I’d like to rackmount my PS-2A but don’t want to buy another rack case. If I did, I’d get a shallow case so I could try and balance it on top of my deluxe reverb. That amp has such a shallow top panel.
However, I have a SKB 6U Roto Rack Case as it stands. I have a 1u furman power conditioner in the top slot and all the free room in the bottom portion for the PS-2A. I could add some sort of ventilation/cooling unit if needed?=. I’d use this case on its side as it doesn’t balance on my amp, and this way, I could plop it down next to my combo and still reach the knobs. I could even set it normally on the floor and use my amp heads on top of it.
Just wondering, I know the vents are above the power tubes and the fan vents out the same side… this would be horizontal and not a clear shot straight up for the heat to naturally rise straight out of the thing. Hence, maybe adding some sort of “pulls in air from the bottom and ejects it out the front or back,” type of cooling rack unit. I have man PC fans that are very silent, 60mm, 80mm, 92mm, 120mm, etc… I could mount some very high end PC fans above the tube vents and run them with a fan controller.
I had this already rigged for another pc project and it seems to fit perfectly. These are all connected by zip ties. As you can see in the image where I placed it above the vents. The one fan above the actual units cooling fan lines right up but since that fan has it covered, I could slide the whole thing the other direction and vent that exposed area without a fan. triple fan array lined up It lines right up. Even the fan hub above the fan…
sounds like it would be okay so long as you’re sure the unit is getting ample cooling, which you can test be feeling out the temperature on the unit in sideways vs normal configuration
Great! I will create a bead of slim-width double sided sticky tape to seal and secure but then wrap the entire thing with zip ties to hold it securely. I could either create positive pressure in the power station chassis or negative. Positive by pointing the fans inward and blowing cool/fresh air into the three fan spaces that don’t have the built-in exhaust fan. Or, I could create negative pressure by essentially adding three more pull fans on top of the built-in pull fan, drawing hot air out. I believe in PC case-land, positive pressure is preferred, as it keeps out dust by pushing so much air into the case that it just constantly presses air out of every crevice it can, preventing dust from entering. I can always throw some filters on top of the intake fans.
Let me know if you think one would be better than the other. I imagine forcing fresh air over all the vented components and letting the single exhaust fan draw the heated air out would be best and keep the rack case from filling up too fast with hot air. I have some 200mm noctua (silent and ridiculous airflow) I could suspend on the rear side of the rack case to shove all the exhausted air out the front side of the skb case (or pull out the rear, since they will be closer to the power station vents back there). I have an opensource fan controller I assembled (fanpico) that will read temp probes and control the fan based on curves I program in that read from the 10k temp probes I’d place on the power station chassis and one hovering inside the skb rack case void. This will all run off of a simple dc power adapter I can plug into the furman and can be monitored/controlled from any wifi attached device (or I can kill the wifi if it’s causing noise). I have it all laying around, just need to zip tie it into place. Gotta love zip ties
Honestly I’m not sure which way to go. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought the PS-2A fan pulls air from outside to inside. I thought the idea was to kit the hot components with cool air and then let it find a way outside, cooling the other components as it does so. But it’s not really my area. In any case, sounds like you are motivated and have all the diagnostic equipment needed to check how it performs. So do let us know.
Understood. I am in the process of moving and packed everything up but it just showed up at my door and I unboxed it, balanced it on my deluxe reverb, didn’t like how precariously it sat on top and made my grand plan to use my existing rack case with all my amp heads and combos.
So, I don’t even know which direction the stock fan moves either because the fan hub is blocked by a solid piece of chassis lid. The fan blades just looked like they were pitched to pull to me, but it’s an industrial/utility type looking fan, so the blades aren’t always as clear (direction/pitch wise) as they are with the pc oriented fans. I can just run the unit as is, without needing any of my packed up amps, so I’ll flip it on and figure it out.
I have a handful of amps I want to use it with so I want to find a case so I can set heads on top and I need to be able to balance it on top of all my combos. I just know the deluxe reverb will be getting a lot of love and that things top is so shallow that the edges of the power stations rubber feat balance on it but hang off enough on either side that one stupid slip up could send it crashing off the top.
I figured I’d ask around here before purchasing the rackmount kit for it and running it sideways (my rack case is also going to balance precariously on top of the fender deluxe reverb)… so plopping the rack case on its side next to any configuration would be best for be as far as protecting the unit and moving it between my combos and head/cabinet combos (while keeping the power station in a protective candy shell).
Thanks for your help. I’ll work it out on my own and just go ahead and order the rack mount kit in the meantime.
