[fan] More control over HDR fan

[Black Hole]

Dunno about replicating it, but the sysmon record shows the temp on HDR3 (the only one turned on at the moment) has been ramping inappropriately for at least the last 30 days. Anything I can check for you? I will do a fix-flash-packages operation later.

HDR1 and HDR4 are fine, disk temp is a plateau regulated by the min fan setting. Note that HDR3 is the only one I have power on/off timer settings for.

 

[G4DDS]

Can anyone reliably replicate this problem?

I haven't tried to replicate but here is the sequence of events (as far as I can remember - this was several weeks ago) that led mine to exhibit the behaviour.

Sunday evening - set power on timer for 10AM, off timer for 6PM. Left unit powered up - it did its Sunday night recordings.

Sunday night - put box in standby.

Early Monday morning I went on holiday so the following is what I assume the box did:

Monday morning 10AM - it came on.

Monday Evening 6 PM - it went into standby.

Monday evening/night would have powered up into standby recording and back into standby somewhere in the region of 3 times.

Tuesday morning - 10AM it came on.

I'll stop here as this where it went wrong. On the Thursday afternoon I logged on to the box from sunny Spain and could see from System Monitoring that throughout Monday the temperature was stable during the 10AM-6PM period and throughout the standby recordings done on the night.

However from Tuesday morning 10AM I could see that the fan package had failed as the temperature profile was showing the ramp up/ramp down behaviour. It did this for the next two weeks until I cancelled the on/off timers.

 

[kev7378]

I have had the fan package installed on my second HDR Fox T2 for a while. It’s a new RE/GB 1.03.06 model. My current observations of fan behaviour with the fan package installed are:

At 10% the fan only seems to run the Humax profile.

At 20% it does seem to maybe occasionally start up, runs fairly slowly but if it is running other than during the Humax profile, it is not running all the time; the Humax profile still comes into play and appears to be occurring at the same rate as usual for now.

However, at 50% (for the last two and a half days) the fan appears to run all the time, looks quite fast (not “really fast”, not full speed and possible not even 50% of full speed) and so far the temperature graph has never gone over 40, even when recording for two to three hours

I have a reminder programmed for 30 minutes every day at 0415. There are always programme events in the schedule; except for last week when I forgot to save them and did a retune to get those new HD channels.

 

[pitchshifter182]

I have had the fan package installed on my second HDR Fox T2 for a while. It’s a new RE/GB 1.03.06 model. My current observations of fan behaviour with the fan package installed are:

At 10% the fan only seems to run the Humax profile.

At 20% it does seem to maybe occasionally start up, runs fairly slowly but if it is running other than during the Humax profile, it is not running all the time; the Humax profile still comes into play and appears to be occurring at the same rate as usual for now.

However, at 50% (for the last two and a half days) the fan appears to run all the time, looks quite fast (not “really fast”, not full speed and possible not even 50% of full speed) and so far the temperature graph has never gone over 40, even when recording for two to three hours

I have a reminder programmed for 30 minutes every day at 0415. There are always programme events in the schedule; except for last week when I forgot to save them and did a retune to get those new HD channels.

Do you have any power off/on timers set?

 

[Ezra Pound]

My current observations of fan behaviour with the fan package installed are:

This looks like correct behaviour to me, the fan package only replaces the normal 'off' time with 0-100% on, the other levels set by the Humax remain the same, so with low levels of fan say 10 - 20% the normal 'on' temperature of 55 Deg. C is still reached and the Humax max. setting will kick in followed by the other stages in post #1, at higher values of fan say 50% the 55 Deg. C level is never reached so the normal Humax levels won't kick in

 

[kev7378]

This looks like correct behaviour to me, the fan package only replaces the normal 'off' time with 0-100% on, the other levels set by the Humax remain the same, so with low levels of fan say 10 - 20% the normal 'on' temperature of 56 Deg. C is still reached and the Humax max. setting will kick in followed by the other stages in post #1, at higher values of fan say 50% the 56 Deg. C level is never reached so the normal Humax levels won't kick in

Yes; except at the low % settings the fan isn't spinning... I will try those between 20% and 50% and see where it does startup reliably.

 

[kev7378]

Do you have any power off/on timers set?

Only a reminder and recording events.

 

[Ezra Pound]

Yes; except at the low % settings the fan isn't spinning... I will try those between 20% and 50% and see where it does startup reliably.

