Ready for the mods
The Asus RT N16, I found this router when I was looking for something to replace my D-Link DGL-4500 Gamer Lounge. Although the router was very expensive when I bought it and the flashy LCD sure looks nice it doesn’t actually perform all that well and if I disconnect my Sonicwall and try to use the router by itself it chokes out and locks up under heavy bit torrent load. I decided I would shop for something else and when I read the specs on this unit and the fact it could run DD-WRT I thought it sounded like a great deal. One problem is that it gets hot, very hot. In fact its underclocked to help it run cooler so there is hidden potential there that is being lost out on due to the heat issues. I decided I would mod the hell out of this thing through a series of articles and start with a simple fan mod. At first I thought I’d go with a super slim fan and hide it inside the unit but then later changed my mind when I found this fan.
Xigmatec 120mm Fan
Looked good to me, just needed to remove that cheesy sticker from the top of the fan. Yeah its a little big and a tad gaudy but its all good and will cool the router below reasonable temperatures.
Fan on Router
I lined up the fan on the router so it would be centered to get an idea of what the finished product will look like before I started hacking away at my router.
Fan Interference
There was some interference from the plastic LED extensions, nothing a Dremel couldn’t fix though. I brought the router out to the garage for the first bit of hackery and starting chopping away at the inside of the router.
Problem Solved
After some grinding the problem was resolved and I could start outlining the fan mounting location.
Tracing the Fan
I lined up the fan the best I could using the holes in the top of the router as my guide. I traced the fan with a fine tip Sharpie marker and brought the router back out to the shop for more hacking and grinding with the Dremel.
Traced Hole
The hole has been traced and we are ready to cut some holes.
Test Fit
I had to do several cuts and a few trims here and there. When I was finished I cleaned up the hole with some heavy grit sand paper to smooth out the rough edges and melted plastic.
Fan Mounted
Fan mounted and looking pretty good if I might say myself. I choose this fan specifically because of the way it mounted. I thought it would look like a cool turbine or smoke stack of sorts sticking out of the top of the router with the fan whirring away.
Inside Router
This picture shows the inside of the router where I had to trim the plastic away so the fan would fit. I think it looks just as good on the inside as it does on the outside.
Inside with LED Extensions
Here is a picture of the inside with the LED extensions showing they are still fully functional. I noticed the very last extensions doesn’t actually connect to an LED and can be removed completely which I may need to do for my final mod. I did not take any “finished product” style photos because they product isn’t finished yet. I still have several more mods to do including internal heatsink mods, fan controller microcontroller, thermal sensors and an LCD screen to display stats and so on. The heatsink mod is nearly done and I am working on building the circuit for the LCD screen so it shouldn’t be too much longer before I get the articles posted.
And yet, even the developers of TomatoUSB would tell you. That this may look cool, but its a waste of time. The Asus RT-N16 does not over heat at all. Been running for a year straight with no overheating issues, even with the router in a locked cupboard with no air holes. But to each there own ;-).
I have been able to over heat and shut down the device by streaming media on the LAN ports while downloading several torrents on the WLAN. My original plan was to overclock the unit and use it as an all in one unit replacing my gigabit switch and Sonicwall Firewall but even with the additional cooling and overkill of a processor I don’t think its going to do the job. I also wanted the unit to handle DHCP and DNS because the Sonicwall doesn’t handle DNS but I have since setup a Windows Home Server and now use that for DHCP and DNS. I plan to keep the Sonicwall and Switch so the unit will be strictly used as an access point but before I do that I do plan to install some temp probes and see how high the temps get in various locations while streaming media and torrenting on the network with the Asus acting as an all in one unit which is how most consumers will use it.
Dude this is great. Did you ever finish your mods on this? I have one and they do get super hot. I’m looking at adding a few heat sinks and the same fan to mine.