Modifying loud Laptop CPU fan

[karuoxa]

Hello TPU.

I recently bought a laptop for my studies, a HP EliteBook 8460p.
So far, i really like it except for one thing that makes it unusable for me at school.

The fan noise, it's much to loud.

The fan is a Delta KSB0505HB-AJ66 5V/0.4A and the fan controller is
controlling it in a semi passively way.

<40c fan is off.
>40c fan starts spinning at 3000 rpm.

The laptop idles at about 38c while not being used, and doing basic things such as web browsing or
text editing loads the laptop enough to cause the fan to start spinning.

I have cleaned the laptop from dust, changed thermal paste (AS5) and oiled the fan without much improvement.

The fan cools the CPU quite rapidly, which makes it more annoying since the fan will turn on, go for a few moments then turn off again and due to the high rpm it's very annoying.

I have explored the possibility of software controlling the fan, but due to HP's fan controller most software cannot change it and the only available software is available to Windows which i do not use.

So my only option appears to physically modify the fan, i have decided to add a resistor to lower it's voltage to 3V (might be to low) but i am a bit unsure what resistor to use.

It's been years since i did any modifications like this and forgotten quite a bit so i could
use some assistance in selecting what resistor to use.

Thanks for any help.

// Karuoxa

 

[dorsetknob]

Suggest you use a variable resistor pot or Potentiometer

useful link
http://www.instructables.com/id/Wire-a-Potentiometer-as-a-Variable-Resistor/

should give you from 0% fan speed to 100% fan speed ( adjustable )

 

[RandomSadness]

Did you try to manually limit/lower your fan speed? You could use a software like SpeedFan to do so : http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php.

 

[GorbazTheDragon]

Hey, welcome to the forum. Try using Speedfan (linked above) or hwinfo http://www.hwinfo.com/ to manually set the fan speed, otherwise you can try using a pot to change it manually, just keep an eye on temps when you do that....

EDIT: You mention that you are not using windows, I used to fiddle a bit with some overclocking running Ubuntu a few years back, fan control was in there somewhere, but I can't really remember clearly. Not sure what OS you are using, but you could find some place to ask where people are more familiar with the OS.