How hot is too hot? (1 Viewer)

[Ken Woodrow]

I did a quick search on this, but couldn't find anything definitive. I'm concerned about the potential for heat buildup in my A/V closet. It houses a DirecTiVo, a home theater PC, a Sony DB930 receiver, and -- watch out -- a LLano Trinity 200 watt/channel 3-channel amp. The closet is ventilated by an open register at the bottom and a small (8") fan at the top. I haven't measured the temp inside the closet with a thermometer, but you can feel some heat buildup when you open it up. BTW, I cut off the receiver and solid-state section of the amp, but leave on the HTPC and tube input stage of the amp 24/7. The closet fan also stays on 24/7. So far, nothing has fried.

But -- here are the questions:

1. What temp is potentially fatal for solid-state equipment?

2. Has anyone installed a thermometer that is linked to a fan?

3. If the fan is not sufficient, what else can I do?

Thanks,

ken

 

[Greg Monfort]

Don't know the destruct temp, but 110degF ambient is the acceptable long term limit listed in my amp's manuals. I
I've added thermostats to fans, so what's the question?
If the fan's not sufficient, though I imagine it is, then get a higher CFM unit or add another fan. I assume you already have the equipment spaced for good ventilation around/through them.
GM

 

[Ken Woodrow]

Thanks for the info. I had not thought to check my equipment manuals for acceptable ambient temps, but I'll do that. My question concerning thermostats and fans has to do with locating a suitable (=cheap) thermostat or thermometer that I can hook into my fan's AC circuit. It has a manual switch now, but it would be cool (pun intended) to add a thermostat to the circuit so that the fan would run only when necessary. The fan is a Radio Shack 4" fan which could be upgraded to something larger if necessary. Generally, larger = quieter, so upgrading would have that benefit as well. Any experiences you could share would be great.

- Ken

 

[Greg Monfort]

Grainger sells fan thermo switches for

 

[Philip_G]

man those direcTiVo's crank out a lot of heat. I used to have mine on a shelf with my receiver and they were too hot together.

 

[Ken Shiring]

Ken W. : I think you should be less concerned with the maximum ambient temperature and more concerned with the case temperature of your components. Case (or heatsink in the case of your amp) temperature is what causes components to fail. An ambient temp of 200 deg F is fine as long as the heat transfer coefficients of your gear is high .
If any case or heatsink temperatures exceed about 80 deg C (176 deg F) then you should start worrying. 176 deg F sounds like a lot, but it's not hard to put an amp at that point (Class A are easy to get into that range). As a general rule, the life of your semiconductors drop substantially when they operate above the 80 deg C range.
Your amp is what I would be most concerned about. Based on my preliminary searching, the Llano Trinity is a Class A biased amp, which means it is more likely than other amplifiers (based purely on class) to overheat, especially in a warm environment. It has some good heatsinking, but I would definitely check that with a thermometer if I were you .

 

[Rich Kraus]

FWIW, years ago i worked in a computer room for a government data center (dont ask details )
anyway... the temperature in the room was regulated at 65 degrees, supposedly to keep the electroincs happier. im gonna guess that temprature wasnt chosen at random. the rest of the buildings temprature was chosen by occupant comfort, but this room had a fixed thermostat.