Some Like It Hot, But Not My Time Capsule

ByMike Moffit

Last week brought unseasonably hot temperatures to our neck of the woods, reaching over 90° in many areas and bringing some miserable humidity with it. Now, most of us in Vermont don’t have air conditioners and I am in that camp!

While I felt pretty comfortable with the windows open and a ceiling fan going, I noticed one evening that my Time Capsule was flashing amber; this indicates a problem. I opened AirPort Utility (/Applications/Utilities) to see what was up and I saw my favorite error message: “This device may be overheating. Check the Apple wireless device and if it feels hot, try changing its location or removing anything that is obstructing its ventilation.” I may have been comfortable in the heat, but my Time Capsule was not!

Now, it may seem like I’m joking by calling that my favorite error message, but I really was impressed when Apple built that error into the latest renditions of it’s Time Capsule firmware ( I liked it so much I wrote about it here ). The main reason I love this error is that it gives the user a chance to check for heat issues that they may have created or can remedy.

In my case, I keep my Time Capsule in an entertainment center with several other electronic devices including a Mac mini Server, external hard drives, cable modem, DVR, turntable, receiver, UPS, etc. The cabinet does have shoddy glass panels on it that let in air and rear vents to increase the airflow. That said, when I opened the doors to the cabinet it was hot hot hot in there!

According to the Time Capsule’s tech specs, recommended operating temperatures are between 50° to 95°F (10° to 35°C) with a relative humidity of 20% to 80% (noncondensing). With temperatures in the 90’s and the many heat-generating devices in the cabinet, the ambient temperature was close to if not just above the recommended high temp.

However, in general, I would personally try to never run my devices in temperatures over the 70s. So, the temps in my entertainment system were above both Apple and my personal recommendations for heat. It was time to cool things down!

I left the doors to the cabinet open and put a floor fan in front of the Time Capsule. In just a few minutes, the amber blinking light on my Time Capsule turned solid green and the warning went away. While this is a good temporary solution, I’m planning on taking some steps in the future to curb the heat before it becomes a problem and you might want to consider doing the same if you have electronics and live without air conditioning.

First off, make sure you have good airflow around your devices. I never stack electronics on top of each other or stack items on top of them. I also have 4” circular holes in the rear of the cabinet that help circulate the airflow along with the thin glass panes in the front of the cabinet that let in air around the edges.

Since that’s not doing enough for me right now, I also plan to purchase one or two 3-4” square fans that can be mounted into the cabinet. These are a dime-a-dozen and can easily be found with a Google Products search. There are even USB versions so if you’re out of space on your power strip, you can always plug right into the computer or Time Capsule to power them.

The biggest thing is to just think about how the airflow will work in your situation. You may need an inlet and outlet fan, or you may just need one outlet fan to suck out the hot air, providing there are other vents that are able to bring in cooler air. Some folks in cooler climates might not need fans at all; vents could be enough. I do recommend purchasing a thermometer to keep track of the temperatures, as in some situations you really might need to get an A/C unit so your devices don’t overheat.

I definitely encourage you to think about this before the temperatures start to soar. Oh, and if you’re not doing so already, also be sure to use a surge protector with your devices and with your cable and/or DSL modems. Summer brings heat and thunderstorms and a busted power supply or ethernet jack isn’t any more fun than overheated electronics!

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