Putting a fan in a Cobra 2000 - thoughts?

[ShakyMcQuiver]

Just some thoughts I'd like to get your opinions on:

I found a small DC fan that will fit nicely behind the transformer area on my Cobra 2000.
It's 60x60x15.4mm. I also found a 20mm wide that would work, but it would be a tight fit unless I moved the transformer a bit.

The 15.4 would have plenty of room. The trick (in my case) would be to make it look as stock as possible. I'm not a fan of CB butchery, especially on this old girl. There are some nice fan grilles that will work or maybe I can machine something custom.

Anyway... what do you think about putting a fan in there? I don't know how hot it actually gets in that area and a fan is not necessary but if it will help in the long run.... why not? Having some sort of air movement would be a plus?

Thanks,

 

[sp5it]

Fan isn't a good idea IMO.
Most of the CB drift when getting warmer/colder.
Also, imagine dust getting inside.
Mike

 

[ShakyMcQuiver]

Fan isn't a good idea IMO.
Most of the CB drift when getting warmer/colder.
Also, imagine dust getting inside.
Mike

I didn't consider the drift. Good point. I've read a little about the frequency drifting and heat. Is the Cobra 2000 that sensitive to it?

Not sure how much dust it would get as I would install it in an exhaust configuration to pull the heat out. Another good point though. Just for fun I should put a fan in a (similar) closed box and see what happens. My house is very well sealed, but for the life of me I can't figure out how it STILL gets the dust!

 

[Wire Weasel]

Not needed for 4/12 watt radios. Just not that much heat buildup

 

[groundwire]

Completely unnecessary. Plus cb radios are pretty unstable already. Add that warm, cool, warm, cool, warm, cool with the fan and it will probably drift non stop.

 

[nomadradio]

The clock/counter module runs kinda warm with the radio side powered off. I can see his point.

But unless you have a strict preventive-maintenance cycle set up to blow out the dust, you'll just make the problem worse in the long run. A dust layer will insulate every surface it sticks to, and have the opposite effect the fan was supposed to provide.

I have fried more than one computer because I took too long to blow out accumulated dust.

73

 

[dave457]

Fan dust screens work really well

 

[1iwilly]

here you go =

 

[BlackPearlRadio557]

Neat