is significantly quiter because the downside of high air flow is high revolution
relating to the area.

But the people over at Rigol constructed the inner metal case in a very interesting
way. It is exactly 80mm wide and thus could be a perfect housing for a 80x80mm
fan. Infact it cant be mounted flat on the side like the 60mm fan due to the
bend of the case but it doesnt have to since the airflow must go out through
the fan hole...and the shape of the case supports that like a tunnel.







The nice thing about 80mm fans is that they can have equivalent
or more air flow with less rpm. I chose a "Noiseblocker M8-S2" (Germany based company www.noiseblocker.de)
with 47m3/h @1700rpm and 14(!) dBA. The construction features
4 rubber edges to prevent vibrating.



So how do you mount it? Well...simply squeeze it in. Thanks to the
80mm case it fits perfectly tight and is fixed without any screws, hotglue, double sided tape or whatever.
You could do that of course if you feel more comfortable ...








Anything else i did was shortening the cable and soldering a jack fitting the pcb.





If your fan is a little smaller or not totally even, just put some foam
in between (not needed with the NB Fan though)




The result is a considerably more quiet fan with better air flow specs.
Not unhearable but more like a whispering than a hairdryer.
The scope is running fine for hours now. I´ve not measured temperature
so far but its definately not getting hotter than before.

The next step would be a temperature controlled fan regulator.
One could realise it with just a few parts and a NTC mounted on
the heatsink of the LM317 (definately the hottest part in the scope).
That would probably further reduce rpm. IMO Not needed though.

I recorded a comparison with a voice mic i had laying around here.
Nothing normed or so... just 15cm clearance from the mic to the scope.
1st: with noiseblocker
2nd: factory fan
3rd: both crossfaded
http://rapidshare.com/files/436125565/Rigol_Noise_Comparison.mp3

------------------
2 hours running, air temperature measured directly at the outlet 30.5 grad celsius:









Have fun,
Alex

[Zyvek]

Nice work! Thanks for posting this, it was always disappointing that my new Rigol was louder than my 20+ year old Tektronix scopes!

[DaveW]

Great mod! Neat, effective and it'll be great to reduce the fan noise, thanks!

[Kiriakos-GR]

I bet that there is room for one fan duct  60 -->80mm , but the point is that this size its not an widespread one .   

[phunk]

Hi Kirikaos,

yes, that would be definately an option if you find one commercial with the right shape or have one milled out of POM or a similar cheap and easy to handle plastic.

Nevertheless that would be more a cosmetic advantage than a technical
Due to the bend in the case and the replacement fan clipped in 2-3cm (1inch) away from the side,
air flow is directed straight through the hole.The nice thing about the mod is that it is so easy but yet effective.

Alex

[saturation]

Great idea!  It would have been good to prove absolutely nothing has changed:

Check ambient temperature outflow with the old fan and new fan and compare. 

Since we know now the main ADC are overclocked quite a bit, they must get very hot, so cooling is very important.

If you can't do it now that your unit is modded, one substitute is simply check the outflow temperature of your current set up at the outside of the case, after giving the scope 1-2 hours to fully warm up.  Just post it; if other readers can post theirs unmodded temps; I'll post mine, include your room temperature too.  I'll presume your room temperature is 20C or 68F or near those even in the winter so our values will be pretty close.

[phunk]

Updated my post above. Temperature with the upgraded fan is 30.5 grad celsius after running for two hours measured directly at the outlet.
Room temperature is 22 grad celsius.

IMO the main ADCs aren´t getting hot at all. They´re fully covered by a sheet metal case that is dissipating the heat into the air very well and is just getting a little warm but not hot. Hottest part in the scope ist definately the PSU.
If you ask me the engineers at Rigol didnt bother measuring and calculating temperature and airflow for the specific scope model but took the cheapest fan available on the market with the highest specs like "one fits all".
I very much doubt the scope would die without any fan...

[saturation]

Thanks for feedback.  FYI with my room temperature 75F or 23.9C ,the output temperature of the Rigol 1052E on the stock fan was 88F or 31.1C after 3 hours.

I'd read this as we are about the same.  So your mod maintains the same ambient case temperatures of the Rigol with less noise.

Updated my post above. Temperature with the upgraded fan is 30.5 grad celsius after running for two hours measured directly at the outlet.
Room temperature is 22 grad celsius.

IMO the main ADCs aren´t getting hot at all. They´re fully covered by a sheet metal case that is dissipating the heat into the air very well and is just getting a little warm but not hot. Hottest part in the scope ist definately the PSU.
If you ask me the engineers at Rigol didnt bother measuring and calculating temperature and airflow for the specific scope model but took the cheapest fan available on the market with the highest specs like "one fits all".
I very much doubt the scope would die without any fan...

[phunk]

So your mod maintains the same ambient case temperatures of the Rigol with less noise

which prooves the considerations made and the specs in the datasheets...

[NiHaoMike]

Have you tried zooming all the way in with no input connected and comparing to before the mod? Make sure your new fan is not causing EMI.

[Simon]

Have you tried zooming all the way in with no input connected and comparing to before the mod? Make sure your new fan is not causing EMI.

oh don't worry PSU does that already, remember all the fuss I made in the beginning about screening it ? I had some success with foil covered card but never got around to doing a steel screen - one day.

yea fan is quite noisy and the psu heat sinks DO get hot

[Joshua]

How do you like your iMac?


