Heat Issue

ssmorga78

ssmorga78

Experienced
Ok, I am thinking that I might need to move my Axe to a larger rack case. I currently have it in a RoadRunner 4u Rolling Rack Bag and just noticed after playing around for about 4 hours tonight that the casing of my Axe is literally to the point of almost burning to the touch. Everything around it has gotten hot as well. I have a power conditioner and an IEM unit mounted in the same case as well. Would it be time to move to something larger to allow some air flow around the Axe to keep from damaging it? Anyone else notice this or have this problem? I didn't even think to check the fan to make sure its still running....could that be the problem with the heat issue?
 
Check the fan.
With the 40 watts the Axe is taking, there is no way it can heat up that much.

Are you sure it's the Axe and not the power conditioner?
 
Hi
I'd be very surprised if it's the axe fx - check your other units

Pauly


ssmorga78 said:
Ok, I am thinking that I might need to move my Axe to a larger rack case. I currently have it in a RoadRunner 4u Rolling Rack Bag and just noticed after playing around for about 4 hours tonight that the casing of my Axe is literally to the point of almost burning to the touch. Everything around it has gotten hot as well. I have a power conditioner and an IEM unit mounted in the same case as well. Would it be time to move to something larger to allow some air flow around the Axe to keep from damaging it? Anyone else notice this or have this problem? I didn't even think to check the fan to make sure its still running....could that be the problem with the heat issue?
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Zwiebelchen said:
Check the fan.
With the 40 watts the Axe is taking, there is no way it can heat up that much.

Are you sure it's the Axe and not the power conditioner?
Click to expand...

If heat has no where to go, temperature rises. Try grabbing a 40 Watt light bulb after its been sealed in a box for four hours. The Axe dissipates heat over a much larger area than a light bulb, but the heat eventually must go somewhere if you want to avoid escalating temperatures.

First I would remove the units from the rack and connect them as they are in the rack so they are functional but are not obstructed. Run them for a while as you usually do and see if any of them get unreasonably hot. I doubt that any one of them will be uncomfortable to touch. It's likely that all of the units' heat combined in a small enclosed space are adding to the total problem. If any are still uncomfortable to touch, you might have a problem.

If they run cool, then I'd use a bigger rack or run a fan over it. I've had units malfunction when they get too hot, if only temporarily.
 
heat, WTF, cant be true, the thing draws as much as a big torch. lol ISSUES somewhere else?
 
steadystate said:
If heat has no where to go, temperature rises. Try grabbing a 40 Watt light bulb after its been sealed in a box for four hours. The Axe dissipates heat over a much larger area than a light bulb, but the heat eventually must go somewhere if you want to avoid escalating temperatures.
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Yeah but almost any rack unit is designed so that is dissipates heat over the front and back side, not the top and bottom.
So unless you are running your Axe inside a closed box (which is unlikely, considering you need to plug your cables somewhere), there should be plenty of space for the heat to dissipate...
 
Space? Yes. Plenty? Perhaps not. He didn't mention what type of power conditioner he has, but none of these should get that hot. The first thing I'd try is giving them more space.
 
ssmorga78 said:
I currently have it in a RoadRunner 4u Rolling Rack Bag and just noticed after playing around for about 4 hours tonight that the casing of my Axe is literally to the point of almost burning to the touch.
Click to expand...
Nothing on the Axe should get anywhere near hot enough to burn you. Run your rack again. Keep an eye out for when it starts to feel too hot...check to see what else in your rack feels too hot.
 
"Uncomfortable to touch" is also subjective. My ex wife could firmly and indefinitely grasp an object that I couldn't touch for more than five seconds. She could put her hands in water so hot I couldn't stand it even a moment. She never got burned, but I was sure I would have been burned if I'd done what she did. Same with my best friend in high school. He could easily eat food so hot that it took skin off the roof of my mouth.

I'm curious to know the actual temperature of the OP's rack. Infrared thermometers are handy to have around the house.
 
kgk said:
Regarding thermals, the Axe-FX is not a great design, but it is acceptable. The best designs (what you'll see in a laptop, for example) use "heat pipes" to take heat from the hot chips (presumably the two DSP chips) and move it to heat sinks.
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Laptops have fancy cooling like that because they need to. Putting a heat pipe and extra fans and heat sinks into the Axe would be like putting a truck engine into a dentist's drill—just wasted cost and weight.

For the record, the Axe only dissipates about 10 watts, not 40. That 40-watt number is the maximum power draw when there's an MFC attached. The cooling in the Axe is sufficient to keep it operating normally, even when the temperature outside the case is 122°F.
 
10 Watts ain't much for a 2U rack unit. This thread reminds me of a guy who had a massive Mesa tube power amp sandwiched in a rack touching a Triaxis and an effects unit. The heat was ludicrous. It still worked.
 
kgk said:
If somebody plugs in a MFC, does this mean that the Axe-FX consumes 10W, and the foot controller consumes 30W?

And if the Axe-FX consumes 10W, that suggests that each TigerSHARC DSP chip consumes less than 5W. 5W is not so bad regarding power.
Click to expand...
Yes and yes. Remember that the MFC is loaded with brighter LEDs than anything on the Axe. In truth, the whole combination of Axe and MFC will typically draw something less than 40 watts.
 
OK, a little update. I checked the cooling fan and it's working just fine. I did rearrange my rack a bit. I had put my power conditioner right on top of my Axe unit, so I separated them and put my iem unit and wireless guitar unit in between the two. It has seemed to help a bit, but I am curious as to why there is no vent holes in the housing of the Axe unit. I would assume that it's so no dust or debris would make it inside the unit??? Anyway......it still gets warm, but no where near what it was. I have a Live Wire power conditioner and there are 2 outlets where I was feeling the heat on the Axe that are listed as always on. So maybe that had something to do with it as when I am at home I usually just leave my rack open and plugged in. Since I rearranged the rack I have started unplugging the rack until I plan to use it. Nothing look melted or burned inside the chassis when I opened it up, so hopefully all is well.
 
The Axe FX II has vents on the sides though. At least in my rack, there is spare room on the sides that opens to the back, so as long as the back of my rack is open, the sides are vented.

Unless the holes in the sides are for something else.
 
mnemonic said:
The Axe FX II has vents on the sides though. At least in my rack, there is spare room on the sides that opens to the back, so as long as the back of my rack is open, the sides are vented.

Unless the holes in the sides are for something else.
Click to expand...

I have a mark 1 Axe FX 2 and there are no holes/vents on the side of it......unless I am overlooking something. What version of the unit donyou have?
 
Cliff has stated the vent holes are not necessary and were only added to heed the masses.

You can make your own with a drill bit, or say a 1" hole saw, at the expense of making your unit potentially unsaleable should the need arise.
 
I'd be far more worried about drilling holes in the case and getting tiny metal shavings scattered around the inside (can you say, shorted electronics?)

My Mark 1 (no vent holes) is in a rack bag that has pretty lousy (to no) circulation and I've never had an issue with heat or the unit malfunctioning. This is running for 4-5 hours at gigs, indoors, outdoors, etc. At most it is warm to the touch when I shut it down.

My .02,
TT
 
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