2 of 6 fans died on 75Watt Helix

[Bruce Clumpner]

After swapping out just about everything I could on this laser, it ran great for about a week. On Friday's run, the fans seemed to be running at high speed and then I promptly lost the right hand bank of fans... Everything still ran, and it was a lot quieter, and it was a cool day, so not too worried about overheating, but have resisted calling tech support cause it always costs me money.

Anyone have a similar experience?

Also saw that Jan Brewer pushed out an email ad for a rebuilt 2009 Helix that had a "Super Silent Fan Upgrade". Anyone know what that is?

Thanks!

[Glen Monaghan]

It's something of a misnomer ;^)

The original fan setup ran the fan(s) at full speed all the time, and they were fairly noisy fans at that. The SS Fans apparently have better blade geometry to allow them to operate with less turbulence noise, and the SS fan controller varies the fan speed. It will run the fans at the lowest speed that allows for "adequate" cooling, further lowering the noise when the fans run slower. I'm pretty sure that no one who has heard the SS Fan setup has actually said, "Now that is not merely quiet, that's SUPER SILENT!" but it is quieter than the old fan system, especially when you first fire the machine up or leave it sit for a few minutes and the internals cool off enough so that the controller ramps the fan speed to minimum. Personally, I'm happy to have the upgrade, but can't help thinking it's really an overpriced rip-off for a feature that really should have been built-in in the first place.

[Bruce Clumpner]

Thanks Glen,

Finally spoke with Tech support and the upgrade includes new fans as well as a controller board that can be by-passed if necessary. My unit is just old enough not to have the upgrade which was first installed in 2010... May consider it since I have to fix the fan issue anyway. Runs $375 +/-

[Glen Monaghan]

Like I said, a bit pricey... average cost per fan is north of $60 and I don't think the fans are nearly as good (and certainly nowhere near as quiet) as the ones I put in my last couple of PCs, but I'm appreciative of the difference compared with the original stock fans.