5PX2200 UPS cooling & noise management

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Mastaba

Limp Gawd
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Apr 2, 2011
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I bought a 5PX2200iRTN UPS some time ago but the two 80mm fans make some very loud noise, even when the batteries were fully charged the fans slowed down a little but the noise is still unbearable for a quiet desk environment, so it's currently unuseable and lay here till now.
I suspect the unit to be rated for sitting in a rack and then nothing has been done to make it home friendly.

Here are the fans used inside (ref:ME80251VX-0000-G99) rated at 3600RPM 46CFM


The plugs are like some graphic card mini3pin but with the RPM wire on the middle (at right, vs the common 3pin fan plug at left):


I heard that heat harm battery's life, but as you can see here the batteries are completely isolated from the air flow:




I also have a line interactive APC SMT750I you can see on the background of the last pic that is completely fanless and silent, making me think a powerful airflow isn't absolutely necessary for a line interactive UPS (unlike online UPS).

There is also the way more quieter Eaton 5P product line that don't have the powerful external EBM battery charger the 5PX line have, making me think the EBM charger is responsible of the powerful fans used in the 5PX.

The 5PX line claim high efficiency up to 99%, and i seriously doubt it really need that much cooling, because that would mean it consume a ton of power for nothing.
The only real work occur when there's some power outage and after when it need to recharge the batteries, but in normal condition when there is available clean enough power and the batteries are charged there should be very little power consumption.


So as i won't add additionnal battery modules and thereby won't make use of the EBM charger i was wondering if that would be possible to replace the two noisy fans with quieter ones, like some noctua NF-R8 for example?

I never done this and i'm not very used to mod UPS so i don't know if there are parts that really need to be actively cooled and how much i can lower the fan's RPM without harming the unit or breaking something?
How to scale the fan speed to keep sufficient cooling even during a power outage

Has anyone already done this kind of thing, or have useful knowledge about this kind of hardware?
What's your opinion about that?
 
Mastaba,
Did you find a solution to the loud fans on this UPS? Did you try the "Cooler Master Blade Master 80" fans?
 
Sorry to ressurect an old thread... I too was wondering if the OP ever replaced the fans in this UPS. I have a similar model (5PX1000rt) and have at least one fan that's rattling and probably about to fail. (The UPS is in a somewhat dusty environment, and I have to blow the dust out of the fans regularly and have cleaned and reset a "fan error" at least once now).

I don't care so much about making the UPS quieter, but I guess my main question is whether the OP confirmed the fan wiring? Is the RPM sensor wire on the middle pin versus the "standard" (computer case fan) wiring with + on the middle pin of the fan connector? Just trying to confirm whether it's the RPM wire placement, or color, that's "unconventional" from the usual PC case fan... ;)
 
Hi guys,
I decided to change the stock fans on my EATON 5PX3000 and i ended up on this forum.
I searched for some info on internet and from the results, I was confident enough doing it.

To sum up, for this kind of UPS there should always be a small airflow, can't run fully passive, but it doesn't need that much cooling anyway.

The 5PX3000 needs 3 fans, 1 in the front, 2 in the back, i choose the Arctic F8 TC (https://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B0037AUS4S 6.95€ with prime) , which are cheap and run at 500 RPM unless the temperature rise above 32°C, then it will accelerate (linear) to 2000RPM.
Well, the temperature sensors didn't (on the 3 fans) kick in until ~40°C, but it was acceptable.

As Mastaba said, the pins wiring and connector are not standard, plus, they are glued. So i cut the end for it and plugged it with dupont connectors in the new ones.

IMG_20200410_202051.jpg

IMG_20200410_193609.jpg


IMG_20200410_193613.jpg



Here is a photo with the two rear fans already changed and connected :

IMG_20200410_193544.jpg


IMG_20200410_193603.jpg



To remove the front cover, remove the 2 left torx screws then slide the front panel to the right :

IMG_20200410_193804.jpg


I put some masking tape on the connectors just to be sure :

IMG_20200410_195653.jpg


And then I bring the 3 thermal sensors of the fans together on the central coil.
The place was the one heating (using an infrared thermometer) the most when on battery and it's on the center of the air flow right after all theses heat sinks :
IMG_20200410_195649.jpg



The average load on my UPS is 20%, no fan errors on the UPS, temperatures are fine 25,6°C in 32,4°C out (in a closet cabinet with 2 servers, 2 switches and some other stuff, with cabinet exhaust around 35°C).
Everything seems ok.

The noise has reduced even if the average noise of my cabinet didn't change that much, still around 45dB.

Didn't cost much, good improve.

Enjoy guys =)

Love from France ^^
 

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ragavanf said:
As Mastaba said, the pins wiring and connector are not standard, plus, they are glued. So i cut the end for it and plugged it with dupont connectors in the new ones.
Click to expand...

