Stuff :: Switch Cooling
Once upon a time, I ran Linksys switches stacked on top of each other (that's why they're stackable, right?). I wasn't so keen on monitoring my equipment back then, so when I found out what was happening, my heart sunk:
The switches' plastic casings had turned brown and started to deform thanks to the heat produced by the switching chips. The fact that the design relied on convection for cooling and relied on the ventholes not to be blocked only made the matters worse -- the top switch's bottom was deformed pretty badly. The heat stacked itself, too.
With that, I decided to strip the cases and mount them vertically, figuring that it'd help with convection cooling (air comes in through the bottom and rises out the top). It's seeming to work pretty well.
I fastened them together with bent paperclips, electrical tape, and foam. Yippee! Cool switches!
Below, you can see my little origami entorage that I've folded and placed by the switches. Yes, those books have pages. :)