I appreciate that you are testing things out, but at the end of the day, if the fan is not spinning fast enough to prevent the HDR reaching 55 Deg. C then the fan program hasn't really achieved anything. So if the fan starts at zero and the HDR gets to 55 after 60 mins. or the fan starts at 30% and the HDR gets to 55 after 90 mins. both ways the normal Humax cycle will kick in, however, if the fan starts at say 45% and the HDR never gets above 52 Deg. C then 'fan' is doing it's job

 

[af123]

Anything I can check for you?

I'll write an update to the fan package that maintains a persistent log file so that you can check that for clues.

 

[Ezra Pound]

Yes; except at the low % settings the fan isn't spinning... I will try those between 20% and 50% and see where it does startup reliably.

I have just completed some tests and for me the fan won't start from0% at less than 30%, so I can confirm your findings

 

[Ezra Pound]

Could there be a command line version of 'Fan' ?, as I still like the idea of setting the fan speed after a delay, say from start fan = 0% then when the HDD gets to a certain temperature set fan = 45%. That would combine low fan noise with minimum fan revs.

 

[kev7378]

Definitely weird: the fan is again no longer running permanently (at 50%) since the HDR Fox-T2 was first switched on (manually) Sunday lunch time. Not even with it set to 80%. The humax regime is still working.

I cannot offer any clues. Nothing was really that different between when the fan was running all the time and when it wasn’t. The two last things that happened: wake up on Saturday and record Atlantis on BBC ONE HD (the fan presumably running as the temperature never went over a plateau of 41); then the half hour reminder on Sunday morning (the duration of that is brief so the temperature doesn't even get anywhere near 40, so we cannot say whether the fan was running or not at that time).

Last night the system was powered off and on a couple or times and even had the FW reflashed (for other reasons); no difference. I just updated to the latest WebIf and jim, and reinstalled the fan package, still no luck.

 

[af123]

If you look in the humaxtv.log then it should include some information about the fan package. It isn't saved over a restart but in your case might tell us something.

 

[kev7378]

This morning was the same as... First boot tonight after three hours the log contains the larger quote below: I set it to record to push the temperature up, the fan only ran the humax profile and there isn’t anything I can discern that relates to the fan package (maybe this latter is a clue in and of itself).

I uninstalled, rebooted, reinstalled and rebooted again (to see if there was a difference) and found that the fan was running again and there is now a new line right at the start of the log (before anything from humaxtv) that says:

Sat Jan  1 00:00:10 2000 Applying minimum fan speed = 127 (7f)

I then set it from 50% to 80% and shortly after that the following was added to the log:

Tue Nov 12 21:44:32 2013 Applying minimum fan speed = 204 (cc)

A guess: maybe, given the date on the first record, it is initialising itself/something too early and hitting some kind of window of opportunity which interferes with its behaviour. If so, maybe it could wait 15 seconds before it does anything the first time around and/or not until the year is >2000?

I can grab shutdown entries if need be.

3 hours of log when fan not running:

>>> Contents of /var/log/humaxtv.log 2.31 KiB
route: SIOCADDRT: File exists
killall: tinyftp: no process killed
DRV_DSC_Init_Begin
SIOCDELRT failed , ret->-1
[AP_BrowserManager_Proc:607] [AP_BrowserNetTime_startNetTimeTask:171] [AP_BrowserNetTime_startNetTimeTask:208] [browser_config_system_get_model_name:370] [browser_config_system_get_sw_version:77] [browser_config_system_get_hw_version:87] [browser_graphic_get_framebuffer:54] ########################################
Domain      :.humaxtvportal.com
CertPath    :htvdev_portal_ccert_2k_20101106.p12
###### New Cert is Added
########################################
########################################
Domain      :none
CertPath    :humax_tvportal_rootcert_2k_20101106_pub.pem
###### New Cert is Added
########################################
########################################
Domain      :.bbc.co.uk
CertPath    :hdrfoxt2_20101001.p12
###### New Cert is Added
########################################
########################################
Domain      :.bbc.co.uk
CertPath    :rootcert_1k.pem
###### New Cert is Added
########################################
[browser_config_system_get_used_netiface:433] [browser_hbbtv_ait_get_data:82] IP Address List: 192.168.1.12
mxDLNA [DLNA DMS DmsRunThread] Start (PID:173    TID:1040708816).......
[mxDlnaFileScanner_create] +++++
[mxDlnaFileScanner_addDirectory] SEARCH_LIST_PATH_EXACT_MATCHED
[mxDlnaFileScanner_create] -----
[mxDlnaFileScanner_addDirectory] SEARCH_LIST_PATH_EXACT_MATCHED
[mxDlnaFileScanner_addDirectory] SEARCH_LIST_PATH_EXACT_MATCHED
[mxDlnaFileScanner_addDirectory] SEARCH_LIST_PATH_EXACT_MATCHED
[ifss_start] +++++
DB InPut Success =/mnt/hd2/My Video/BBC Oxford News_20131112_1831.ts (I:0/F:0)
DB InPut Success =/mnt/hd2/My Video/Bargain Hunt/Bargain Hunt_20131112_1210.ts (I:0/F:0)
Error>> Cannot support video format
[DI_MEDIA_Probe] Error - Fail in P_MEDIA_ProbeOpen
DB InPut Success =/mnt/hd2/My Video/Antiques Road Trip/Antiques Road Trip_20131112_1625.ts (I:1/F:0)
Error>> Cannot support video format
[DI_MEDIA_Probe] Error - Fail in P_MEDIA_ProbeOpen
DB InPut Success =/mnt/hd2/My Video/Neighbourhood Blues_20131112_0918.ts (I:2/F:0)
Error>> Cannot support video format
[DI_MEDIA_Probe] Error - Fail in P_MEDIA_ProbeOpen
scanThread END----------------
thread detach 1042805968 
[ifss_start] +++++
DB InPut Success =/mnt/hd2/My Video/BBC Oxford News_20131112_1831.ts (I:0/F:0)

