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IndustryArena Forum > CNC Electronics > Stepper Motors / Drives > TB6560ahq 4 Axis board cooling fan
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  1. #1
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    Dec 2013
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    TB6560ahq 4 Axis board cooling fan

    I have the tb6560ahq 4 axis board

    my question is pretty simple

    I assume the stock cooling fan of the board is a 12v fan
    would it be safe to use the same socket (12v) to share it with an additional 12v 0.14a pc cooling fan (8x8cm) ?
    I find this the neatest way to connect the enclosure cooling fan, nothing fancy just a very modest 12v pc fan
    the addition load 0.14 amps seem too little but i thought to make sure first before connecting it.

  2. #2
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    Re: TB6560ahq 4 Axis board cooling fan

    I would not recommend doing that unless you can first add a good heat sink to the 12 volt regulator IC on that board.

    Just going from memory, the 12 volt regulator on that board is used to power the fan, possibly the relay, and IIRC, the 5-volt regulator (and everything that it drives) as well.

    I'm guessing that they're using a regulator similar to the 7812 (see the data sheet at http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/lm7805c.pdf). That regulator probably has a nominal maximum output current rating of 1 amp, however that value would need to be reduced when the regulator is dissipating a lot of power, especially while it's operating with no heat sink as it is here (and getting quite hot, which I believe it does). I don't know how much current it is handling already, but since the regulator gets hot, it may already be operating outside of its safe limits, and so adding an additional load may not be advisable (look at the TO-220 power dissipation chart at the top right of page 5 of the datasheet, and compare the maximum allowed dissipation without a heat sink with the maximum for two different heat sinks).

    The amount of power that it is dissipating depends on the input power supply voltage (typically 24 volts, but some people are using more than 30 volts) and the amount of current that is being drawn from it. If you're powering the board from 24 volts, then the regulator needs to drop the voltage by 12 volts to bring the regulated output voltage to 12 volts. If you were to add another 140 mA draw to the output, then you would be dissipating an additional 1.7 watts on top of the power that it is already dissipating, which may be too much without a heat sink.

    See if you can add a heat sink to the regulator first, and see if it makes a big difference in the temperature of the device (and better yet, see if you can get some air flowing across the heat sink). If you can do that, then maybe you can go ahead and connect the additional fan to the output of that regulator (although it would be best if you could first measure how much current it is already handling, but that would require desoldering one of the pins in order to make the measurement, or cutting one of the traces on the board, which might be difficult).

  3. #3
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    Re: TB6560ahq 4 Axis board cooling fan

    Thanks for your prompt reply

    I am not a great electrician, so I dont understand much of this pdf
    however as it seems to me all the tb6560 boards have a heat sink on the 12v and 5v regulators
    unless u dont consider this small heat sink a proper heat sink
    i am not sure if this is enough space to replace it with another bigger heat sink probably they are using aluminium so i can replace it with another one but from copper
    not sure if that will make the needed difference or not, you may also tell me about that
    one more thing i wanted to tell is that i am using a 28.8 volts for the power supply to the board
    as far as i understood from you that the more volt i am feeding the more work from the regulator is needed to drop it down to 12v
    also i am setting my amps for the steppers to 25% (the least setup) as this is the closest suitable setting for my steppers, my steppers really need too long time to get warm , which is a blessing
    so i am not sure if this has an impact on the 12v regulator or not ( I believe yes) because i once mistaken and made a 100% setting and everything got hot in no time, steppers and the 12v reg.
    but that big heat sink of the board never got warm so far! which is good too

    in normal settings (25%) i put my finger on the 12v reg. and i can tell it is the warmest component in the whole setup i have
    i get my finger burn only if i touched it long enough probably 10 sec or so, not sure if that is considered too hot or not already

    i notice that the 5volt reg. never get even warm, it has the same heat sink of the 12v.
    another idea i though of is to just connect the 2 heat sinks together with a suitable thickness of a copper plate
    not sure if this is a good or bad idea because this might get the 5v reg a bit warmer than its usual but again the 5v reg is always almost cold
    so i am assuming a bit warmer for it is not a big deal

    hope the above give u a closer idea of what i should do best

    thanks again

  4. #4
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    Re: TB6560ahq 4 Axis board cooling fan

    I do not have my TB6560 board with me right now, so I was working from memory that the 12 volt regulator did not have a heat sink.

