Thermaltake Mobile Fan 12 External USB Cooling Fan 12CM AF0007
by Thermaltake
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Category: CE
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Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: ThermaltakeModel: AF0007
Product features:
- Application for Notebook and Desktop, Anything can connect to USB Power
- Convenient cooling solution for "Mobile user?.
- VR knob : Adjust fan speed manually.
- One-touch retractable USB power cable box.
- Directly plug into USB port. Unnecessary additional power supply .
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Thermaltake Mobile Fan 12 External USB Cooling Fan 12CM AF0007
Customer Review: Very quiet, good airflow...Great results!
Summary: 5 Stars
Very quiet, good performance, versatile placement options, and a nice retractable USB cable...what more could you ask for in a fan?
Background:
I bought this fan for use in a built-in shelf that contains my AV Receiver and a new Samsung Plasma TV. The new TV barely fits in the space (literally 1/8 inch clearance on each side, 2.5 inches above, and the AVR sits a few inches below). Airflow is restricted, and to make things worse the shelf has a front edge that comes down and traps heat inside. I was concerned about heat affecting the TV and Receiver. Prior to installing the fan, the TV would get very hot around the top where the vents are.
Quality:
This fan seems to be built extremely well. I like the steel frame around the fan--the gaps are small enough to keep my 3 year old's prodding pinkies out. It is sturdily built, and works fine after he dropped it from about 3 feet onto a hardwood floor (oops!). The blades have a copper look to them in the pictures, but are really more of a translucent orange plastic. The retractable USB cable, which I didn't think I would like, turns out to be fantastic. It attaches securely to the fan with a locking clip. The flat cable spools out evenly on both sides, so that the plastic spool piece stays in the middle. It is easy to spool and retract, but it does retract very quickly if you aren't holding one of the wires. It has enough tension to suspend the spool without much sag if you want to, but not so much as to risk damaging your usb ports. In the pictures of the fan, you can see a little wire frame that serves as a sort of stand. It is plenty strong to hold it upright if you set it on a flat surface, and you can aim it up or down slightly without it tipping over. I have bent it back and forth to it's extremes several times, and see no sign of wear on the frame. However, I wouldn't recommend making big adjustments on a regular basis as the metal is sure to fatigue and break eventually.
Installation:
I use that term loosely, as there really wasn't much to do except for plug in the USB cable to the USB port on the TV. In addition to setting it on a flat surface, you can set it up just about anywhere you can get it to stay. My plan was to somehow attach it to the articulating TV wall mount and aim it up at the top of the TV. It turns out that there is a gap between two parts of the mount right behind the TV. The gap was just the right width that I can simply slide the fan's little wire frame in so it is essentially attached to the part that screws into the TV. Before doing so, I bent the fan's frame slightly to aim it at the top of the TV.
Operation:
The best thing about a USB power source is that you don't have to switch the fan on but it comes on when you need it. The fan comes with a knob mounted to it's frame that you can use to adjust the speed/airflow. It runs extremely quiet up to about the midpoint on the dial, and even on high I can't hear it from it's perch behind the TV. I chose this one over the smaller version to get higher airflow with lower RPM (ie. less noise).
Results:
It puts out a good amount of air! My son was playing with it, and it was blowing his hair from about 4 feet away on high. I watched a movie with the fan on low-medium and checked the top of the TV afterwards. Where the fan was blowing it was actually cool to the touch! Very impressive results, since pre-fan it was running very hot. Later I turned on the Xbox 360 which runs extremely loud and hot. The fan's retractable cord was long enough that I could stretch it up to the shelf above the TV and place it at various locations around the Xbox. While I never found a position that allowed the Xbox system fans to slow down, putting it right in front blowing cool air at the Xbox seemed to help it stay the coolest.
Bottom line:
Heat can potentially kill your electronic components, or at least reduce their life span. At seventeen bucks and adding no appreciable noise to the home theater, I am planning on purchasing another one to cool the receiver in the near future. I will experiment some more with the Xbox and if I can find a setup that quiets the system fans I will probably get a third. I bet I could point about 10 of these things at the Xbox, turn them all up to high, and they would still make less noise than the system fan normally does.
Description of Thermaltake Mobile Fan 12 External USB Cooling Fan 12CM AF0007
Product Features: P/N ? AF0007; Dimension - 120 x 120 x 25 mm; Rated Voltage - 5V DC; Started Voltage - 4V DC; Operating Range - 3.5 V to 5.5 V DC; Technical Details: Fan Type: USB; Fan Speed: 800 to 1500 RPM; Air Flow: 66.55 CFM; Bearing Type: Sleeve; Fan Dimensions: 120 x 120 x 25 mmDigital Cameras & Photo Categories
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