Ubiquiti Unifi Dream Router 7 active cooling stand

Silent cooling solution for the UniFi Dream Router 7 (works with the older Dream Machine too).

The UniFi Dream Router 7 by Ubiquiti has a built-in cooling fan but it has some issues. At the regular mode it has a whirring noise which can be inappropriate in some living rooms. There's a silent setting, but that allows the device to heat up so much that the CPU often runs at around 95-100 Celsius degrees which can be worrying in terms of longevity.

With this cooling stand you can assemble a solution which works silently and brings down the CPU temperature to a more reasonable 75-85 Celsius degress range (depending on the ambient temperature).

Additional hardware required:

• Noctua NF-A8 5V PWM fan (any other standard 80x80x25 fan should fit inside)
• Power source to drive the fan
  • A simple 5V USB brick works with the Noctua fan, but it won't be silent at max speed.
  • To reduce the speed, I recommend a microcontroller or a Raspberry Pi to drive the fan at 25% PWM duty cycle. This provides a silent operation while still effectively cooling the router.

This is a modified design of the active cooler base by Kapusta714 from Thingiverse. List of modifications compared to the original:

• Taller, 12 mm feet with rounded edges to increase unobstructed intake airflow and make it look slightly more polished.
• Instead of having a hole to route the cable through, this one has a notch, so the plug size at the end of the cable is not an issue anymore.
• Slightly taller shell to accomodate for the rubber feet of the Noctua NF-A8 5V PWM fan.
• More holes on the top part to increase unobstructed exhaust airflow.