HP 2824 Noise Level

S

Skud

Gawd
Joined
Sep 4, 2002
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587
Hi All,

Looking at picking up an HP 2824 for a network at home and to play around with. What's the noise level? The HP docs say 53dBa @ full load..

Anyone with experience?

Thanks!!
Riley
 
I got something similar at work, I think you'll be fine. I would say its a little louder than a quiet desktop.
 
People will have different opinions on what is annoying or not but personally I would say that is too loud unless it's on the other side of the room or something.

Right now I'm rebuilding one of my servers so it's out of the closet and my decibel meter is showing it at 55 which is way too loud for my taste.

Also, tiny fans produce higher frequency sound which is even more annoying than low frequency sound from larger fans, to me at least. I like my office "quiet", which to me is around 40-42 max.
 
Thanks for the info guys..

It's going in the laundry room in a rack, but the laundry room is right next to my workspace and there is no door, so I don't want to hear a constant whine all the time.

I'm moving into a new house and I need more ports. I currently have a D-Link DGS-3200-10 which is a fan-less fully managed layer 2 switch, but only 10 ports. So, it's between a fan-less, brand new, HP 1810G-24 and a used HP 2824. The 2824 is way more switch and its feature set will match up with my current d-link (STP, 802.1x, etc.). It's also only about $75 more, but the noise is what really concerns me.

The 53dBa HP quotes is at full load, so I assume the 2824 will spin down the fans, but I wonder how much. I've had some switches (like 3Com) that still sound terribly loud even when under low load.

Riley
 
The 2824 spins down the fans quite a bit, but there's definitely a constant whine. I have mine in my bedroom and couldn't sleep with it. The fans are quite easy to replace. I bought 3 new 40mm fans and they fit quite well. I did have to rearrange the wiring of each connector, but it was pretty straightforward. If the fans are too loud for you that's always an option.
 
Bviper said:
The 2824 spins down the fans quite a bit, but there's definitely a constant whine. I have mine in my bedroom and couldn't sleep with it. The fans are quite easy to replace. I bought 3 new 40mm fans and they fit quite well. I did have to rearrange the wiring of each connector, but it was pretty straightforward. If the fans are too loud for you that's always an option.
Click to expand...

I know this is very subjective and vague, but if you had a bedroom next to yours and you put it in that room would you still hear the switch with the doors open?

I'm trying to determine if the 2824s, from an acoustic perspective, are your typical enterprise switch or if they're quieter than that..

Thanks again..
Riley
 
Skud said:
I know this is very subjective and vague, but if you had a bedroom next to yours and you put it in that room would you still hear the switch with the doors open?
Click to expand...

You could probably hear it, but you'd need to listen for it. If it turns out its ever too loud three of these will make it whisper quiet and they keep it cool enough for my uses. All you need is a torx driver and to pull rearrange two wires on each fan (the speed pin is in a different place).
 
Bviper said:
You could probably hear it, but you'd need to listen for it. If it turns out its ever too loud three of these will make it whisper quiet and they keep it cool enough for my uses. All you need is a torx driver and to pull rearrange two wires on each fan (the speed pin is in a different place).
Click to expand...

Okay, thanks for the info.. I want to avoid modifying the switch though as it will void the procurve lifetime warranty..

Riley
 
If your worried about noise go with the 1810. Its works great, and makes no noise at all. Another nice thing is you can turn off the lights on it so you don't have strange glowing lights in the room next to you.

I beleve it supports almost everything you want in an L2 switch.
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ManateeMatt said:
If your worried about noise go with the 1810. Its works great, and makes no noise at all. Another nice thing is you can turn off the lights on it so you don't have strange glowing lights in the room next to you.

I beleve it supports almost everything you want in an L2 switch.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
Click to expand...

Yeah, the 1810 is my other option, but it's pretty much a web GUI only layer 2 "lite" switch. No STP or 802.1x, both of which I want to use/test/learn. I'd also like to get more into using NAP in Server 2008.

I think I'll just bite the bullet and go with the 2824. If it's too loud, I'll look into sound-proofing my rack.

Riley
 
Raising this up from the dead because I have a similar situation... the rack where my 2824 is in will be moving to the living room and while I don't mind the whine, the wife is.

One of the ideas I found online was to create a plexiglass cover for it (Tap plastics?) and then mod an 80 mm and 120 mm fans on top, with perhaps another fan over the PSU area.

Anyone try this?
 
Bviper said:
You could probably hear it, but you'd need to listen for it. If it turns out its ever too loud three of these will make it whisper quiet and they keep it cool enough for my uses. All you need is a torx driver and to pull rearrange two wires on each fan (the speed pin is in a different place).
Click to expand...

Digging up an old thread here, because I found this thread via a google search about making the HP 2824 switch quieter, and I followed the advice in this thread. I ran into some problems, but I was ultimately successful. Here is my story...

I ordered three of those exact KDE1204PKV3 fans that you recommended to replace the ones in my Procurve 2824 to keep its noise level down. I had to hunt around the net to find some.

It worked, but it has the following things that are difficult:

- As mentioned before, the pinouts on the connection cables are not the same and need to be swapped. Easy, takes only a moment to do. However, I needed to change all three pins, not just two pins as was stated in this thread.

- The wires on the cables of the new fans are not long enough to reach. You will have to extend them, or (as I did) desolder the original wires from the old fans and solder them onto the new fans (being super careful of the pinouts in the process).

- One of the three mounting brackets did not accomodate the new fan well. The wires protrude from the casing of the new fan in a different place than they did on the old fan, making it hard to find a position where the new fan would fit correctly without crushing the wires. In the end, I snipped away part of the new fan's casing to make a notch for the wires to work.

- After putting everything back together, the new fans, and the switch itself, work OK. All three fans appear to be blowing in the correct direction and they are much much quieter than the original fans.

- However there is a FAULT / FAN light blinking on the front of the switch. Probably the new fans run at a different RPM. This is fine with me, though. I ignore the light.

So that's my story about making the HP 2824 quieter.
 
Skud said:
Yeah, the 1810 is my other option, but it's pretty much a web GUI only layer 2 "lite" switch. No STP or 802.1x, both of which I want to use/test/learn. I'd also like to get more into using NAP in Server 2008.

I think I'll just bite the bullet and go with the 2824. If it's too loud, I'll look into sound-proofing my rack.

Riley
Click to expand...

1810-24G v2 supports STP finally
 
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