Yate Loon fans, not reliable?

D

Drudenhaus

2[H]4U
Joined
Sep 27, 2005
Messages
3,126
Over the course of the past year or so, I've bought half dozen or so Yate Loon fans (D12SL I believe). It seems as though every few months, I'll get this horrible humming noise coming from my case. Each time, a quick diagnosis reveals that this hum is coming from one of my Yate Loon fans I'm not sure of the exact cause, but putting a slight amount of pressure on the middle/motor section of the fan silences the hum (it is VERY audible from anywhere in my room otherwise), so maybe it's the motor going? So far I've had to replace an intake fan and both fans on my radiator (actually the 2nd one on my rad is silenced by a strategicly placed 12V battery which silences the hum until I order another Scythe S-Flex fan).

I also have Scythe and Panaflo fans in my case, both which have been running for just as long as the Yate Loons (if not longer), but neither have exhibited any problems thus far.

Have any of you experienced any similar issues with Yate Loons having a short life span? I know they're fairly cheap...so maybe this is a situation of "You get what you pay for" with regards to lifespan.
 
Volkum said:
Over the course of the past year or so, I've bought half dozen or so Yate Loon fans (D12SL I believe). It seems as though every few months, I'll get this horrible humming noise coming from my case. Each time, a quick diagnosis reveals that this hum is coming from one of my Yate Loon fans I'm not sure of the exact cause, but putting a slight amount of pressure on the middle/motor section of the fan silences the hum (it is VERY audible from anywhere in my room otherwise), so maybe it's the motor going? So far I've had to replace an intake fan and both fans on my radiator (actually the 2nd one on my rad is silenced by a strategicly placed 12V battery which silences the hum until I order another Scythe S-Flex fan).

I also have Scythe and Panaflo fans in my case, both which have been running for just as long as the Yate Loons (if not longer), but neither have exhibited any problems thus far.

Have any of you experienced any similar issues with Yate Loons having a short life span? I know they're fairly cheap...so maybe this is a situation of "You get what you pay for" with regards to lifespan.
Click to expand...

I just want to mention, Petra's Tech Shop is the only company that orders directly from yate loon. There are a variety of reviews which demonstrate that the YLs from other companies are at worst fakes, and at best damaged goods which exhibit poor airflow and poor reliability. Were your YLs from somewhere other than Petras?

Normal YLs from Petras are arguably the best bang for your buck fans available.
 
The few 120mm Yates that I've used have been great without any noise problems. I purchased them from Nexfan.
 
quadnad said:
I just want to mention, Petra's Tech Shop is the only company that orders directly from yate loon. There are a variety of reviews which demonstrate that the YLs from other companies are at worst fakes, and at best damaged goods which exhibit poor airflow and poor reliability. Were your YLs from somewhere other than Petras?

Normal YLs from Petras are arguably the best bang for your buck fans available.
Click to expand...

There was a discussion about this earlier. There's no conclusive evidence to actually support what you said. Remember, YL makes quite a few different versions of all their fans.

Those that I ordered directly from YL (in lots of 100) were identical to those ordered from Jab-Tech.
 
Earlier today I received some 20mm-thick D12SL-12C fans from Jab-Tech. For where they're going I thought it would be useful to conserve that 5mm of thickness. So I plugged them in to test them out and found that when in their intended position---sticker up, blowing upwards, blades "hanging" from the motor---they make an obnoxious chuffing noise from what I assume is the bearing. In other orientations they're quiet. All other Yate Loon fans I've used have been quiet in any orientation.

I only have to say... what the hell? Is this a problem with all the 20mm-thick "C" fans, or is it a symptom of the alleged issues with YLs not from Petra's?

So now I have three D12SL-12C fans that are useless to me. Well, at least they were cheap. Oh, and they're closed-corner, too, which would have made them very difficult to mount; Jab-Tech's picture shows them being open-corner.
 
Its not so much about reliability but rather the bearing involved.

If you want ball bearings, order the D12B* versions.

My Yate Loon (NCIX, closed corner (not any more... kekeke), Petra style) doesn't have any problems with noise in any orientation. Angled, up, down. I find it quite sufficient for non-heatsink related airflow.
 
So the bearing is unreliable and I should have gone with the ball bearing model?

Some people mentioned orientation, however I had problems with vertically and horizontally positioned fans as well as having a few that still work great which would lead me to believe that orientation isn't the issue.
 
No, the bearing is fine. Its just that as a sleeve bearing, it'll wear out faster than a ball bearing. (I do wish the ball bearing models were more common though)

Sleeve bearing fans work better in the horizontal position. If I'm correct, a sleeve bearing is "no" bearing. Its just the motor running against the fan. Something like that.

When its in a vertical position, the hub rubs against the bearing like a tube inside a bigger tube; unevenly.

Or that's how I think it works.
 
Leman said:
No, the bearing is fine. Its just that as a sleeve bearing, it'll wear out faster than a ball bearing. (I do wish the ball bearing models were more common though)

Sleeve bearing fans work better in the horizontal position. If I'm correct, a sleeve bearing is "no" bearing. Its just the motor running against the fan. Something like that.

When its in a vertical position, the hub rubs against the bearing like a tube inside a bigger tube; unevenly.

Or that's how I think it works.
Click to expand...

Non ball bearing fans use bushings. They wear out faster than a ball bearing ever will.

Anybody ever seen bushings used on RC cars? They wear out very quickly, which is why ball bearings are a good investment in that hobby. Imagine if real cars only used bushings.

Our computer fans may be on a smaller scale, but it all works off the same principle.
 
