Kessil A360WE Noise?

[FutureReefer]

Hi all,

 

I've just got this light and I can clearly hear the fan running, just wanted to know if that's normal or not? From 1 foot away using a decibel meter on my smartphone the decibel reading went up +5/6 when the light was on and I made sure the decibel meter was consistent before turning the light on. Thoughts?

 

 

[Horerczy]

Tiny fans make big noise. Never listened to one for the fan noise to tell you if it's supposed to be loud though.

[FutureReefer]

Well I hope you're right as I could do without the back and fourth with a faulty product. To be honest I do have sensitive ears but upon Googling the matter some members of other forums claim their Kessil's are dead silent hmmm.

[Horerczy]

Is it a whine or a rattle?

 

Rattle could be loose fan or a wire rubbing the blades.

 

Whine would be a bearing issue if it's actually defective.

 

What was the decibel rating when it was on?

[FutureReefer]

To be honest it just sounds like a fan hitting air but since others have said it's meant to be DEAD SILENT I am worried. Think the decibel rating in the room was around 31/32 and went up to 37/38 when I turned it on 1 foot away from my smartphone.

[HarryPotter]

To be honest it just sounds like a fan hitting air but since others have said it's meant to be DEAD SILENT I am worried. Think the decibel rating in the room was around 31/32 and went up to 37/38 when I turned it on 1 foot away from my smartphone.

 

Iphone decibel rating isn't exactly accurate...

[FlowerMama]

I have a 350 and you'd never realize there was any kind of fan at all as it's something that's just never heard. So you should see if you can send it to Kessil, have them take a listen and see if they'll send you replacement.

[FutureReefer]

I have a 350 and you'd never realize there was any kind of fan at all as it's something that's just never heard. So you should see if you can send it to Kessil, have them take a listen and see if they'll send you replacement.

 

I traded it for my aquarium with a guy who bought 5 and had a very noisy fan and got a direct replacement from Kessil and I have the paperwork to prove this. It is worrying that this new replacement seems noisy, surely Kessil would have made sure to send a silent one back.

[evan38109]

I had an a160w with noise and contacted Kessil. They responded (in half an hour) and suggested using a can of compressed air to try and blow out any debris that might have fallen in the fan.

 

When I said that I thought I was just being overly picky, Kessil still insisted on replacing the light.

 

I haven't gotten the replacement yet, but I'm super impressed by Kessil's support!

[Exodus]

I have the A360W if there is no other noise or I put my face up to the light I can clearly hear the fan, nothing that seems loud at all but definitely makes you aware there is in fact a fan going. If i walk way from the tank or any time I'm standing next to it or working on it I never notice the fan though.

[FutureReefer]

I have the A360W if there is no other noise or I put my face up to the light I can clearly hear the fan, nothing that seems loud at all but definitely makes you aware there is in fact a fan going. If i walk way from the tank or any time I'm standing next to it or working on it I never notice the fan though.

 

Well I was speaking of my Kessil's noise with nothing on but the light, I'm almost certain once my tank is set up and going the Kessil's noise will be over powered by other things of the tank. Can you hear your Kessil if you were to have absolutely nothing else on in the room but the light?

[reefernanoman]

I have an A160we and can only hear the fan if I put my ear right next to the light fixture, otherwise, it's completely silent.

The kessil fan is one of the most silent fans that I have ever owned out of any type of equipment.

[Hexadron]

I have an A160we and can only hear the fan if I put my ear right next to the light fixture, otherwise, it's completely silent.

The kessil fan is one of the most silent fans that I have ever owned out of any type of equipment.

 

Same here. If all pumps are off and nothing else with noise in the room, I can just barely hear it. My friend has three 360WE on a 140g and I can't hear them with all the other pumps, skimmers returns etc.

 

Let us know once you have everything else running. I'm sure it will all equate to a beautiful reef orchestra!

[Exodus]

 

Well I was speaking of my Kessil's noise with nothing on but the light, I'm almost certain once my tank is set up and going the Kessil's noise will be over powered by other things of the tank. Can you hear your Kessil if you were to have absolutely nothing else on in the room but the light?

yeah if everything else is off I can hear it from a few feet away, I remember getting it and turning it on thinking it was louder than I had anticipated the first day but didn't sound like something was malfunctioning. That again was the first day and since I really have never noticed it.

