Cooling Fans

What kind should I get, and would a regular poweroutlet overload the fans or something?

[MadManMac]

I have never seen a direct power cord that did have a transformer on it unless it is a household type fan. If you are going to use computer type fans, be careful about the size, 120mm can be really loud, but 80mm can be really weak so you need to balance the number of fans withthe need to move air and the tolerance of noise.

I was thinking 2 fans, maybe 80mm.

Then wiring both into a power cord.


Can this be done?

[Edmonton Eskimo]

If you are going to wire them to a cord it has to be a 12 volt adapter. Make sure the milliamps are equal or more than both the fans or they won't run properly. You can use an adapter that is less than 12 volts if you want the fans to be a little quieter. I have one fan running on a 9 volt adapter and it works great and is virtually silent.

[ellisz]

Panaflo L1s. Awesome and quiet fan. Not real expensive either.

[acronym:2cc9d3fa91="Activated Carbon"]AC[/acronym:2cc9d3fa91] Fans are $25/each.

Adapters are about $15/each plus another $10 for the [acronym:2cc9d3fa91="Direct current"]DC[/acronym:2cc9d3fa91] fan.


So cost-wise its all the same. [acronym:2cc9d3fa91="Direct current"]DC[/acronym:2cc9d3fa91] or [acronym:2cc9d3fa91="Activated Carbon"]AC[/acronym:2cc9d3fa91]?

[RLG2182]

Go with [acronym:18be3a9fde="Direct current"]DC[/acronym:18be3a9fde] fans. I mean... check this out:

http://www.compusa.com/products/prod...721&pfp=SEARCH

$2.35 each! Can't really beat that. You would just need a 12V [acronym:18be3a9fde="Activated Carbon"]AC[/acronym:18be3a9fde] to [acronym:18be3a9fde="Direct current"]DC[/acronym:18be3a9fde] power adaptor since the fans are [acronym:18be3a9fde="Direct current"]DC[/acronym:18be3a9fde]. You want a [acronym:18be3a9fde="Direct current"]DC[/acronym:18be3a9fde] fan... if you power a [acronym:18be3a9fde="Direct current"]DC[/acronym:18be3a9fde] fan with [acronym:18be3a9fde="Activated Carbon"]AC[/acronym:18be3a9fde] power, it'll most likely fry.

This weekend I'm going to put 4 of these into my canopy and I will document how I did it. Hopefully it'll help ya out!

Yea but plus $5 for shipping...

That takes away the cheap part of it

I was thinking of this [acronym:b9f8073c9a="Activated Carbon"]AC[/acronym:b9f8073c9a] fan:
http://www.altex.com/product_info.ph...oducts_id=3724

Someone suggested to me I hook this into the light's ballast, and hook everything into a timer, so the fan/light shuts off at the same time.

[RLG2182]

I would NOT recommend you hook anything to the light's ballast. The ballast was designed to run the lights, not extra equipment. Think about it... would they spend extra money to put a ballast on there that would overpower the lights enough with power to spare for a rainy day? Nah. Even though these 80mm fans are small, they still take a lot of power to run them... especially if you get 2, 3, 4, or more.

Plus, if a fan blows out, you don't want to risk short circuiting your lights. I had a [acronym:44de6e78da="Power compact fluorescent"]PC[/acronym:44de6e78da] fan hooked up to the same outlet as one of my 6 hard drives, when the fan blew, so did the hard drive. Same concept. The smart way is to get an [acronym:44de6e78da="Activated Carbon"]AC[/acronym:44de6e78da] adaptor 12V [acronym:44de6e78da="Direct current"]DC[/acronym:44de6e78da] output and wire it separately. Less chance of something going wrong.

Secondly, that fan will only push 24 CFM which [acronym:44de6e78da="In my opinion"]IMO[/acronym:44de6e78da] is next to nothing. Go with at least 30+. Plus... these things are $18.95 each? My total cost from CompUsa was $12.60 for 3 fans, and shipping.

I am glad I didnt mention that guys Screen Name that told me that then


Looking at these [acronym:833243875b="Activated Carbon"]AC[/acronym:833243875b]-[acronym:833243875b="Direct current"]DC[/acronym:833243875b] Converters, it looks like the [acronym:833243875b="Direct current"]DC[/acronym:833243875b] converters all have a round end on the end of them. These have 3 and 4 proged ends on them.

How on earth would that work?