I need some help.... crazy idea in my mind...

[Arcadio]

So I got the XBOX 360, the PS3 and the Cable box all in a small cabinet under my tv. There is absolutely no ventilation and there is about an inch of space between the consoles and the walls of the cabinets. Both the XBOX and the PS3 get super hot. I have to leave the glass cabinet door open all the time...

So I was thinking of a ghetto semi-solution: I have a 120mm case fan lying around somewhere. After playing around with the wires and with a 9-volt battery, I made a fan which does cool the whole mess while I'm playing XBOX or watching a bluray. However, the battery lasts for about 6 hours and then it dies. I need a better solution.

So I thought about the cable box: it has a USB port. How hard would it be to take a usb cable, modify it so that it powers the fan and VOILA!!! cool air for ever!! no batteries!!!

Is that possible? Safe? How do I do that?


Wrong forum. You've been warned about this before.

vi edit
Off Topic Moderator

 

[finite automaton]

USB ports are only 5V

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: finite automaton
USB ports are only 5V

Use two

 

[Arcadio]

Originally posted by: finite automaton
USB ports are only 5V

Some fans start at 5V. It doesn't have to be 12V. I learned that in silentpcreview.com. They undervolt fans to silence PCs.

 

[Reel]

I think your idea is sound in principle. Take a look at the current/voltage requirements and supply of USB and see if they would be appropriate. It would not surprise me to find that something of the sort you are considering already exists off the shelf.

Searching google for "USB Fan" yields useful results.

 

[Arcadio]

Originally posted by: Reel
I think your idea is sound in principle. Take a look at the current/voltage requirements and supply of USB and see if they would be appropriate. It would not surprise me to find that something of the sort you are considering already exists off the shelf.

Searching google for "USB Fan" yields useful results.

There are already USB fans around the web. I'm going to try it. What's the worst thing that could happen?

BTW, this is the first time in my life that I use the word "VOILA"...

 

[ChaosDivine]

DC wallwart /thread

 

[Lash444]

They make fans that run off of AC instead of DC you know.

 

[Arcadio]

Originally posted by: Reel
Searching google for "USB Fan" yields useful results.

Holy crap!!! My idea has been done before!!! There are even videos of people doing it!!!

 

[funboy6942]

You know I work on these, and to be honest they dont get any hotter then a PC. I have found the gpu and the cpu both run around 45-55c, and the air coming out the back when all closed up never got further then 58c, which is cooler then most gpu cards out today that reach a "normal" 80c+.

After fixing 30+ 360's I can tell you its not heat that kills it, but very poor shitty manufacturing when they attach the gpu and cpu to the boards. The little ball solder joints come lose, and then BAM rrod, hence why to fix them you need to use a heat gun and heat the piss out of the gpu or use a x-clamp to put pressure on the chips so they make contact with the boards again.

Everyone needs to get on MS and force them to make a better unit and more QC when they go out the door, even the "newer" hdmi ones are RROD, and I have yet to have my version 1 xbox ever go bad with cpu and gpu "real" sockets to hold them in place. If they would just ditch the cheaper solder ball way, and use real sockets for both, these would never, EVER, rrod again. I can fix most with the oem heat sinks attached to them and just heating the chips up with my heat gun to a point the solder melts, but not into each other, and the work again afterwards. And its mostly the gpu and not the cpu side for the gpu does get hotter at the core then the cpu and comes lose first.

If interested I made this with one of the many I fixed.