I recall doing MIL HDBK 217 f reliability calculations in my dim and very distant past. Wonder if that is still in use, and if these manufacturer’s use it to estimate the failure rate of their equipment.
Be very careful with adding a heatsink - if you just put one on loose it will in fact make it hotter and cause the ER to fail - well that is what they say on their forum - and it makes sense as a heatsink to work must be thermally-bonded to the box by heatsink compound and bolted-on. If you don’t properly do this then what you in fact do is add a heat-store right next to the box that re-radiates it back into the ER and obstructs airflow around the box, which is how it actually cools itself.
Heat on the ER is proportional to the number of ports being used and hence exercised with a digital signal and pulling current. I use one in and one out port either side of mine to keep it low - and I raise the ER a bit higher by placing larger hard plastic feet under it. This for some reason sounds better than just using the rubber ones it has (I bypass these and place direct onto box) - probably dissipates vibration quicker with hard feet, as the resonance is proportional to mass of box times ‘bounciness’ of feet - and the ER is very light so that puts it a lot higher than I want.
Anyway - it gets warm but not hot. I did briefly place loosely a good heatsink on top - the box got hotter and sounded worse. Just give it plenty of airflow space and it is fine.
DB.
All I can say, from experience. I have seen the effect on military grade components, when cooling has failed
… 12*0.8 = 9.6 watts
Something doesn’t make sense, but whatever, if it runs hot, it runs hot
My issue with “hot” is its not a number, one mans hot is another mans warm.
My idea of component temperature is the actual temperature in degrees C, even better is X degrees above Y degrees ambient
Thanks DB, suitably reassured with a few easy tips as usual👍
Thanks Mike i have seen a temperature of 40c mentioned on other sites. I think as Darkbear has mentioned if its only one cable in and one out, well ventilated i should be OK. Only one way to find out.
Hi again Gazza, 40’C is nothing, my NDX runs (when playing) around 37’C & I wouldn’t call it hot, its warm or in my language 15’C above ambient.
But I still wonder why a switch pulls so much current to run at that temp.
It doesn’t need a heatsink. Some people just like fiddling. It runs well within specs and has been extensively tested. More importantly it works better than most, certainly much better than the Cisco and also the Melco switch in my experience (which I found a typically artificial “special effects” high-end product in my system). I have had zero heat problems.
From my own experience it certainly is. See above.
The designer of the Etheregen, Swenson (?), wrote in the audiophile style forum that we can put a piece of metal under the Etheregen. It can work as a heatsink and also support from vibrations. So i put the little heatsink under it. Don’t feel it’s a problem.
Any pics FR?
I’d have thought the best thing to have under the ER is freely-circulating air. Having a metal puck underneath is only likely to make much of a difference if it is on glass for example, which can conduct the heat away. Anyway, I have nothing under mine and they seem quite happy that way.
Honestly I even don’t know if it makes difference. Can’t say if it’s warmer or not.
when you say “nothing” do you mean that yours is suspended in free air ?
No. I have a kilt over it, but nothing underneath
Looks like a good way of helping the cables hang freely there…
Makes you realise how easy the Cisco is to live with. Just plug it in, no worries about heat dissipation, no special rack needed as it’s not next to the Hi-Fi…
Nice set-up, bit similar to mine in my study.
If you look closely - well not that closely - you can see where I had to remove a skirting board to route cable and haven’t got round to fixing it, but a refurb is due so will leave for now I think.
Anyway, in the Audiophile Switches forum, we’ve been having a discussion on bend radius, and yours are more bent than mine!
One other thing I notice is you have a cable connected to the far right port. Is that the same as every other port? Although my Cisco is newer, I’ve not used the equivalent ports; is there some difference?