Arcygenical said:
There was a discussion about this earlier. There's no conclusive evidence to actually support what you said. Remember, YL makes quite a few different versions of all their fans.

Those that I ordered directly from YL (in lots of 100) were identical to those ordered from Jab-Tech.
Click to expand...

Of course there is no conclusive evidence, however I've spoken with Alex from Petras and read many threads over at XS (here's one) where they illustrate the differences.

In my opinion it doesn't make sense to "risk" getting a bad fan from somewhere like Jab-tech when Petras has never carried a knock-off.
 
After looking for a good place to buy some more yate loons after my current ones started rattling, (mounted horizontally with hub on top, blowing upwards) I came across this thread, and am curious as to whether or not mine are real yate loons or fakes. They don't actually say yate loon anywhere, they don't have the black sticker in the middle of the fan, and just have a glossy black sticker (no text) to cover up the hub. I bought them at jab-tech. You can see some (poor) pictures of them at http://tuckie.net/Computer/ What are your guy's thoughts on this?
 
For 120mm fans, I always get Scythes, so far they've been awesome and performing great (and pretty darn quiet!). For 80mm, I turn to Vantec fans, they're at the top too.
 
Rakinos said:
After looking for a good place to buy some more yate loons after my current ones started rattling, (mounted horizontally with hub on top, blowing upwards) I came across this thread, and am curious as to whether or not mine are real yate loons or fakes. They don't actually say yate loon anywhere, they don't have the black sticker in the middle of the fan, and just have a glossy black sticker (no text) to cover up the hub. I bought them at jab-tech. You can see some (poor) pictures of them at http://tuckie.net/Computer/ What are your guy's thoughts on this?
Click to expand...

Just to point out: Jab-tech is one of the resellers that has been known to be inconsistent with the Yate loons then sell. In my opinion, I would buy from the only reseller in the country that gets them straight from YL: petrastech.
 
I've had a Loony as my rear exhaust fan for the last two years. The thing is every bit as quiet as it was when I first bought it.

FWIW, I bought mine at SVC.com, and it does have the sticker in the middle that says "D12SL" and "Yate Loon Electronics", just like the one you see on the SVC page.
 
Not to come off as a thread troll but I have never heard of Petras before. Are they big on the west coast or something? Just reading the thread it sounds like quadnad works for them. It all reads like a big advertisement to me.
 
Strmtrper6 said:
Not to come off as a thread troll but I have never heard of Petras before. Are they big on the west coast or something? Just reading the thread it sounds like quadnad works for them. It all reads like a big advertisement to me.
Click to expand...

lol

I don't work for Petra's Tech. I work for an independent global adviser focused solely on hedge funds in CT.

The reason I keep saying this is because Alex (who you can call yourself, his number is on Petra's site) has verified that after all these reports (like I posted above) on XS about inconsistent YLs that Petra's is the only US reseller that buys straight from the YL factory. Not that he necessarily is the least biased, but he has an extremely good reputation at XS and his reports are also corroborated with the photos of many fans bought from Petras versus those failing from Jab-Tech and other places. It seems that with Petras you always get genuine YL, with others it can be a lottery. There are numerous other threads on XS detailing what I'm talking about.

I'm trying to pass on friendly advice, not market the place. Hell, I think overall Petra's is quite expensive; I ordered all the gear for my w/c setup from Jab-Tech and it priced out to approximately 10-15% cheaper overall as compared to Petras. It's just the YLs that I buy from Petras.

In any event, anyone familiar with watercooling is familiar with Petrastechshop.
 
As far as bearing life, a ball bearing is not necessarily any better than a sleeve bearing.

Also, a ball bearing fan is almost always louder than one with a sleeve bearing.
 
Yes, Petra's is very well known among the watercooling crowd and it's a great store to work with. I'm in Canada, I can get fans for cheap in Canada but I ordered my 4 YL directly from Petra's (Quoc Ngo is awesome helping me with the order and shipping charges).

What Petra's lack in prices, they compensate with a excellent customer service. Alex also frequent XS almost daily and give his own insight about the watercooling market trends and issues.

I'm not someone who work for Petra's as well since I'm in Canada ;)

Back to topic... I also heard about genuine vs fake yate loons and I admit that it's only things I heard around (compared to direct experience). However, for 19.95$ for 4 D12SM-12, it's a great deal for a excellent fan, especially when compared with the Scythe SFF12F (the only other best choice imho), at 12$ each.

 
Supposedly, you'll get a slightly better quality sample if you get an all-orange Yate Loon fan.

Also, according to an XtremeSystems thread, you're better off getting certain model #s (5xx, 6xx, 7xx, I forget which is best), as their sample quality seems to have less output noise and generally better acoustics.

Here's a thread about which retailer distributes which type of YL fan:
http://67.90.82.13/forums/showthread.php?t=146836
 
AmberClad said:
I've had a Loony as my rear exhaust fan for the last two years. The thing is every bit as quiet as it was when I first bought it.

FWIW, I bought mine at SVC.com, and it does have the sticker in the middle that says "D12SL" and "Yate Loon Electronics", just like the one you see on the SVC page.
Click to expand...
I bought 3 from SVC recently, everything looks in order.
Matches pics perfectly.
 
my yate loon 120mm d12sh-12 fans say max rpm 2200 +/- 10% so how come speedfan, mobo monitor and bois only detects tham at 1600 rpm at 100% I should be getting 2200 rpm's btw my yate's do say yate loon electronics
 
Anyone know where to get a reliable orange one? all petra has (and plans on having, I asked) is black.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top