Just Randomly came across some very small Server Fans, and that Got me Thinking about the Internal Chronos Fan...
So, yesterday i took apart my 2.1 again, to have a First close look at the Fan itself, never removed that one bevore.
The one Built into my 2.1 is a Sunon MagLev MF40101VX-1000U-G99 Fan.
https://media.digikey.com/pdf/Data%20Sheets/Sunon%20PDFs/MF40101VX-1000U-G99.pdf .
I can kind of see, why Krontech went with that one, since its propably THE Fan in that size that will push Most Air overall, has pretty high Static Pressure and still uses quite a bit less power than other (Mostly Cheaper China-) Fans at the Same Size. It seems to do a great job at cooling the Internals well enough to prevent Overheating even in Conditions that are far from ideal, but it isnt exactly the most silent Fan ever built. i have seen way worse/ louder Fans (Actuall Server Fans), but the one on the Chronos isnt really that silent for general use. So that got me Thinking, if there would be any Fan, that can replace this one, that would be more silent.
And i found this one:
Noctua NF-A4x10 PWM
https://www.ebay.de/itm/Noctua-NF-A4x10-PWM-40mm-Gehauselufter-mit-10mm-Tiefe-fur-12-Volt-PWM-L00034/164477012832?hash=item264b980b60:g:frAAAOSwZKBZGLyj .
The Noctua one has 11,2% less Airflow on Paper, but also runs way slower and more silent while doing so.
The Stock Chronos fan runs at a wicked 8500 RPM and according to Datasheet should produce 31,4dB of Noise.
The Noctua "only" runs at 5000 RPM and should only Produce 19,6dB of Noise, which should be way less noticeable and also quite a bit less high pitched Noise.
On top of that the Noctua Fan also uses only half the Power (about ~1W rated power Draw vs. ~0,5W rated Power Draw), while basically moving the Same amount of air.
However, i dont know about Static Pressure, that isnt mentioned in any publication or datasheet i found about the Noctua Fan, so it propably is quite a bit lower. The Stock fan is Clearly built for High Static Pressure, While the Noctua one is propably more optimised for Silent operation and Airflow.
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Now I dont know by how much the 11% less airflow will increase the Risk of overheating and how much the Static pressure affects the Cooling in this usecase, but i guess the Guys at Krontech didnt want to take any risks and went with the most powerfull Fan in terms of Airflow they could find at the Size, to make Sure to be save from any Overheating issues. And it is indeed Nice to have a camera that will just work no matter what, even if its a little Noisy, but i guess not every user needs that, and quite a bunch of people would prefer a more Silent Fan over basically a gurantee against any overheating even in most extreme Conditions.
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5. The cooling system is very very very noisy, in a couple of hours your head will be buzzing, as if you are using an old computer from 2000.
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I agree, that most people that use Chronos Cameras for Industry and Science stuff would propably prefer the Currently used Fan with Maximum Cooling for the Size, just in case, and dont really care about the Noise at all, but for Filmmaking and general Use in non-Extreme Temperature Conditions it would in My Opinion usually be Preferred to have the More Silent Fan, if performance is that similar.
Now i also dont know how many different Fans where tested when designing the Cooling solution for this Camera, if at all, or if you Krontech guys just took that fan and went with it (which is completely understandable and also absolutely fine, cause if it works very well, why change it...), but i think it would be realy nice to have The option to buy the Camera with this way more silent Noctua Fan, or even make it the Standard Fan, used for all the Cameras (Next Batch/ Revision maybe, pretty sure you allready have the parts (including the Fans) ordered /shipped/ laying around for the current or even also next Batch of Cameras), unless there is a Reason why this Fan wont work for what ever Reason. I am Aware, that the Noctua one costs like 3x to 4x as much as the other one Costs, but the 10 to 20$ more wont add that much to the overall Price of the Camera, and i am sure about everyone would be willing to pay the extra few $, if its more silent and still does the Cooling well enough.
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Still cant Say anything for sure, but i ordered one of those Noctua Fans today, we will see how it does when it arrives. I Expect it to do more than well enough for the Average user in terms of cooling, while beeing way more Quiet and a way less distracting sound overall.
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For anyone Who wants to also Try this and Swap their Fan against one of those:
The Fan can be Removed and put back in without removing the sensor Board. I would Highly reccomend to NOT remove the Sensor Board, unless you need to for a bunch of different Reasons, which i wont explain here. It needs a bit of fumbling around, but you can get the Fan out there and back in there without unscrewing the Sensor board. Also, while it should be pretty obvious, i am still going to mention it here; this and Simmilar Modifications will pretty sure void your Warranty, so, if Warranty and Stuff is important to you, make sure to inform yourself if it will void Your Warranty bevore attempting anything like this.
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I will keep this updated when the Noctua Fan arrives and i get around to put it in there and do a bit of testing. Feel Free to Share your opinion about this here in this Thread, or your experience if you allready did anything with your Fan/ Airflow. Also if anyone else has an even better idea of what Fan to use, please put a link here. But keep in mind, it has to be 40x40x10mm, bigger wont really fit in there.