The original fan connectors are standard, just not in modular PC fans. They're called JST-XH and look to be 0.1" (2.54mm) pin pitch. These connectors are used in all ranges of electronic gear as board to board and board to device interconnects.

If you need some pre-terminated connectors with leads:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/231639548641
 
Hello Guys,

I bought a 9SX3000IRT2U (online double conversion) which has the same problem than 5PX2200/5PX3000. Even when batteries are full, fans are running too fast, too much noise.

I have an old EATON "Evolution S3000 2RTU" (3 fans too), speed fans decrease a lot when battery are full. Very different behaviour for same power (3000 VA), I don't understand why.

I noticed that 9SX3000 has only 2 fans, then I think using 31 cfm (Arctic) instead of original (45 cfm) should be not safe.

I plan to change 9SX3000 (2 fans) for 5PX3000 (3 fans) , and get 2 x EBM. Do you think using Arctic 31cfm should be OK, even when temperature is high (when charging batteries in summer for example).

Thank you for your advice.
 
ragavanf said:
Hi guys,
I decided to change the stock fans on my EATON 5PX3000 and i ended up on this forum.
Click to expand...

I am about to do similar work on an EATON 5PX2200 using the same fans.

I will be creating an adapter with using the JST-XH connecter recommended by GiGaBiTe and some cables I had sitting in a box. One end of this adapter will attach to the existing fan connecters. The fan will connect to the other end. This means I don't have to alter the fan, should I decide to swap it later.

I have a question about the wiring. See below.

ragavanf said:
As Mastaba said, the pins wiring and connector are not standard, plus, they are glued. So i cut the end for it and plugged it with dupont connectors in the new ones.
Click to expand...

Was there anything special about the wiring connections? Not all fans use the same color wire. How did you know which wires to solder to what?

EDIT: I figured this out today. They are special as in they are not the same as an ATX fan connection. I will post details soon.

Thank you.
 
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GiGaBiTe said:
The original fan connectors are standard, just not in modular PC fans. They're called JST-XH and look to be 0.1" (2.54mm) pin pitch. These connectors are used in all ranges of electronic gear as board to board and board to device interconnects.

If you need some pre-terminated connectors with leads:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/231639548641
Click to expand...

I ordered those and they arrived this week. I wonder about the wiring and if the wire should be soldered up in the same order as regular 3-pin fan connector or not. Ideas welcome.

EDIT: I figured this out today. They are not the same as an ATX fan connection. I will post details soon.

Thank you.
 
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I replaced the fans on my Eaton 5PX. I used the pre-terminated connectors with leads mentioned in a previous post. I have 48 of these left-over and I'm happy to share them around.

My approach was an adapter. Why? Two goals:

* ability to replace the original fans easily
* no modification of existing fans (it makes future replacement easier)

All for the same mount of soldering.

This is what the three connectors look like:

IMG_1328.JPG

To imagine what this adaptor will look like:

IMG_1330.JPG

I obtained the matching connector from some fan accessories I had leftover from other fans I have bought in the past.

Connecting it all together, it looks like this:

IMG_1338.jpeg


Note the cables are not straight-through. The two at the bottom of the photo are crossed.

According to https://allpinouts.org/.../motherboard-cpu-3-pin-fan.../ the pin outs on a standard ATX fan connector are:

1 : GND black
2 : +12V red (my fans are 12V)
3 : tachometric signal

When I measured the pins on the UPS, I found:

1 : GND black
2 : tachometric signal
3 : +12V

In the following photo, pin 1 is on the right.

IMG_1345.jpg
 
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After borrowing a glue gun, these are the images of the newly glued connectors.

Why did I bother? Because I could. I figured if Eaton did it, they did it for a reason.

I used an infrared thermometer and the hottest component I found was about 112F. This was a small black heatsink below the rear-fan connector.

Checking the exhaust temperature: 78F
The table it was resting on: 71F
Room temperature was about 75F


IMG_1499.jpg



This is the rear fan connector.

IMG_1500.jpg
 
dvl said:
I replaced the fans on my Eaton 5PX. I used the pre-terminated connectors with leads mentioned in a previous post. I have 48 of these left-over and I'm happy to share them around.

My approach was an adapter. Why? Two goals:

* ability to replace the original fans easily
* no modification of existing fans (it makes future replacement easier)

All for the same mount of soldering.

This is what the three connectors look like:

View attachment 294286

To imagine what this adaptor will look like:

View attachment 294287

I obtained the matching connector from some fan accessories I had leftover from other fans I have bought in the past.

Connecting it all together, it looks like this:

View attachment 294298

Note the cables are not straight-through. The two at the bottom of the photo are crossed.

