Question about 383L+ Fan sound

[Ajay_Narayanan]

The fan on my 383L+ Mono is loud and always running. When an image is being downloaded the sound kicks up a notch. This is normal behavior for my camera and it has been so since  the day I purchased it more than 2 years ago. Images are still good. Noise in the signal has not been an issue since I started using a regulated supply set to 12.85 V. My set point is -10.0 C.

However I wonder about the sound characteristic of my camera. Although I have not come across another person with an Atik 383L+, I have imaged with others who own QSI or SBIG versions of the 8300 chip and those cameras are rather quiet and hardly audible. Mine is loud, like a desktop PC, and can be heard from many feet away from the scope.

Is this an anomaly? Would you please let me know if your camera is quiet or loud.

Ajay

[Chris]

That seems pretty normal, the fan isn't silent.

Chris

[chrisjbaileyuk]

Mine is pretty loud and does ramp up and down a little. If it goes quiet in the observatory I know something has gone wrong 

[Ajay_Narayanan]

Thank you for the responses and setting my worries to rest.

I just think that these days it may not be difficult to find a fan that is quiet but has the same throughput and dimensions as the stock fan.

Question for Atik Staff: Is it a difficult task to replace a fan? Would you recommend an end user do a fan transplant?

Ajay

[vince]

Hi Ajay,

The fan in the 383 can be quite noisy because of the design, fitting a new fan is very easy but you probably won't make the camera any quieter.

Best regards
Vince

[Ajay_Narayanan]

Vince,

Thanks. Is it because of the metal grille that the camera tends to be loud?

Would it be possible to get specs, such as dimensions, voltage and air volume per second if the fan does have to be replaced in the future?

Ajay