(Sorry, couldn't resist )

[NiHaoMike]

On ECEN 489 network project day (over a week ago), I noticed that my Instek GDS-1062A got warm after running for a few hours for the demo. Just yesterday, I replaced the fan with a more powerful one I had lying around. Now I notice more airflow and it doesn't get warm enough to notice. Hopefully, that will allow it to last longer and have a slightly lower noise floor.

[markman]

Great write up.

For what it's worth, I found the biggest heatsink on the power supply was cooler when the fan was not ducted so much, but allowed a little back flow around the bottom side.  The 80mm fan I used was quieter and internal temperatures were cooler that way.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16198044&postcount=941
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16200345&postcount=943

[neoone]

Hello!

I've just finished "upgradeing" my RIGOL with a new fan. I've used Roxo 80mm Ultra Silent fan from polish brand Fander (www.fander.pl). It's specs are: 1350rpm, 13.4dBA, 26.9CFM (45.7m3/h), 1.8W. It is similar to Noiseblocker M8-S2 but in the store where i bought mine Noiseblocker costs about 59 PLN (14.75E, 20$) and Fander was only 15PLN (3.75E, 5$) so it is really cheap but I've used those fans before and there are no problems with them.



I've added some rubber on 3 sides of the fan (actually it is no needed on the top an bottom) using double sided tape.


Then I also changed connectors and insulated yellow wire.


Here's how it looks. Just to be sure that the fan is stady mounted I've added a bit of wire which is going through fan mounting holes and than through upper metal holster.



Everything seems to work fine and I didn't notice air temperature rising. RIGOL now only wispers and is much more silent than my PC ;-)

[bmarimba]

Interesting. Anybody considered replacing of the LM317 with a suitable DC-DC converter. Thus the radiator of lm317 can go and perhaps the fan too. What voltage does the LM317 provide there?

[Simon]

a DC/DC converter would be switchmode, the LM317 is a linear reg. Maybe a switchmode would make too much noise

[jedreg]

I made up short photo-story on case opening and fan replacement; it may be valuable for any newbie (like me) who opens this box first time: http://amichalec.net/2011/03/rigol-ds1053e-silenced/

cheers,
-andy.

[fminne]

I wasn’t that keen on changing the fan with a bigger one. I preferred to keep the size of the original fan, namely 60mm.
I tried some different types, but now I installed the Sanyo Denki 9S0612F4011. This is a low noise fan with noise figure: 20 dBA (the original one= 36,5dBA) and the result is acceptable. The temperature of the Rigol stays, after 2 hours, as low as before: 27,1°C with a room temperature of 20,0°C. The airflow is still significant (29,4m³/h compared to 34,2 m³:h for the original), so I am very sure that no damage will occur due to too high temperature inside the scope. The Rigol 1052E noise isn’t annoying any more during operation. So the aim of the modification is reached .
I bought this fan at Farnell (item 1755864), but I am convinced that one can find it in many other stores.

[torch]

I finally got around to some measurements.

My DS1052E, with the stock fan, emits 56dB (C-weighted) at 6" from the fan outlet. That's barely a whisper; the florescent light fixture in the shop is emitting 54dB. The temperature rise after 2 hours running (2ns, so it's forcing the full 1GB/s sample rate, both channels active connected to the probe calibration point) is 15°F (8°C).

I wonder if Rigol listened to the complaints and changed the fan? Or maybe the cheapest fan happens to be quieter.

Are the noisy fans blowing into the case, or out? Mine blows out. I recall one fix for some noisy PSU fans used to be to turn the fan around to change the airflow characteristics.

[Slasher006]

That's my question too. Which direction? Should the "new" fan blow out or into the Device? (i will use a 80mm fan)

[Chet T16]

I wonder if something like this would be worth fitting

[Mechatrommer]

fan should be blowing out, not in, just that simple*. you dont want to blow dust or anything inside your equipment (think if you spill water near it). and vents are provided from any corner for air to slowly going in. and you cannot block that vents (by the book).

*exception:unless you know what you're doing, you can blow them in

[Slasher006]

Ok, thanks. 

[Russel]

Changing the fan from facing out to facing in might make some difference in noise level. Adding a spacer between the fan and the air output screen might also lower the fan noise level. When my Rigol is out of warranty, I intend to install a larger fan spaced back from the output screen with a funnel shaped air guide. A larger fan, spinning at a lower rate, can move the same amount of air as a smaller fan, normally resulting in less fan noise.

The idea of reversing the airflow makes me think of the computer that I used in a rental equipment repair shop. The dust level was horrendous. With the computer case fans blowing out, the case would suck air and dust in every crevice of the case. That means the CD-ROM was rendered useless in short order. After thinking about it for a while, I added 120mm intake fans to the front of the computer case resulting in the case being slightly pressurized. That means that air and dust would come in from the front of the computer and have a fair amount of space to settle out of the air before reaching the CD-ROM on the way out of the case. Of course, in such a dusty environment regular cleaning was required, but the CD-ROM drives went from being replaced every three months to lasting for years.