According to https://allpinouts.org/.../motherboard-cpu-3-pin-fan.../ the pin outs on a standard ATX fan connector are:

1 : GND black
2 : +12V red (my fans are 12V)
3 : tachometric signal

When I measured the pins on the UPS, I found:

1 : GND black
2 : tachometric signal
3 : +12V

In the following photo, pin 1 is on the right.

View attachment 294316
Click to expand...
I wanted to say your post has been super helpful.
I'm going to do the same for my Liebert GXT3 fans.

I ordered pre-terminated connectors with leads too and I was wondering about the other pat of the cable, the one you labeled "Matching connection".

Would a 4-pin extension from Noctua be OK for that?

PXL_20201111_102506817.jpg
 
I just registerd to thank all of you (especially dvl). I replaced my fans for some Artic F8 Silent, and my Eaton is now totally silent.
I did have some fan errors, cause I wired them back to the wrong connector, but now all is perfectly working.
 
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I've just noticed that after about 3 hours of operation without a device connected, a fan defect appeared. Could the Artic F8 Silent not run fast enough?
 
If the fans are plugged in and working, but you're getting some fan error, they could be spinning too slowly for the firmware in the UPS. The UPS probably expects a specific fan curve and RPM that it matched to the fans normally installed.

You could try making a fan speed faker circuit and calibrating it to whatever RPM the UPS expects:
https://www.techidiots.net/notes/fake-fan-sensor

I had to use this once on a server that used ridiculously fast Delta fans that spun at something like 6000-8000 RPM and I replaced them with slower more efficient fans. It worked fine but took a bit of calibration to get the correct faked speed with the trim pot.
 
GiGaBiTe said:
If the fans are plugged in and working, but you're getting some fan error, they could be spinning too slowly for the firmware in the UPS. The UPS probably expects a specific fan curve and RPM that it matched to the fans normally installed.

You could try making a fan speed faker circuit and calibrating it to whatever RPM the UPS expects:
https://www.techidiots.net/notes/fake-fan-sensor

I had to use this once on a server that used ridiculously fast Delta fans that spun at something like 6000-8000 RPM and I replaced them with slower more efficient fans. It worked fine but took a bit of calibration to get the correct faked speed with the trim pot.
Click to expand...
I remember those fans known as "Delta Screamers" I was given back the PC I built for my Sister back in 2002 and I forgot how loud the old small fans were I can say for sure I don't miss them! I like the quieter fans modern PCs use!
 
Yeah I went big on the deta high speed fans back in the early socket A days. I had an obnoxious 90 cfm 80mm Delta fan on my Alpha PAL 8045, it did keep my 1.4 Tbird chip extremely cool though around 48-50C. I had planned to use some for case fans too, but the noise was painful so that got changed after testing it. I do not miss the Delta brute force cooling days, glad for the rise of big fans, tower coolers, and heatpipes.
 
Starfalcon said:
Yeah I went big on the deta high speed fans back in the early socket A days. I had an obnoxious 90 cfm 80mm Delta fan on my Alpha PAL 8045, it did keep my 1.4 Tbird chip extremely cool though around 48-50C. I had planned to use some for case fans too, but the noise was painful so that got changed after testing it. I do not miss the Delta brute force cooling days, glad for the rise of big fans, tower coolers, and heatpipes.
Click to expand...

Yes that PC I got back has a Volcano 6 CU (I forgot who made it) but damn that fan is loud (always as PWM speed controlled by CPU load temp was not yet a 'thing' back then) I bet if I remove the fan it will say Delta Sunon or YSTech as those were the big PC fan "players" back then. Sunon and Delta are still around but I have not heard any YSTech news or fans in awhile.
 
Format _C: said:
I remember those fans known as "Delta Screamers" I was given back the PC I built for my Sister back in 2002 and I forgot how loud the old small fans were I can say for sure I don't miss them! I like the quieter fans modern PCs use!
Click to expand...

Delta made even more obnoxious fans than the single hub 6000+ RPM finger mutilator variants. They made a coaxial fan assembly that had two fans front to back in the same housing rotating in opposite directions.


The coaxial fan approach is more efficient at moving air since the second set of blades takes advantage of the turbulent flow of the first fan. The downside is obviously more noise and almost double the power consumption.
 
Format _C: said:
Yes that PC I got back has a Volcano 6 CU (I forgot who made it) but damn that fan is loud (always as PWM speed controlled by CPU load temp was not yet a 'thing' back then) I bet if I remove the fan it will say Delta Sunon or YSTech as those were the big PC fan "players" back then. Sunon and Delta are still around but I have not heard any YSTech news or fans in awhile.
Click to expand...

Thermaltake made that heatsink, as I do have one of those. You are also correct that it uses the delta black label fan. Also without using that delta fan, that heatsink is really terrible, brute force fan is the only reason it works.
 
