Reducing Fan Noise from HP DL180 G6 server - need PWM fan controller

[hainesy]

I recently picked up an HP Dl180 G6 2U server off ebay for a bargain price. It's got 12xLFF drive bays and will hopefully make a perfect media server. The only problem with it is the noise - it's fans run ridiculously loud. The HP BMC that controls the fan speed is locked down so having done *a lot* of reading round it seems my only option is to add some sort of physical fan controller to override it and reduce the speed. The system always errs on the side of caution and as a result the fans never drop below 50%. They're Sunon 60mm (8 in redundant mode, I've stripped it back to 4 currently) which I believe top out at about 10k rpm. I can literally here this server from the other side of the house on a warm day... The system uses PWM controlled fans and I'm at a loss at the moment to know how to do this.

Having read some other threads on here and elsewhere it looks like I need a PWM fan controller, perhaps one based on an NE555 chip? I've seen some ready made widgets on eBay that might do the job and also some people on here that have built one. Ideally I'm looking to buy one ready made rather than relying on my own amateur soldering skills!

Here's one I saw on eBay but am not sure if it would work: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162162541393?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Any tips or suggestions welcome.

 

[SalemSaberhagen]

I recently picked up an HP Dl180 G6 2U server off ebay for a bargain price. It's got 12xLFF drive bays and will hopefully make a perfect media server. The only problem with it is the noise - it's fans run ridiculously loud. The HP BMC that controls the fan speed is locked down so having done *a lot* of reading round it seems my only option is to add some sort of physical fan controller to override it and reduce the speed. The system always errs on the side of caution and as a result the fans never drop below 50%. They're Sunon 60mm (8 in redundant mode, I've stripped it back to 4 currently) which I believe top out at about 10k rpm. I can literally here this server from the other side of the house on a warm day... The system uses PWM controlled fans and I'm at a loss at the moment to know how to do this.

Having read some other threads on here and elsewhere it looks like I need a PWM fan controller, perhaps one based on an NE555 chip? I've seen some ready made widgets on eBay that might do the job and also some people on here that have built one. Ideally I'm looking to buy one ready made rather than relying on my own amateur soldering skills!

Here's one I saw on eBay but am not sure if it would work: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162162541393?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Any tips or suggestions welcome.

Or just buy quieter fans?

Sunon are very powerful and long lasting but quiet, no.

 

[hainesy]

Yes, that's another possibility - I guess it would be cheaper to fix the existing ones if possible though. Plus whether I replace the fans or regulate the existing ones its going to require some hacking either way as HP have a custom 6pin connector (each connector can control 2 x fans).

I'm not naive enough to think it will ever be silent and it doesn't need to be as it's in a garage room - I just don't want to hear it throughout the house when it's warm! It's annoying as I know it's purely the BMC that's causing the problem - HP's 'Sea of Sensors' decides that if it doesn't recognise a PCIe card (I'm using an LSI HBA instead of the stock HP RAID controller) and so can't read it's temperature then to be safe it smacks up the fan RPM to make sure it, regardless that the CPUs are only sat at 40c

 

[WhitehawkEQ]

I made these:

 

[hainesy]

Is that the same principal as this?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]182138._xfImport[/ATTACH]

Linked from this forum thread here: https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/hp-dl180-g6.3632/page-2

 

[WhitehawkEQ]

Is that the same principal as this?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]182138[/ATTACH]

Linked from this forum thread here: https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/hp-dl180-g6.3632/page-2

It's from this thread http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php/666460-DIY-Fan-Controller-for-PWM-Fans

 

[hainesy]

Or just buy quieter fans?

Sunon are very powerful and long lasting but quiet, no.

Can you recommend some suitable ones? I bought some Noctua 12v PWM ones but they're not up to the job. :-(

I just need something that runs at say 50% of the speed / noise of the Sunon ones. They don't have to be whisper quiet.

 

[inVain]

you can get what WhitehawkEQ build on #4