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The "Quiet Mesa Walkabout" project...

#41
Jerry J said:
Vic, or anyone that's performed this swap...was your hot lead connected to a cap and then globbed with RTV at the solder joint?

I always prefer to make direct connection but with silicon all over the joint I'm trying to think of another way of making the connection.
Click to expand...
Sorry, don't recall. It's been too long. Someone else will have to chime in.
 
#42
Jerry J said:
Vic, or anyone that's performed this swap...was your hot lead connected to a cap and then globbed with RTV at the solder joint?

I always prefer to make direct connection but with silicon all over the joint I'm trying to think of another way of making the connection.
Click to expand...

I disconnected the wiring at the terminals to the fan by peeling back the label and unsoldering there. I did that so that if the amp ever needed warranty work (I bought it new), I could undo the mod pretty much without a trace.
 
#44
I just received this fan in the mail and the connector it came has me a little confused. Here is a picture of it. There are two black wires going into the larger plastic connector. It seems like I can remove that plastic connector and connect those to my hot and cold wires on the Amp. How can I tell which wire is which? What do you recommend as the best way to splice the wires together?
 
#45
I went with this fan, $14 through Amazon. Installation was easy. The hardest part was attaching the nuts at the bottom of the fan to the bolts. The fan is incredibly quiet. It makes you wonder how the OEM fan passed engineering QA and was deemed satisfactory.

vin*tone said:
The Noctua NF 8 is another option....

Link Removed

It has 2 optional attachments to set diffrent speeds so you could theoretically install a speed switch if you wanted to. It's so quiet it wasn't worth it - the 17dB setting is whisper quiet.
Click to expand...
 
#46
BassManPatsFan said:
I just received this fan in the mail and the connector it came has me a little confused. Here is a picture of it. There are two black wires going into the larger plastic connector. It seems like I can remove that plastic connector and connect those to my hot and cold wires on the Amp. How can I tell which wire is which? What do you recommend as the best way to splice the wires together?
Click to expand...

Sorry, probably way too late on this but....:hmm:

If you take a 9volt battery touch one fan lead to the plus and the other to the negative the fan should spin. If not swap fan leads around. The 3rd wire should be for speed control. Plus you want to make sure that the fan spins in the direction of the arrow and that you mount the new fan with the arrow on the fan case matching the one that came out.
 
#47
Hello all, I'm the new owner of a Mesa Boogie Walkabout bass head. The previous owner of the walkabout replaced the loud fan with a SilenX IXP-54-14 fan. I cracked open the head over the weekend to change out the tubes and noticed the fan doesn't turn on when I flip the power on.

For Silenx 54-14(not 54-14T) users, I was wondering, does your fan turn on as soon as you flip the power on or does it turn on when you start pushing the amp in a warm room? I'm running the head through an Avatar Neo 210 8ohm with the gain at about 11 o'clock and volume at 9 o'clock. It's impossible for me to push the head, it literally shakes the walls of my house.

When I opened it, I noticed the black wire coming from the fan was soldered closed and just hanging there, not connected to anything. I also noticed another was cut and not connected to anything either. See pics below. I'm not sure if these are even necessary, the red and black wires are connected.

If anyone thinks this might be a problem, any suggestions on how to go about fixing it other than taking it to a tech? I don't want to get destroyed in fees just for looking at a fan fix... Any help would really be appreciated. Thank you!

20130311_205422_zps1d1005d2.jpg

20130311_205448_zpsb8930639.jpg

20130311_205435_zps1a2370df.jpg
 
#48
I answered your PM about this but it didn't have the pics. From what I can see. It looks like your temperature sensing wire is not connected to anything. I'd use little plastic zip ties to affix it to your heat sink. Then soldier the fans leads directly to the board so the stock voltage dropping resister isn't in the circuit.
 
#49
Thanks for the PM MuthaFunk, but I don't think the SilenX IXP 54-14 has a temptature control wire, I only thought the SilenX IXP 54-14T had it.

And even so, shouldnt the fan turn on regardless when I flip the power on? Whether it's overheating or not?
 
#50
Livewire said:
Thanks for the PM MuthaFunk, but I don't think the SilenX IXP 54-14 has a temptature control wire, I only thought the SilenX IXP 54-14T had it.

And even so, shouldnt the fan turn on regardless when I flip the power on? Whether it's overheating or not?
Click to expand...
Is it impossible to simply contact the previous owner and ask, rather than trying to figure out what he/she may have done?

No offense, but this just seems like the "hard way" to figure it out, when a single email or a quick phone call would resolve everything.
 
#51
Livewire said:
Thanks for the PM MuthaFunk, but I don't think the SilenX IXP 54-14 has a temptature control wire, I only thought the SilenX IXP 54-14T had it.

And even so, shouldnt the fan turn on regardless when I flip the power on? Whether it's overheating or not?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure... I can tell you without a doubt the black wire with the gob on the end looks exactly the same as the temperature sensing wire on my fan.
 
#54
Livewire said:
Was finally able to locate the original owner, apparently two other owners before me. He verified the units fan only turns on when the heat sensor senses increase in temperature. Otherwise, it won't turn on.


Sorry for any trouble!


:)
Click to expand...
That's a cool mod. No pun intended... that I'll admit to, anyway... ;)

:hiding:
 
#55
Livewire said:
Was finally able to locate the original owner, apparently two other owners before me. He verified the units fan only turns on when the heat sensor senses increase in temperature. Otherwise, it won't turn on.


Sorry for any trouble!


:)
Click to expand...

In addition to this, it should be noted that the fan will not deliver the full rated 32 CFM the way its curretly installed. Mesa installed a voltage dropping resister for the original fan. The original fan was rated for 36 CFM at full voltage but I don't believe it ever achieved that flow once installed in the WA head. One reason is the voltage droping resister and the second being the actual venting air flow restrictions.

When full voltage is applied to that silenx fan it should run at a slow rate. I personally wanted this as it will help dissipate the heat generated by the tubes and is virtually silent with your ear right to the fan. It also allows the fan to achieve full rated air flow when the heat is on during a low impedance high volume situations.
 
#57
vin*tone said:
The Noctua NF 8 is another option....

Link Removed

It has 2 optional attachments to set diffrent speeds so you could theoretically install a speed switch if you wanted to. It's so quiet it wasn't worth it - the 17dB setting is whisper quiet.
Click to expand...

This! I use Noctua fans in my PC builds. I have tried pretty much every brand of case fan and these are the quietest by a mile even without the adapter. The fan blade is notched which must be part of why it's so quiet. They have a kickass warranty too. I recently had a three year old one break and they just sent me a new one no problem all the way from Austria. Great fans.
 
#59
Sorry for the bump - I just got back my walkabout from Mesa after a few repairs and they replaced the old non functioning fan with one of the notoriously loud mesa fans. Is the general consenses that the Noctua NF8 is the best option out there right now for a replacement or another fan? Is it easy to replace and does the Noctua produce enough air flow to safely cool the head?

Thanks!
 
#60
I don't have a direct answer for that, but:
get the name and model off the mesa fan
google up how much cfm it is
make sure your replacement is of equal cfm
 

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