A whole bunch of third parties used the same extruded aluminum brick with different fan configurations and they were all pretty bad. I used to have one that used copper fins as well and it was still junk if the fan wasn't at forced induction levels of pressure.
 
The F8 silent are running at 1200rpm, so I replaced them by some classic F8, at 2000rpm. Same result.
I don't understand why I'm facing this, when other people are fine with the same fans.

I will give your solution a try.
 
So, after a few tests and measurements, the problem was the home-made adapter, in which a wire was not well soldered, sometimes resulting in a false contact. Problem solved, and inverter working, with the F8 Silent at 1200rpm.
 
dvl said:
I am about to do similar work on an EATON 5PX2200 using the same fans.
Click to expand...

I picked up a second hand (maybe 8 year old) 5PX2200, with original batteries.

The fans are constant and loud (measures at ~20-30dB, but seems loud to me from 2 rooms away !)

I realise that the old batteries may be the problem, but before I replace them, I wanted to know if your 5PX with original fans was loud even after fresh batteries were fully charged ?

I've read that Eaton's fans on these bigger units are always on, vs some other brands (eg Cyberpower), where they only come on when charging or on when on battery mode...
 
gsmithsa said:
I realise that the old batteries may be the problem, but before I replace them, I wanted to know if your 5PX with original fans was loud even after fresh batteries were fully charged ?
Click to expand...
I used the 'fresh' batteries which came with the UPS. The fans were always loud.
 
LordK1 said:
I just registerd to thank all of you (especially dvl). I replaced my fans for some Artic F8 Silent, and my Eaton is now totally silent.
I did have some fan errors, cause I wired them back to the wrong connector, but now all is perfectly working.
Click to expand...
I'm happy those posts were useful. Glad you also have a silent Eaton.
 
Hi all, I am about to attempt the same fan replacement on two Eaton 5PX 1500 units. As others have noted, they are not the worst noise making machines in the world, but they can still churn out 60dBA of noise at 1m, which is way too much for a home office. The rest of my network/server equipment puts out no more than 45dBA at 1m, which when the door of the server cupboard is closed, drops to 33dBA, so that is the goal!

I'm going to try with some Gelid Silent 8 fans as they were slightly cheaper than the Arctic F8 Silent at the time of buying. They run slightly faster than the Arctic units, at 1600rpm moving 20.72 CFM of air (over the Arctic's 15.1 CFM) but claim to have a lower noise level at 18.9dBA. I will report back if they work and don't report fan errors.

Before I begin, I am curious about one thing. Despite not having PWM fan control, the Eaton 5PX units are able to control their fan speed somehow. This is most noticable when putting the units into Firmware Upgrade mode, the fan speed drops dramatically, to a level that would be bearable if it was consistent! How is this possible? Will it be through simple voltage regulation?
 
Not finished yet as the Gelid fans still haven’t arrived, but bench tested with a couple of random fans I had lying around this morning and it seems the Eaton units are not very fussy about their fan speed reporting at all. Tested will a 60mm 3600rpm Gelid on the front fan header and an 120mm 1050rpm Arctic P12 on the rear fan header simultaneously and no faults were reported on the UPS.

FF6C1DBC-E54E-4191-A633-61BA3D73E820.jpeg
 
thanks dvl for sharing the pinout info, and everyone else for helping out!

just completed a swap on an Eaton 5P 1000 with a noctua 40mm 4 pin (just left the sense wire out). i also created an 'adapter' cable so a future fan swap with any 3 or 4 pin fan will be easy. ran into a fan fault at the start but it was just a bad connection - the 3M connectors that came with the noctua fan aren't very solid. once i used a proper connector everything was good (y)
 
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I also just completed a fan swap on a 5PX 2200 RT.

I was kind of surprised that the fans do not turn off when on utility, as the equivalent APC model, the SMT 2200, has no audible fans when the battery is fully charged. I used Arctic P8 PWM fans I had laying around and just cut the extra 4th wire and 'hid' it under some heatshrink and used those JST wires (you can get them on amazon if you don't want to wait) and directly soldered the bare ends of the fan wire to the JST pre-crimped connectors. No adapters seeing as how I probably won't have an immediate use for the 80mm fans and kept the original fans in tact. I did not want to go with a fan that is -too- quiet since the only thing that makes most fans quiet is having low RPM comparatively so the P8s are fine.

The temperature controlled F8 TC is kind of a novel idea so maybe one day I'll try those out.

edit: after battery reached 100%, noise dropped considerably, in fact the HP 1500 G4 (which is just a rebranded Eaton 1500 va mini tower ups) I have sitting in the living room behind my entertainment console is louder with its single fan...
 
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Hello
Can someone take a photo all of power IGBTs in 5PX2200 or just count them?
Also can someone say the exact power capacitors models in 5PX2200?
 
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