bergernet research

Unifi US-16-XG Fan Mod

Unfortunately, Ubiquiti has equipped the US-16-XG with rather loud 30mm fans. Since that was too annoying for me, I replaced the fans - inspired by this post: https://blog.pcfe.net/hugo/posts/2020-03-06-us-16-xg0-fan-mod/

I installed 40mm &quotCooltek CT4010BW" fans. This requires adapters, which were created bei Dave Butler and can be downloaded as a 3D models https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4143421.

Other fans that should work are the Noctua NF-A4x20 FLX.

Pay attention to his photos, they show the correct orientation of the adapters

If you want to mod a Unifi US-16-150W, you need shorter adapters. They are available here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4970676

Technical data of the Cool tek CT4010BW fans

Feature Value
Max speed "4000RPM"
Connector "3-pin"
Air flow rate "9.30 m³/h"
Noise level "12.8 dB"
Power consumption "0.48 W"
Voltage "7 - 12 V DC"

Result

The switch runs much quieter with about the same temperatures.

To assess the modification, here is some data from before the mod:

Here i already used “Low-Noise” Adaptors as a first attempt to make the switch less noisy. They simply include a resistor in a short adapter cable to reduce the voltage to the fan. IIRC i used 47Ω LNAs. I never recorded the temperatures with the original fans running without restriction.

Ambient temperature: 25°C

Uptime: a couple days

Unifi-Switch-16XG-US.6.5.59# swctrl env show
General Temperature (C): 53
Temp Sensor      Temp (C)     State            Max Temp (C)  Alert Temp (C)
===============  ===========  ===============  ============  ==============
PHY              53           Normal           56            75            
REAR             48           Normal           51            75            
CPU              47           Normal           50            75

Fan Duty Level: 61
Fan              Speed       Duty level  State
===============  ==========  ==========  ===============
FAN-1            6569        61          Operational    
FAN-2            6467        61          Operational

New temperatures a few days after the installation of the new fans

Ambient temperature: 25°C

Uptime: a couple days

Unifi-Switch-16XG-US.6.5.59# swctrl env show 
General Temperature (C): 56
Temp Sensor      Temp (C)     State            Max Temp (C)  Alert Temp (C)
===============  ===========  ===============  ============  ==============
PHY              56           Normal           57            75            
REAR             48           Normal           49            75            
CPU              47           Normal           49            75

Fan Duty Level: 63
Fan              Speed       Duty level  State
===============  ==========  ==========  ===============
FAN-1            3385        63          Operational

FAN-2 3524 63 Operational