I recently installed an Alta Labs S24 PoE switch indoors in a rack environment, and while the switch operates perfectly, I’ve noticed that the fans are quite loud — even though the temperature never exceeds around 30 °C (85.6 °F).
I reached out to Alta Labs Support, and they confirmed that there’s currently no option to adjust fan speed or enable a low-noise mode, and there are no immediate plans to introduce one. However, they did suggest submitting this idea here as a Feature Request, so the community can upvote it — and if there’s enough interest, it might be implemented in a future firmware update.
I believe a “Low Noise Mode” or “Silent Profile” would be extremely beneficial for users who install these switches in office spaces, studios, or home lab environments, where acoustic noise matters just as much as performance.
If you’d also find this useful, please give it an upvote or share your thoughts below so Alta can see there’s demand for it.
I had the same problem with mine, so I decided to replace the fans with Noctua ones. It voided the warranty, but now it’s completely silent. I actually recorded a video about it — it might interest you. Though I understand it’s not really practical for businesses or offices to replace every fan in their units.
Did you take a recording of the fans, and share that with support to see if there was something wrong with that specific unit? With no load, they are relatively very quiet (i.e. library-compatible) - 6000 RPM is max 41 dBa. At medium loads it can get up to 54 dBa, and at maximum load it should be no louder than 60.5 dBa.
Thank you for taking the time to look into this issue. The main problem is not the overall loudness — as you mentioned, it’s relatively quiet — but rather the frequency of the noise. The fans produce sound in a range that is particularly irritating in quiet environments.
To use a household analogy: a refrigerator hums at a low frequency, which is not disturbing. Unfortunately, the fans in this product operate in a higher frequency range, roughly within the mid-range of human speech, which makes the sound quite noticeable and distracting unless the unit is placed in an enclosed area.
A potential solution could be if the fans would switch off under low load and only spin up when necessary. This way, the sound would only occur for short periods and remain tolerable even from close proximity.
I’m fortunate because this particular unit is for personal home use, and I’ll soon relocate it — along with the rack — to a separate storage area, so the noise will no longer be an issue. However, if I were to install this in a classroom (I work as an AV integrator), the noise could definitely become problematic.
Once again, I would ask that you take a recording just in case there is something wrong with your particular unit, and to make sure that it is within the designed acoustic range of 41 dBa to 60.5 dBa. We have designed them to be quieter than comparably priced Enterprise POE switches, but most of these switches are ultimately installed in racks in closets or data centers.
Of course, I’ll send you a recording. I completely understand the design concept, and I have no issues with the products themselves. In fact, I’ve installed several S16 units over the past month — naturally, thanks to their passive cooling, I didn’t encounter this issue there.
However, switches with this port count are typically installed close to the endpoints here in Hungary. When a dedicated equipment room is available, the S48 APOE is usually the more suitable choice for that environment.
I’ve attached the video recording. Thank you very much for your quick response and helpful attitude.
Can you also get a video of when the S24 is off (or the fans are off, with the script I sent)?
That high-pitched hum is definitely not characteristic of the S24-POE. Feels like there’s something touching on the inside, or something wrong with those specific fans in it, assuming that the S24-POE is the only device making noise in the video.
I’ve recorded the video of the background noise — at the end, I turn on the rack so you can clearly hear it. Yes, the noise does indeed sound like something might be touching the fan frame inside the unit.