 

[hdr-mark]

Just thought I'd post my appreciation of this fine package. The attached image shows the effect of turning the feature on with a minimum setting of 50% (inaudible on my box, even close up) on 15 Dec. That's got to be better for the disk and the other electronics in the box.

Thanks, af123 and anyone else who contributed.

 

[zekepliskin]

This is an old thread now but I'm still curious as to the ability to override the defaults and set fan speeds to what the user wants rather than allow some degree of user control and then remove it when temps are over certain thresholds. I'm guessing if this were possible we'd already be able to do it, i.e. set values by command line and so on.

 

[MymsMan]

This is an old thread now but I'm still curious as to the ability to override the defaults and set fan speeds to what the user wants rather than allow some degree of user control and then remove it when temps are over certain thresholds. I'm guessing if this were possible we'd already be able to do it, i.e. set values by command line and so on.

Why do you think you need more control?

Most of us are happy to set a value like 50% which is inaudible and keeps the disk between 40 and 50 degrees and just let it get on with it

 

[Black Hole]

This is an old thread now but I'm still curious as to the ability to override the defaults and set fan speeds to what the user wants rather than allow some degree of user control and then remove it when temps are over certain thresholds. I'm guessing if this were possible we'd already be able to do it, i.e. set values by command line and so on.

The point of the fan package is to set a minimum air flow rather than the standard Humax minimum of zero, while still permitting the thermostatic override to boost the air flow if necessary.

The theory is that by tuning the minimum, a compromise can be found between audibility and the extreme excursions the standard Humax algorithm goes through. Thus, the standard algorithm has the fan off until the temperature (as measured in the HDD smart stats) reaches a particular threshold, at which point the fan comes on full blast and then throttles back as the temperature falls. In a quiet room this sudden start-up can be annoying.

By setting a constant low level of fan noise, barely audible if at all, the thermostatic threshold is rarely if ever reached, and the system runs at a much more even temperature. By keeping the thermostatic threshold, increased cooling can still kick in if appropriate.

What else do you want? Yes, it might be possible to monitor the HDD temperature in CF and impose a linear fan response instead of what the standard Humax code does, but the way the existing package works avoids the need to decompile and modify the existing black-box code.

 

[Luke]

... rather than allow some degree of user control and then remove it when temps are over certain thresholds.

On the HDD temperature chart in the post prior to yours the various coloured categories show the speed of the fan if you do not have the fan package installed. It does not show the speed of the fan if you do have the fan package installed. The control of the minimum speed remains in place and is not removed when a threshold is reached. The minimum remains the minimum.

 

[Ezra Pound]

The control of the minimum speed remains in place and is not removed when a threshold is reached. The minimum remains the minimum.

At present, the Fan package only operates until the threshold is reached, at this point the standard 'Humax' contol takes over, so although 'minimum remains the minimum', the fans speed is now being governed by the standard 'Humax' program and will go up to a fixed 70%

I think Zekepliskin wants full control at all times, although that could be dangerous, I personally think there is some merit in saving fan life by delaying initial 'fan on' until a certain temperature is reached, but I would still allow 'Humax control' when the threshold is reached, it is the safest option