[bars] Thoughts on the Icom ID-5100a

[Jwahar Bammi]

Hi Joanne,
I don’t have the particular rig, but you have highlighted one of my favorite gripes, manufacturer cheap out on fans in all kinds of equipment.
My approach (in that order) -- assuming like all good hams, voiding your warrantee is a badge of honor!

1. Replace it with a quality/quite fan
    Noctua fans are the bees knees when it comes to fans. Readily available on Amazon at decent prices, in a variety of sizes and configurations. What you need to consider is
    - Fan Size (in mm)
    - If the original is a 3 wire or a 4 wire fan (noctua comes with  2 to 3 wire and 3 to 2 wire adapter in the box to give you flexibility) so this is not an issue
    - the CFM rating or the original fan (replace it with something close) (most times you will have a size and RPM and not a CFM spec)

2. If you want to go further
    - If the original fan is not temperature controlled, then you can buy cheap and tiny temp control boards that you can put inline between your fan connection point and your fan, and it will turn it into a temp controlled fan. Of course you have to Jimmy in the board. There are tons of these on eBay.  Maybe you want to keep the original fan and just put one of these controller inline if the original fan  was not temp controlled. It will give you relief until it kicks in. But, I would prefer a noctua spinning up instead.

3. If you don’t want to void your warrantee then you can chicken out (hi hi) and do head separation, and put the body out of site (but still well ventilated). I don’t know the 5100, but don’t buy the separation cable from ICOM, just make one up and save yourself a ton of money. An internet search will usually yield a schematic for this.

Hope that gives you some choices, 

73 de k1jbd
bammi


-----Original Message-----
From: bars <bars-bounces at w1hh.org> On Behalf Of Terry M. Stader - KA8SCP
Sent: Tuesday, January 4, 2022 5:36 PM
To: BARS/W1HH list <bars at w1hh.org>
Subject: Re: [bars] Thoughts on the Icom ID-5100a

I have two of them and the fan is noisy in a quiet environment. I’ve heard that some folks have actually replaced the fan with a less noisy one. I have remote headed both of mine and the problem was solved thru the separation.

In general, I love this radio… but then I am a big D-STAR fan, no pun intended! With the GPS giving me the ability to search for local repeaters when traveling, a plus! Database is easy to update!

Terry

Terry M Stader KA8SCP
WB1GOF Repeaters/D-STAR Admin

> On Jan 4, 2022, at 4:33 PM, Joanne Dolan <dolans.family at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> Hello fellow Hams.
> 
> So, I purchased the Icom ID-5100a. I haven't had time to play with it much, but the one thing I noticed is the loud fan. Is this normal? Is there a comparable radio out there that isn't as loud. I welcome your thoughts and input.
> 
> 73!
> Joanne
> KC1NMX
> _______________________________________________
> bars mailing list
> bars at w1hh.org
> http://mail.w1hh.org/mailman/listinfo/bars_w1hh.org

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