I recently got one as well. The fans are not terribly loud, but they're definitely on the noticeable/annoying threshold; for room usage at least.
I would like to point out that since MikroTik bothered to include rubber feet in the package, we can surmise that they are not explicitly meant for Data-Center/Computer-Room usage.
I have no objections with the vendor (MikroTik) deeming that a default/out-of-the-box setting for the fans is necessary (in this case, the fans starting to spin at 40°C).
What I have objections with, is not allowing us to tune the setting for different needs/environments (i.e. room/office).
I have owned many different MikroTik devices (RB411UAHR, RB750r2, RB450, RB912UAG-2HPnD, RB953GS-5HnT-RP, RB962UiGS-5HacT2HnT, RB4011iGS+5HacQ2HnD-IN to name a few), with the majority of them (if not all) being passively cooled and
having no problem whatsoever operating at 48-51°C during the hottest days.
Now, I know that what I suggest requires both back-end and UI work to be done, however I'm willing to wait for it.
Please give us an option (through CLI/Winbox/Webfig) that allows us for more granular control over the fan behavior.
It should at least provide the following:
- The ability to define an N amount of Temperature (°C/°F) and Fan RPM value pairings.
- A restriction of at least one Temperature-RPM pairing being present, at all times.
- Default Temperature-RPM pairings, specified by the vendor (MikroTik) as they see fit (but obviously allowing us to remove/edit them).
- The ability to designate if a Temperature-RPM pairing should include hysteresis (and by how many °C/°F).
- A hard restriction on how low the RPM (perhaps 2000) and how high the Temperature (perhaps 10°C away from TJ MAX) settings can be set, for each pairing.
- A hard-coded last-resort/fail-safe Temperature-RPM pairing which will spin the fans at full blast if Temperature is dangerously approaching (maybe 10°C away again) TJ MAX.
I see no reason as to why I shouldn't be allowed to set the fans to kick in when the device reaches 55°C and have another setting that would turbo the fans when the device reaches 60°C with 5°C hysteresis.
EDIT: I know that this device has power delivery circuitry and that it'd be prone to faster degradation the hotter it runs, still I believe that anything under 55-60°C is well within the realm of logic.
Normis (or anyone else from support), if you see this, please pass it along to the development team - thank you.
I think a lot of people would be satisfied to hear this being considered/implemented in the future.
EDIT2: Unrelated, but this device possesses no LCD screen, therefore Winbox shouldn't contain that setting for it.