my ideas to combat heat

wizardPC · 03-10-2004, 06:12 PM

since heat seems to be the biggest issue with my system (I get lockups etc when the case temp gets to be about 90F), I am going to take some drastic measures.

It is only early march, but the temperatures inside my car have already started to reach into the 120+ degree range. My idea is to cut a hole in the floor of my trunk and suck in outside air from underneath the car. I'll be using flexible ductwork to go from the hole to the intake on the PC. I worry about water getting sucked in if it's raining, so I may put a filter somewhere in there to help with that.

just figured I'd throw this idea out there for some responses

antimatter · 03-10-2004, 06:36 PM

I have a black car and i got in it today (after it was sitting in the sun all day) and man it was hot. I was concerned about heat as well. I like the idea

Quattro · 03-10-2004, 06:44 PM

I don't think I would put a hole in my trunk for the exact reason you stated, water/rain.

If you had to do it I would try to make it so you can close the hole when needed. I have seen on older civics where they have a duct in the fornt which allows air in when it is opened. You could put a lever which you moved to open the duct in the truck to let the air in and close it when it is raining or the when the roads are wet.

eCar™ · 03-10-2004, 07:32 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by wizardPC

since heat seems to be the biggest issue with my system (I get lockups etc when the case temp gets to be about 90F), I am going to take some drastic measures.

It is only early march, but the temperatures inside my car have already started to reach into the 120+ degree range. My idea is to cut a hole in the floor of my trunk and suck in outside air from underneath the car. I'll be using flexible ductwork to go from the hole to the intake on the PC. I worry about water getting sucked in if it's raining, so I may put a filter somewhere in there to help with that.

just figured I'd throw this idea out there for some responses

90°F is not very hot. You might want to recheck the heatsink install. It may be getting poor contact with the CPU. Re-install it wit some good thermal paste. Or you might benefit from a HS upgrade.

wizardPC · 03-10-2004, 10:16 PM

the 90F is the case temp as measured by a 5 dollar thermometer that I bought at Target. I dont know how accurate that is, but it's an epia M10000 so I cant exactly reseat the heatsink.

oh, and the hole in the trunk is going to be in the floor if I wasnt clear about that. I was thinking about getting an butterfly valve to close it off if needed (like say, when its raining or 20F outside).

imprezive one · 03-10-2004, 10:26 PM

In my wrx there are floor vents that come out under the front seats so they are aimed at the area where the rear passengers' feet would be. I'm gonna put my case under the passenger side front seat so this system works perfect for me. The floor vents only shoot air when I flip my HVAC switch to aim at my feet. In the winter when it's extremely cold I can run a little bit of heat over the case to get it warmed up and then switch it to just blow air up afterwards. In the summer I can turn on the A/C and have cool air running over it for as long as I want. Maybe you can try to do something similar by hooking up some ducts that meet with your stock venting system. I dunno if it would be effective going all the way to the trunk, or worth all that work, but it's just something to toss around in your head. You could also try using a ram intake that they make for cars and run the piping to your case. I know AEM has a water log filter that prevents the intake from flooding if the car is driven thru high water. This will cost you a lot of money for just a vent though.

kai445 · 03-10-2004, 10:49 PM

Or you could try doing what I'm going to do.

Cut two 80mm diameter holes in the rear deck, mount two fans with grills (one blowing into trunk, one blowing out of trunk). This way, it keeps the trunk at cabin temperature. As soon as the car starts, the fans I want will be at least 3.8cfm, so worst case scenario the air gets exchanged once per minute or so. I can also get fans that are heat-controlled (very hot, they'll spin fast, but once the car cools (ac, or winter time) they spin very slowly).

Just an idea.

fearthepenguin · 03-10-2004, 11:18 PM

I would worry more about condensation then sucking up water. Some chill morning could cause you big trouble.

wizardPC · 03-11-2004, 06:11 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by fearthepenguin

I would worry more about condensation then sucking up water. Some chill morning could cause you big trouble.

didnt think too much about that one. hmmm......

