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Noisy fan on ampeg micro vr

#41
Start by finding out the specs on the original fan. The micro-vr is a current product, customer service should be able to help.

Owners complain about the fan whine of the micro-vr feeling that the designers didn’t get it right. Maybe CS has a solution. Maybe they will even sell a replacement.
 
#42
For what it is worth, I of course considered buying the Noctua step-down converter NA-VC1 but it has a four-pin design, while the Ampeg board has three pins (only two of which are used by the stock Ampeg fan). So using it would have necessitated further work. (But then I discovered that the board seemed to be delivering only 12v.)

Regarding voltage: I checked the voltage on the board many times and never saw anything other than ~12 v. I have never heard the stock fan or the new fan increase (or decrease) in speed. So I have never experienced anything that looked/sounded like the Ampeg delivering more than 12v to the fan. But obviously that information alone is inconclusive.

I do not know enough to extract any useful information from the diagram that agedhorse posted. But if I knew that the Ampeg would, under increased thermal load, send > 12v to the fan, I would then become uneasy about my mod. Any suggestions (besides the obvious "let it get hot and see what happens") about how it could be determined whether the Ampeg does that? (Or maybe it's already been said above that this is known, and I didn't quite understand; if so, sorry for the trouble.)
 
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#43
The fan control circuit increases the voltage (well) above 12V as the temperature increases. That's the whole point of U10A.
 
#45
Maybe, but there’s a fair amount of R&D involved In qualifying a fan in the hopes of improving performance
 
#46
Resurrecting this thread: I identified the stock fan specs (found the actual part, too) - but am not having any luck finding anything with significantly quieter db ratings at this cfm. If anyone finds something close to 25.6 cfm but 20db or less - please let us know!

Stock Part: Amazon.com

Important specs:
24vdc
60mm X 60mm X 25mm
25.6-ish cfm
less than 20db
 
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#47
That's what I love about my Shuttle 3.0 -- dead silent -- NO FAN!

Genzler Magellan 350 case for Shuttle 3.jpg
 
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#48
scotch said:
Resurrecting this thread: I identified the stock fan specs (found the actual part, too) - but am not having any luck finding anything with significantly quieter db ratings at this cfm. If anyone finds something close to 25.6 cfm but 20db or less - please let us know!

Stock Part: Amazon.com

Important specs:
24vdc
60mm X 60mm X 25mm
25.6-ish cfm
less than 20db
Click to expand...
A REAL 20dB noise reduction is terribly suspect, either it was measured differently, or the marketing folks got to the numbers.
 
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#49
I'm mulling the idea of installing a fan defeat switch. I pretty much exclusively use this amp for playing on the couch... so I could turn off the fan for those short noodling sessions, but I could still enable the fan if I never needed to use the amp in a performance context. The fan noise would be less/not distracting on an actual stage.
 
#50
scotch said:
I'm mulling the idea of installing a fan defeat switch. I pretty much exclusively use this amp for playing on the couch... so I could turn off the fan for those short noodling sessions, but I could still enable the fan if I never needed to use the amp in a performance context. The fan noise would be less/not distracting on an actual stage.
Click to expand...
This would be a good way to increase the risk of damaging your amp however. Some components of an amp (depending on its design) can run hotter at lower volumes and others run hotter at higher volume.
 
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#51
agedhorse said:
This would be a good way to increase the risk of damaging your amp however. Some components of an amp (depending on its design) can run hotter at lower volumes and others run hotter at higher volume.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I know that's a risk. At this point, with this amp, in my use case for this partlicular amp: I either trade it for something less distracting or roll the dice on heat issues. I love how it sounds and looks, so I can gamble on it.

Those are pretty huge heat sinks inside! Plus, knowing that large companies with warranty statistics to manage, are going to over-engineer to avoid warranty repair- It's a gamble I'm willing to take.

I do wonder why 200 watt capability was spec'ed for these. I haven't seen any on stages that warrant 200 watts, but I suppose it does happen!

These micro VR's really sound and look great! It is such a bummer the fan is so loud.

If I put the fan defeat in (likely), I'll post about it here & keep tabs on any issues. Obviously folks need to be bright enough not to go the same route themselves without understanding the risks.
 
#52
I see some of the dumbest “upgrades” and “modifications” with poor results.

My service shop policy is now that we do not support modifications nor will we repair modified gear without restoring to the original factory conditions. The side effect of this is that about 90% of the time, the problems the amp came in for are now fixed.
 
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#55
agedhorse said:
I see some of the dumbest “upgrades” and “modifications” with poor results.

My service shop policy is now that we do not support modifications nor will we repair modified gear without restoring to the original factory conditions. The side effect of this is that about 90% of the time, the problems the amp came in for are now fixed.
Click to expand...
Jab taken! Lol.

I can definitley see how mods can be a rabbit hole a tech doesn't want to go down! Thankfully some do! ;-)
 
#56
scotch said:
Jab taken! Lol.

I can definitley see how mods can be a rabbit hole a tech doesn't want to go down! Thankfully some do! ;-)
Click to expand...
When mods effectively cause the problem(s) that an amp's brought in for, there's just not enough time to engineer a technically correct solution that avoids the unintended consequences. When the amp's not fixed right, it muddies up the service warranty waters and creates bad feelings. That's been my experience too many times, so the easy (and safe) answer is to avoid getting caught up in a situation where the customer ends up with an unsatisfactory repair that's entirely unavoidable when the mods are removed. The same thing applies to repair attempts that cause hidden damage, ultimately the amp needs to leave the shop as a reliable product free from hidden issues down the road.
 
#57
If anyone wants to mod an amp, don’t brag about on the internet.. :roflmao:

I can see a day when companies will have AI bots scanning the internet looking for a reason to deny a service claims. I know of one that identifies every social media post related to their products. That can simply be good marketing but it can also identify issues.
 
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#58
scotch said:
I'm fortunate to have a stable of amps for the stage. I got a used VR micro stack for a pittance, or else I may have gone the microCL route!
Click to expand...

Noisy fans seem to be a consistent sore point with players. Most would gladly pay more for the product to have an ultra-quiet cooling system.

If you are wanting to go ahead, replace the fan with a quieter unit that matches the old ones’s air flow specs.
 

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