lionsfan54

Hi there - Saw this on an E series board and decided to try it myself! Bought a pair of those fans from amazon fans link. You can see in this pic how much larger the new fan is


Popped off the driver seat back and removed the left stock fan.



Pulled/cut out that plastic housing and then carefully cut out some of that felt like material to make room for the larger fan housing. There are a lot of wires and tubes in this seat, so be careful!
The new fan is a very tight fit, but that's ok. It's surrounded by sound deadening material and tight fit means there's no need to fasten it. Picked up some wire solder/heat shrink tubes and attached the red fan wire to the yellow seat wire. Then did black wire to white seat wire. Clipped off the yellow fan wire


Put it all back together (cat was curious)


It works fine and is not any louder, but I can't feel any more air flow from the left side vs the right. I may still swap the right fan to see if 2 upgrades help, but I'm pretty discouraged. Feedback or tips appreciated!

Jaap

It would be surprising if there WAS more air flow with the new fans.
Look at the hole the air has to pass through.
This setup is not limited by fan air flow but by static air pressure.

lionsfan54

I agree... so thinking that the next step would be to "open up" the side the fan is facing. Carve out some more material maybe? But now we're getting too invasive for my comfort level

OafBoaster

The next step should probably be to buy better fans. Those are cheap low quality sleeve bearing fans. You'd ideally want something that's meant for high static pressure and has a fluid bearing or ball bearing design. Failing that, you just want more CFM.

Those are 32.5ish cfm and they say rated at a sound level of 20db, 1900 rpm. The DB level is probably BS.

There are really only a few decent options at 92mm for higher airflow that won't sound like a vacuum cleaner.

(maybe the sweet spot?)
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/24...?tl=g36c781s59

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/24...?tl=g36c781s59 (slightly quieter than the rest of these)
or
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/25...?tl=g36c781s59 (louder than the Sunon or L1A)

Alternatively, you can stay with coolermaster who makes a higher static pressure fan, but it will be quite loud when run at the full 12v. This is a PWM fan, which will still work in your situation but at least one wire will not be connected.

lionsfan54

Thanks for the info! Do you think those first two, with only 10 more CFM will make that much of a difference? The third link you pasted is the same as the 2nd...

OafBoaster

10 more CFM may make a slight difference. Keep in mind that's like 33% more airflow than what you've got.

The third link should actually be different - it's the Panaflo H1A vs L1A. The links look very similar. The H1A is a 2850 rpm fan, and it will be loud. Like old school computer loud. The panaflo L1A is actually pretty loud too in a home setting... but buried inside a seat in a car I'm not sure if it will be too bad. I'd avoid the 2800 rpm fans, that's just too much for this application.

2 of the new fans should put a decent amount more airflow into the seat. However, I'm not sure how that will translate to feeling.

Edit: lol, just noticed the cat at your feet in the one pic

Jaap

Forget CFM, look for air pressure.