Howdy folks 
I thought I’d share my efforts to quiet down a server UPS, when no closets are available for shoving it into.
So I bought this very nice Eaton 5SC 1500i UPS for my nas. It ticked all the right boxes, and it wasn’t too expensive.
I had failed however, to read that it had a dB rating of <40… Which is nothing for a server room. But a lot for any living room, and certainly mine. I could hear it loudly in my entire apartment…
I didn’t want to return it, since it got pure sinewave, active voltage regulation in case of unstable wall power, compact size and my local hardware shop had to order it for me. And the price was cheaper than directly at Eaton.
So I had to quiet it down somehow.
I happened to have one of these alex desk shelf thingys in surplus, and it was already mamed with multiple big fan holes in the back from a few years ago, where I had showed the first iteration of my nas in it (it was in my bed room in my old apartment).
So I got some noise isolating foam and started cutting and gluing it on the inner surfaces.
The hinged door was dismounted and used as the base, since the UPS was too long to fit in the alex thing in the original way, with the foam added.
Since there was massive holes in the back, soon to become top panel, I used 50 mm foam, which I glued some of the wavy foam on, and jammed in down there.
Then foam was added to the top, now front panel.
The next day, holes was cut in the one side for two fans.
One to push air directly into the mesh front of the UPS, and an outtake fan mounted a bit over the UPS, in order for the noise to not have a direct path out.
And the edges where then covered with painting tape to avoid any loose wood from being blown into the UPS.
A cutout was made in the buttom, now back for the cables to escape.
And then the remaining panels where covered with foam.
Holes where then cut in the foam for the fans.
And then the fans where screwed in, and taped up to avoid recirculating of air.
I’m reusing a molex power supply for the fans, from the last time there was fans mounted on this poor Ikea furniture, as well as the pwm fan controller.
And finally deployment and test if this helps at all:
AAAND, it works!
I can still hear it, but it’s no longer any louder than my nas. Which is drowned out when I’m watching something on the tv, or sitting at the desk with headphones.
I had an extra front door to lay on the top, so I also get a bit more surface to make a mess on
It might be a little jank, but this is a “temporary” 1-2 year solution, while I save up for the down payment for a house. So all this can get it’s own room, and I don’t have to cover up actively cooled electronics with Ikea furniture.
I’m not too worried about it overheating in there. The noctua fans ensure air flow through the case, and most of the time my nas draw a max of 70 watts, and about 350 when scrubbing disks.
And it’s a 1000 Watt UPS. So it’s not like it’s balls to the wall.
Would I recommend this? Probably not. I’d suggest reading all the documentation on a UPS before you buy it…
It was a fun to solve the noise problem though
Edits: Typos
