Service Action to Prevent PSU Failures in ReadyNAS NV/NV+

Hi Yoh-dah,

Thank you to you and the Infrant team (Jedi council) for bringing this issue and the resolution options to our attention.

I too have concerns about reversing the fan and the subsequent dust flow change gumming up the works. I was far more concerned when I read that some users who used the fan reversal technique encountered temperature increases in their hard drives.

The issue I wanted to raise in this post is the choice of the 2 fan speed modification patches. I understand that the Enhance_NV_Thermal_Characteristics engineering patch will simply set the fan speed minimun to a fixed 2100 RPM. The EnableFanMinRPMOverride addon on the other hand will allow me to set any speed as the lowest fan speed limit. I have always wanted to use the override addon so that I could increase the fan speed on warmer days when I wanted to bring the drive temperature down a little. I have never loaded the addon given the dire warning and implications on the warranty.

Would it be possible to combine the two addons and ammend the EnableFanMinRPMOverride addon to have a system defined minimum fan speed setting such that this addon can no longer be tagged as warranty threatening. The UI could then allow users to select any fan speed they want as a minimum but if it is lower than that defined as safe by Infrant then the minimum will be reset to the minimum safe level. The minimum safe level can be defined by Infrant and set as appropriate for the ReadyNAS model, engineering revision, serial number, etc. Obviously anyone who wants to increase the speed a little can then safely do so.

The benefit of this defensive coding would be that anyone who has access to FrontView who may try to set the fan speed lower than is safe will not have their change accepted and the ReadyNAS will not be put at risk.

For those who *really* want to set the fan speeds lower than recommended another addon can be provided that overrides the safety limit. This addon should be the one that carries the warranty threat etc. This proposed new addon would return the EnableFanMinRPMOverride addon to its current, and potentially dangerous, configuration.

What do the Jedi council think?

( Sorry I didn't post this in the Feature Request topic as I thought it would be better placed in context. Please feel free to move/copy it there if appropriate - or tell me to cross post it there and I will. :) )

Regards,
Ian.

I'm with IanSav on this. I attempted to install the new addon for the NV fan speed but it stated it was not applicable for my unit.

I then thought about the 'replacement fan' addon but decided not to install it due to the warranty voiding clause. If I were to install it though I would have set the min fan speed to 2100 same as the new add-on is designed to do.

Since I still have my original PSU I'm doing a few experiments to see which configuration gives the best temps. For example; I ran SS on the NV all night (fanless PSU and a reversed fan) and took a screen cap of the health page noting the ambient temperature. I plan to duplicate this same test with the fan in the normal position, then re-run both tests with the original "fanned" PSU back in place.

If Infrant has already done so please let me know which configuration provided the best cooling results please. In my setup noise is no longer a big issue.

yoh-dah wrote:
New ReadyNAS NV+ that will get into the field will be shipped with 2100 min RPM.

FWIW, I'm happy that my ReadyNAS NV+ is now safe from premature power supply failure.

Subjectively, it is noisier, which is not insignificant in my home office. Right now this is the only room in my house which has a wired network.

I may have to consider moving the box.

yoh-dah wrote:
There's a EnableFanMinRPMOverride addon at http://www.infrant.com/wiki/index.php/Add-Ons that allows you to override the minimum fan RPM. You can install this and manually set it for 2100. This will essentially do the same thing.

What is the highest RPM value the fan can be set?

SJMarty wrote:
yoh-dah wrote: There's a EnableFanMinRPMOverride addon at http://www.infrant.com/wiki/index.php/Add-Ons that allows you to override the minimum fan RPM. You can install this and manually set it for 2100. This will essentially do the same thing. What is the highest RPM value the fan can be set?

The NV can go up to around 2500. The NV+ can go up to about 3000.

Hmm, I'm now officially confused.

I have a NV the serial number of which is roughly 200 into the affected range. I'm also happy to tolerate a little extra noise rather than have dust blown into the drive area, so I opted for the Enhance NV Thermal Characteristics add-on.

This is validated, I reboot to install it and get the following:

"This add-on (Enhance_NV_Thermal_Characteristics) does not apply to this system."

I suppose I could install the fan RPM override add-on, but why is the Enhance NV Thermal Characteristics add-on failing to install? It can't be objecting to my serial number.

Interestingly enough I have never seen the fan RPM less than 2303. It's currently 2343. Given that the fan RPM seems always >2100 is the message about the add-on not applying accurate?

Okay, I opted for the "less noisy" option, and reversed the fan. But what is confusing is that this seems to now pull air out of the rear of the box, not push it in like others are suggesting. An on top of this, the fan is constantly on, with a very high RPM. It's currently at 2800RPM, after running recalibrate. I can hear this thing down the hall! It is totally unacceptable!!

Please tell me how I should configure this thing. I did not download the patch. I just reversed the fan from the factory settings. Did I make it worse? WHy is it spinning so fast now? Drive temps range from 41-46, and board temp is 35.

If I have to hear this fan like it is now, I'm gonna sell this POS, and just buy a computer, as my tower computer is quieter than this thing now.

Yikes, now it's 3000RPM! I am guessing that the factory setting was in the wrong direction. I did verify that my S/N was in the range of "affected" units.

Hi Bondisdead,

It sounds like something has gone seriously wrong with your ReadyNAS. If I understand the modification correctly the fan should, after modification, be taking ambient air from the behind the ReadyNAS and blowing it into the case. The bulk of the air should be leaving via the front door.

When the fan is in the blow air in mode (as opposed to the extract warm air out mode) you should also consider removing the air filter fitted to the front door to minimise air flow restriction leaving the ReadyNAS cabinet.

If you make these hardware changes you do not need to reset the minimum fan speed to 2100 RPM.

I suggest you check the modifications, ensure that there are no air flow blockages / restrictions. Also check that no cables are jammed, pinched or in the way of the fan blades.

Let us know how you get on.

Regards,
Ian.

Thanks for your reply. If you follow the fan reversal instructions, you will notice a picture of the fan before and after the flip. The label on the fan is visible before, and not after. Looking at my fan, the arrow indicating air-flow direction is towards the label side. This means that the default fan setup, with the label facing backwards, was pulling air out of the back of the unit. With the new setup, it "should" be pushing air into the back of the unit, where it would blow out of the front and sides. So I took a look at the front, and that black filter screen seems pretty impervious. Heck, I took the whole front screen off, but noticed little difference. Only when I took the sides off did I notice much of a difference. Hard drive temps of 33-37, board temp of 30. Air is being blown out of the sides, most notable the top side vents, toward the back. I did a recalibrate, and the fan dropped to 1700rpm. I do notice that the air-holes on the side panels to not perfectcly align with the spot where the air is being blown out. ALso I am not sure why most air is coming out of the rear sides versus front and/or front sides. Very frustrating!