Walleye · 03-11-2004, 09:56 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by wizardPC

didnt think too much about that one. hmmm......

condensation falls strait down, dont worry about that one.

i'd worry about the rain and mist off the road getting sucked into the blowhole. yeah... because of negative pressures and such, there's a good chance it'd get sucked right in and deposit some very wet air on your car-puter. you might either think about some kind of p-trap apparatus with an absorbant material lining the curve, to clean the air of excess moisture. either that, or just not taking it in from outside.

Mr.Sinister · 03-11-2004, 11:21 PM

You'd probably be better off using a 12v water pump (like the Swiftech MCP600 or the Dangerden DD12V-D4), and watercooling your Carputer. Don't snicker. It's not as far-fetched as it may seem to be at first.

You wouldn't need to power it from the PC's PSU directly either. Just rig up a relay system so that the pump turns on when the PSU turns on.

Of course you'd HAVE to use anti-freeze in it, or come winter your pump and pipes will burst. You won't get the low temps that a regular WC'ed system would get, but since you're not going for max overclock, it's not an issue.

Some of the other benefits are that you wouldn't have to cut open a blow hole in your car's underside either. Just cut open a hole large enough to pass exit and return lines through, and then seal around it. If you use a large enough radiator (like an oil cooler), you could just mount it underneath the car without using any fans. The air moving over it will be enough to cool it off. The only major downside to this is that if you're parked over some really hot asphalt, instead of cooling the water, the radiator will heat it. This should be easily overcome if you mount the radiator in a position other than directly underneath the car

The biggest hurdle would be mounting a waterblock onto the motherboard. For an M10000, you'd have to figure out a way to either convert the existing heatsink into a waterblock, or how to remove it without damaging the processor underneath. Once you got the existing heatsink off, a Koolance CP-200 waterblock would do the trick nicely, and still remain relatively low profile.

ares · 03-11-2004, 11:39 PM

why not just underclock the chip... IMO I would not cut any holes in the outer panels. sounds like trouble. and if I were buying a car and saw you cut a hole, I dont care what the reason I wouldnt pay 2cents for the car.

Id definitly investigate a better way than that. under the car could be extremely hot anyway, hotter than inside, black pavement and the heat of the transmission and motor all under there. naw, wouldnt do that at all.

Id try underclocking it. chances are you could run pretty safe at 600mhz or something, and that should keep the chip considerably cooler.

P4_2.66GHz · 03-12-2004, 09:14 AM

I wouldn't want to run A/C into a computer system, worrying about water condensation on the mainboard and other components.
The water cooling sounds like an awesome idea for the extreme areas.
What about adding an extra fan to blow on the CPU heatsink? That may help.

wizardPC · 03-13-2004, 05:40 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by P4_2.66GHz

I wouldn't want to run A/C into a computer system, worrying about water condensation on the mainboard and other components.
The water cooling sounds like an awesome idea for the extreme areas.
What about adding an extra fan to blow on the CPU heatsink? That may help.

Air conditioners remove water from the air. the water that forms on the air conditioner is the result of that.

Adding an extra fan probably won't help, since it will be blowing 120F air around

e_z_street · 03-13-2004, 09:44 PM

This guy did the whole venting thing:

http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/212327/4

You might be able to contact him to see how this worked out for him.

Also, has anybody ever thought about using one of those portable heater/cooler units. They use a ceramic heating/cooling element. When a voltage is applied to the element, one side gets cold and the other side gets hot. If you reverse the polarity, you get the opposite effect. You blow a fan over the element to circulate the hot/cold air. Here is an example of one:

http://www.ioffer.com/i/POWER-TO-GO-12V-MINI-COOLER-WARMER-2440773

You could mount your board right inside of the cooler or you could hack just the ceramic element and fan onto an existing case. I'm not sure what kind of power consumption we are talking here though.