[FutureReefer]

yeah if everything else is off I can hear it from a few feet away, I remember getting it and turning it on thinking it was louder than I had anticipated the first day but didn't sound like something was malfunctioning. That again was the first day and since I really have never noticed it.

 

Hopefully it's normal. I think people may be speaking of their Kessil's not being noisey when they have everything running (hopefully). Don't want to be off to a bad start with my new build especially since I am not the original purchaser of the Kessil.

[mpc]

A bit outdated post but I will share my 2 cents....

 

I also bought 2x360 WEs....I was thinking (based on the info) that they will be dead silent...But...unfortunately they were not.... I could hear them in the other room and the sound was very annoying. But then again - they are using 60 mm fans with ball bearings. My thoughts on this is that they should have built in some sort of rpm control based on temperature reading...but somehow fans are always Full on. And that got me thinking...maybe there was a glitch and some units might have gotten a firmware where it wasn't employed whereas the others ( so called "dead silent" ones) do have this rpm controll fully functional (usual thing when you update a product - the new E-version etc). Because there is no need for the fan to work at max rpms all the time. Actually the unit becomes very silent if the rpms are decreased quite a bit.

 

So what I did...As I am not from the US, the whole send units back to the retailer, wait for the replacement (which might turn out to be without improvement) was not what I wanted to go through... Thus I took them apart and changed the fans to one of the most silent fans available (with a little bit better air-flow than the original fan)- ones with hydrodinamic bearings. At max rpms - nothing changed...the sound got a different tone but still it was too loud...thus I used a resistor in series to bring the rpms down - and I got at a point which I was completely comfrotable with.

 

So that is my story with Kessils.... But really I have a very sensitive ear - maybe other people wouldn't consider this noise loud.

 

Edit...

 

I forgot to say that the main noise comes from the wind (air - flow) produced by the fan which hits the radiator and flows through the venting holes. With the stock fan there was this additional bearing noise, whereas with hydrodynamic bearings this noise was gone and just the wind could be heared. But really - I think there should have been some rpm smart control built in - that would have made these units really silent, but as I personally don't know anyone who owns these kessils - I don't know weather those reported "dead silent" units change their rpms or not... That would be interesting to know.

[Harold999]

On 10/20/2015 at 11:43 AM, mpc said:

A bit outdated post but I will share my 2 cents....

 

I also bought 2x360 WEs....I was thinking (based on the info) that they will be dead silent...But...unfortunately they were not.... I could hear them in the other room and the sound was very annoying. But then again - they are using 60 mm fans with ball bearings. My thoughts on this is that they should have built in some sort of rpm control based on temperature reading...but somehow fans are always Full on. And that got me thinking...maybe there was a glitch and some units might have gotten a firmware where it wasn't employed whereas the others ( so called "dead silent" ones) do have this rpm controll fully functional (usual thing when you update a product - the new E-version etc). Because there is no need for the fan to work at max rpms all the time. Actually the unit becomes very silent if the rpms are decreased quite a bit.

 

So what I did...As I am not from the US, the whole send units back to the retailer, wait for the replacement (which might turn out to be without improvement) was not what I wanted to go through... Thus I took them apart and changed the fans to one of the most silent fans available (with a little bit better air-flow than the original fan)- ones with hydrodinamic bearings. At max rpms - nothing changed...the sound got a different tone but still it was too loud...thus I used a resistor in series to bring the rpms down - and I got at a point which I was completely comfrotable with.

 

So that is my story with Kessils.... But really I have a very sensitive ear - maybe other people wouldn't consider this noise loud.

 

Edit...

 

I forgot to say that the main noise comes from the wind (air - flow) produced by the fan which hits the radiator and flows through the venting holes. With the stock fan there was this additional bearing noise, whereas with hydrodynamic bearings this noise was gone and just the wind could be heared. But really - I think there should have been some rpm smart control built in - that would have made these units really silent, but as I personally don't know anyone who owns these kessils - I don't know weather those reported "dead silent" units change their rpms or not... That would be interesting to know.

Which resistors did you use to quiet it down?