    If your board has a heat sink on the regulator, then that is better than operating it without a heat sink.

    Operating the board from 28 volts will dissipate more power in the 12 volt regulator than operating at 24 volts.

    Without knowing for certain how much current is being handled by the 12 volt regulator, it's hard to say for sure whether adding the other fan will cause a problem.

    If you can increase the size of the heat sink on the 12 volt regulator, or direct some of the air from the cooling fan onto that heat sink, you may be able to add the extra 140 mA load without any problems.

  5. #5
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    Re: TB6560ahq 4 Axis board cooling fan

    Thank you I will see what is best can be done and overload the machine and see if any component get hot or not
    If not then I assume that it is ok
    by the way
    will the 12v regulator shutdown the system if it is overloaded (overload protected) or not?
    here is a photo for the board where you can see those small heat sinks
    http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...g?t=1288110232

  6. #6
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    Re: TB6560ahq 4 Axis board cooling fan

    The IC described in the datasheet has built-in thermal overload protection, which means that it will shut down if the device gets too hot.

    While it's likely that the part used in the TB6560 driver board also has thermal protection built in, you can't be sure (since it's anybody's guess which exact part they are using).

  7. #7
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    Re: TB6560ahq 4 Axis board cooling fan

    Thank you
    I will let you know how it went
    Appreciate your help

  8. #8
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    Re: TB6560ahq 4 Axis board cooling fan

    Ok I have just figured out that the fan wires are soldered directly to the board, all the board photos i have seen online the fan wires are connected to a socket.
    so i thought it is not worth it to mess with it specially if the 12v reg get warm already
    instead i thought to buy a 24v pc 8cm fan but i failed to find one in a local store and seem i wont find one.
    at the same time i have some youtube videos for people using their 12v with a 24v psu, ofcourse the fan run faster but it seem it will die soon.
    I had a heavy duty very old 12v fan ball bearing and another cheapo one, the cheapo one worked but it get hot and smells after short time, the older heavy duty one seem handling the 28v but too much air flow and noise, also not sure how long it might survive
    now i need an easy simple way to lower that 28v as much as possible , lets 20v. no need to lower it to 12v
    resistors seem not v good idea as it did not allow the fan to operate on the board psu, however it worked with a laptop 19v adapter!
    no idea why

  9. #9
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    Re: TB6560ahq 4 Axis board cooling fan

    Hello
    I just came up with another idea
    instead of lowering the 28v to 20 or less by whatever complex way
    why not connect 2 12v fans in series on that 28v volts supply?
    I find this easier and more efficient because i am going to point the 2nd fan to the 12 & 5v reg.
    but then I saw this page
    Yet Another View - by wwenze: Read this before connecting two fans in series
    For me I think it is too conservative because I was able to run that old fan on 28v alone for few minutes with just getting the fan warm
    I dont really operate the machine that often and when I do it is for short times, so i assume it should be fine
    also I want to tell you that the 2nd fan is going to be a smaller one, 12v yes but smaller like those ones on MoBo chipsets or the one on the TB board itself
    please let me know what do you think
    Thanks

  10. #10
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    Re: TB6560ahq 4 Axis board cooling fan

    While it might "work", it is probably not a great idea, especially since your two fans are not identical and so their electrical characteristics would differ.

    As the article mentions, fans are not equivalent to simple resistors in series.

  11. #11
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    Re: TB6560ahq 4 Axis board cooling fan

    What would be the worst scenario anyways?
    one or both fan dies? thats not a prob
    but what concerns is the psu and the driver
    would any might be affected if any or both fans failed?

  12. #12
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    Re: TB6560ahq 4 Axis board cooling fan

    With the series fan hookup that you described, the only potential problem that might arise (as far as I can imagine) would be to the fans themselves. It is unlikely that you would damage the driver board or the psu (but you could certainly test the fans with the psu without having the psu connected to the driver board - of course shut down the psu before disconnecting it from or connecting it to the driver board).

  13. #13
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    Re: TB6560ahq 4 Axis board cooling fan

    Got that
    Thanks a lot for your advices

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