Right on the heels of my successful fan swap in a Cisco SG300 switch, I decided to embark upon the same adventure for my HP V1910 switch. This time my wife and I set up a camera and tried to record the various steps to make the project a bit easier to follow for those who enjoy seeing a video. You can watch that on my YouTube channel here.

If you’d like to follow along in a blog post format, I’ve provided the major steps below. Enjoy! 🙂

Preparation

To start, I took an initial noise sample near the fan. It was putting out around 38 dB of noise. The spikes were me talking.

Next, tool gathering. I use a small adjustable DeWalt screwdriver, wire stripper, a wire cutter with flat compression head, some scissors, a 40×10 mm 5v Noctua fan, and the included 2-wire Scotchlok connectors. I also have a Molex Extractor Kit for removing fan wires from connectors (thanks to my last adventure with the Cisco SG300 fan replacement) that I ended up not using for reasons I’ll go into later.

Opening The Switch

It’s pretty easy. There are seven screws total; 2 on each side and 3 on the back. Unscrew them all and note that one of the side screws is covered by a warranty warning sticker. Once you crack open that bad boy you’re on your own. 🙂

Once the screws are out, flip the switch upside down and look for a release slot near the power receptacle. Wedge that open with a screwdriver and the switch enclosure will slide open.

Locate the fan; it’s near the power supply. Remove the 4-pin connector and pair of zip ties holding it down, along with the two threaded screws holding the fan into the enclosure. Remove the fan.

Wiring Work

The Noctua is a 3-pin fan, while the HP V1910 is a 3-pin fan with a 4-pin connector. I used my Molex Extractor Kit to remove all the wires from the connectors, but found that the HP fan used square pin heads while the Noctua uses a rolled compression pin head. The two were not compatible.

Because of this, I decided to use the Scotchloks included with the Noctua to connect the new fan to the old fan’s connector. Black is ground, red is the 5V, and white/yellow is the tachometer.

Just insert the two wire ends into the Scotchlok, with the insulation still on the wire, and crimp. I used to do this a lot back in the late 90’s when I worked for a telco and ran DSL lines for residential buildings. It was pretty familiar territory. 🙂

Plug in the fan and test it out.

Fan Replacement

Tidy up the wire to the fan and replace the two zip ties with new ones. I used the Noctua’s extension cable because I thought the fan’s cable was too short, but it turns out that’s not true. So, if you buy this same fan, there’s no need to use the extension cable. I tucked a bit of the extra insulated wire below the board and doubled back the extension cable to keep it low and out of the way.

[symple_box color=”red” fade_in=”false” float=”center” text_align=”left” width=””]Note: Don’t use the Noctua’s brown fan “screws” because the switch enclosure won’t close properly. I found that out later and replaced them for regular threaded screws.[/symple_box]

Final Noise Test

The HP V1910 is now completely silent – literally, you can’t hear it. It’s creepy how silent the switch becomes compared to stock.

The ambient room noise is louder than the fan. Even with the noise meter right next to the fan, the loudest I could measure was about 27 dB.