AJA Kona LHi Fan Noise

[rmccam]

Hi Everyone,

I bought a used AJA Kona LHi for cheap but the fan on it is unreasonably loud. It's actually difficult to overstate how loud it is. AJA wants me to send it in for repair but I've read a few threads where people just disconnected the fan and used it.

I was hoping to see if anyone has some long-term experience with just disconnecting the fan on their Kona card? Is it working well without the fan?

For the cost of the repair I could basically just buy another card, so it hardly seems worth it.

Thanks in advance.

Ryan

[JaimeGB]

Hi,

I took the fan from my LHi apart after reading some posts here and so far so good. Card Temperature stays between 82 grad celsius and 92-93. No hiccups.
No more winning noise!
It would be cool if Aja makes just a playback card without fans like black magic does.

Cheers,
Jaime

[rmccam]

Thanks Jaime. That's helpful. I can't imagine that what we do is all that intensive, really.

Ryan

[rmccam]

Originally Posted by JaimeGB

I took the fan from my LHi apart after reading some posts here and so far so good.

Hey Jaime, one other thing: Did you completely remove the fan or just cut/de-solder the power leads? I read a thread about removing the fan (that's glued on), but I'm not really seeing the point in removing it at all when you can just cut the power. Unless I'm missing something?

Thanks again.

Ryan

[JaimeGB]

Originally Posted by rmccam

Hey Jaime, one other thing: Did you completely remove the fan or just cut/de-solder the power leads? I read a thread about removing the fan (that's glued on), but I'm not really seeing the point in removing it at all when you can just cut the power. Unless I'm missing something?

Thanks again.

Ryan

Hi Ryan,

I did remove the fan. This way can the heat from the chip better dissipate. After removing it you can easily clean the thermal paste. There are plenty of tutorials online. You could also leave the bottom metal part of the fan on the chip as heatsink. but I'm not sure how well that would work as it is just a flat part.

Best,
Jaime

[rmccam]

Originally Posted by JaimeGB

This way can the heat from the chip better dissipate.

Fair point! Thanks Jamie.

Ryan

[Vedat]

I have read somewhere that Aja honours replacements as this is a known defect on these units. Might be worth a try.

[mgoorevich]

I probably was the first person who took the risk and removed the fan from my Aja Lhi card. After 7 years using it without a fan and having zero issues, I recommend doing so for those who has a problem with it's noise.

[rmccam]

Thanks everyone.

When I called AJA and pressed them about getting a replacement they said that it would have to go into service at their regular repair rates, so I guess they don't honour that anymore. Unfortunately.

That said, I had sort of figured that I'd end up having to remove the fan. I don't have a machine room so it makes more sense for me. Besides, I got the card for about $100, so paying to ship it to/from AJA and then pay for the repair is probably more expensive than the cost of another card, so it likely doesn't make sense.

Well, I guess I'll bust out the soldering iron. Thanks again!

Ryan

[jeremiahmoore]

I've been running mine for about five years with no fan; no issues.

In a mac pro 5,1 silver tower, so ventilation is pretty decent.

-jeremiah