DISCLAIMER: I take no responsibility for cracked cases, fried routers, or burned fingers.... or anything else you could try and hold me responsible for. Stop reading now if you're going to try and blame me for something later.
So we all know how hot these bad boys run. Here's a simple mod that drops the radio temps ~10 Degrees Celsius each. No idea about the processor or anything else.
This may or may not be necessary, but I want these things to last 5+ years. I also didn't want to void the warranty by cutting/opening the case. After I'm done with them I'll give them away to family. I had THREE Linksys/Cisco E4200 and they ALL died within 1-1.5 years. They ran very hot and only a bit cooler when I added tall rubber feet to the bottom. Even if it wasn't the main reason, I'm sure heat played a factor.
I also had some extra fans lying around (Newegg told me to keep the crappy fans and they didn't want them for my RMA. Thanks Newegg!). Good thing I didn't throw them away. They're completely silent using the 5V from the USB port. Any faster and they're loud. One of them clicks slightly, but I may have cooked the bearings a bit with the heat gun. Oops. That one will be switched to my friend's router soon and I'll still get the "Thanks bro!" lol
Materials:
1. Cut the fan wires so that 1 inch is protruding from the fan body. Strip about 1/2 off of the RED and BLACK.
NOTE: You can tuck the yellow or cut it in half (if you were to heatshrink fan cables down to the motor).
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2. Cut the USB Cable so that you have ~6 inches of wire length from the bottom of the usb connector. This will prevent too much slack when you plug it into the router and having a cable that's too tight to prevent USB port damage. Again, strip off an inch and trim down insulation and jacket. Cut off white/green wires and strip the red/black by 1/2 inch.
3. Use 5/64" D x 1-3/8" L heatshrink for each wire (red/black). Then use 3 pieces of (3/16" D x 1-3/8" L) heatshrink to close up the fans wires from motor to the USB cable (with a little overlap obviously). If you don't wnat to heatshrink the yellow/red/black fans wires, then 1 piece of the bigger heatshrink is enough.
4. Twist the red/red and black/black pairs while trying to keep them as inline as possible (after you have tinned them with solder). Join them with the soldering iron.
5. Heatshrink the red and black pairs first. Use a VERY light heat. I used too much once and the heatshrink wrapped around rough solder, cut a hole, and created a short that kept one of my fans from spinning. Drove me crazy before I realized.
6. Better if you clean the mounting surfaces of the router/fan before you start laying down the tape. To mount, fill in the caved out gaps in the fan, near the corners, with Scotts mounting tape. Then use cut out triangles at each corner for mounting. Make sure that you are mounting the tape on the INTAKE side of the fan (side with open fan with the wires or 4 plastic radial bars). This picture is incorrect, I had to redo it. Make sure to apply the tape to the opposite side.
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(Right side has the gaps filled before the triangle piece, left side has both)
7. Mount the fan with 1-2 mm of the bottom of the fan hanging over the router's flat behind (and very flat it is indeed). This provides a stronger stand. Push on each fan corner for 10-15 seconds with a good amount of pressure. Don't crack your router genius. Some kind of plastic/wood/whatever extension protruding out from the router can be added below the fan for more stability. I recommend raising the fan a bit in that case. I didn't see the need for it.
![]()
8. Plug in the fan and check your new, lower temps!
So we all know how hot these bad boys run. Here's a simple mod that drops the radio temps ~10 Degrees Celsius each. No idea about the processor or anything else.
This may or may not be necessary, but I want these things to last 5+ years. I also didn't want to void the warranty by cutting/opening the case. After I'm done with them I'll give them away to family. I had THREE Linksys/Cisco E4200 and they ALL died within 1-1.5 years. They ran very hot and only a bit cooler when I added tall rubber feet to the bottom. Even if it wasn't the main reason, I'm sure heat played a factor.
I also had some extra fans lying around (Newegg told me to keep the crappy fans and they didn't want them for my RMA. Thanks Newegg!). Good thing I didn't throw them away. They're completely silent using the 5V from the USB port. Any faster and they're loud. One of them clicks slightly, but I may have cooked the bearings a bit with the heat gun. Oops. That one will be switched to my friend's router soon and I'll still get the "Thanks bro!" lol
Materials:
- Heatshrink and Heat Gun
- Wire Strippers of Thick/Thin Gauge
- USB Cable (One Male per Fan/Router)
- Solder and Soldering Iron
- Scott's Permanent Mounting Tape
- HOT! Fans
1. Cut the fan wires so that 1 inch is protruding from the fan body. Strip about 1/2 off of the RED and BLACK.
NOTE: You can tuck the yellow or cut it in half (if you were to heatshrink fan cables down to the motor).
2. Cut the USB Cable so that you have ~6 inches of wire length from the bottom of the usb connector. This will prevent too much slack when you plug it into the router and having a cable that's too tight to prevent USB port damage. Again, strip off an inch and trim down insulation and jacket. Cut off white/green wires and strip the red/black by 1/2 inch.
3. Use 5/64" D x 1-3/8" L heatshrink for each wire (red/black). Then use 3 pieces of (3/16" D x 1-3/8" L) heatshrink to close up the fans wires from motor to the USB cable (with a little overlap obviously). If you don't wnat to heatshrink the yellow/red/black fans wires, then 1 piece of the bigger heatshrink is enough.
4. Twist the red/red and black/black pairs while trying to keep them as inline as possible (after you have tinned them with solder). Join them with the soldering iron.
5. Heatshrink the red and black pairs first. Use a VERY light heat. I used too much once and the heatshrink wrapped around rough solder, cut a hole, and created a short that kept one of my fans from spinning. Drove me crazy before I realized.
6. Better if you clean the mounting surfaces of the router/fan before you start laying down the tape. To mount, fill in the caved out gaps in the fan, near the corners, with Scotts mounting tape. Then use cut out triangles at each corner for mounting. Make sure that you are mounting the tape on the INTAKE side of the fan (side with open fan with the wires or 4 plastic radial bars). This picture is incorrect, I had to redo it. Make sure to apply the tape to the opposite side.
(Right side has the gaps filled before the triangle piece, left side has both)
7. Mount the fan with 1-2 mm of the bottom of the fan hanging over the router's flat behind (and very flat it is indeed). This provides a stronger stand. Push on each fan corner for 10-15 seconds with a good amount of pressure. Don't crack your router genius. Some kind of plastic/wood/whatever extension protruding out from the router can be added below the fan for more stability. I recommend raising the fan a bit in that case. I didn't see the need for it.
8. Plug in the fan and check your new, lower temps!