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higher speed fan solutions?

Well I am happy with my plant shelf but I want to make it cooler, once I put some insulation on it, it should hold in cool air better than just the panda film I have on it now. But I also want a stronger fan, but not a much bigger fan. 4-6" diameter is as big as I want to go and it needs to be flat and mountable like the PC fan from radioshack I currently use which is mounted on my windowframe. I just crack the window (or even not open the window in mid winter) and the cold air gets sucked into the air vent. It's just not powerful enough to drop all 3 shelves as steep as I want during the lights-on period mainly. It worked fine in the old days when i was cooling only one shelf. If I can bring in 2-3 times more flow I'm relatively certain all 3 will be right where I want them.

So, does anyone know of small square fans or mini box fans I could use other than a radioshack PC fan?

I bought a housing ventilation "booster fan" from the hardware store and wired it up but that thing makes it sound like a plane is continually flying over the house so I'm not thrilled with that at all. :crap:

I'm looking at this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Mini-Box-Fan-AC...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4ceb9811ba
and wondering can I wire it to a power cord or maybe even a lighting dimmer switch to adjust the speed, and will it be crazy loud being an air-conditioner fan?
 
http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l1/g36/Fans.html

Take your pick. You also might want to look for reviews on specific fans. Surprisingly, noise and CFM differs greatly on seemingly identical fans that have the same RPM.
Radioshack probably sells cheap junky fans and jacks the price up.
From your description of what you want the dimensions to be like, your best bet is going to be a computer fan. You might also find the same fans for cheaper elsewhere. This site just has good selection and information like NewEgg.

Just a few things to keep in mind though:

Larger fan = quieter/more air
Faster RPMs = louder/more air

I'm looking at this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Mini-Box-Fan-AC...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4ceb9811ba
and wondering can I wire it to a power cord or maybe even a lighting dimmer switch to adjust the speed, and will it be crazy loud being an air-conditioner fan?

That fan is loud. If you want it to be fairly quiet, look for a fan that produces no more than 32dB. I personally do not like noise period so I bought some very low noise fans that operate at 14dB but at the cost of not moving nearly as much air.
 
My radioshack one has actually lasted for five or six years on the first highland chamber. It's just not powerful enough to service 3 shelves.

I will look at the link...

Hmm 217 CFM looks nice. I could blast em with a cyclone season every so often! :D

How do you power up one of these fans? The radioshack PC fan you just splice on a normal power plug. On a higher speed setup I would want to have a variable speed since I wouldn't need wind shear all the time.
 
Google would probably be a better resource than me for something like that. I know tons of people that use the fans for things other than their computer. Though, I run my fans straight off of my computer's power supply.

For a controller, you can get something like this:
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6203/bus-111/Sunbeam_PCI_Fan_Controller_FC.html?tl=g36c17#blank

If you want to adjust fan speed. But you may still need something besides that if you intended to splice it and plug it straight into the wall.
 
Far out we're getting closer! :D
 
217 CFM :O

It's going to sound like a Jet Engine. Or possibly a high-powered blow dryer. :p
 
I have a ton of server grade CPU fans laying around. If you want a few I would be more than happy to send them to you for cost of postage. I'll send you pics if you are interested. They are about 3" X 4" if I had to guess.
 
Not sure where to get a particularly quiet fan, but one thing you could do about the noise is to mount it with a vibration dampener. Build a thick gasket out of soft foam and use elastic string or soft vinyl twine to hold the fan to the rack. Otherwise, you could splice the fan into the middle of your duct, and hang it from the ceiling with bungee cords or the like. You can make a decent muffler from a coffee can or the like if the sound is coming from the bearings/rotor and not just a result of vibration.
~Joe
 
is 64dBA loud? I thought my desktop CPUs fan was 55 dBA at max speed and it's quite silent.

But with a controller I could basically do whatever speeds I wanted.

I can only hear my old fan I'm using when everything is off TV, PC, stereo and room fans (which is rare).
 
  • #10
decibel-scale.gif

You must've been to a lot of concerts - 55db is pretty well audible. :D I don't think 64db will be very disruptive, though.
~Joe
 
  • #11
:D Probably several hundred gigs before I ever started bringing earplugs! (slight exaggeration) And I run a machine for 12 hours a day.

I guess I mean in comparison to that duct fan I bought the PCs fan is relatively quiet, the duct fan is definitely around hair dryer level but it changes in pitch which is additionally irritating. The fan is actually mounted out by the window frame, blowing outside air through a length of flexible ducting, into the first T outlet on ground level shelf, then up to mid level shelf T and then at last out the top L duct outlet.

I see my radioshack fan is 25 cfm... imagine 10x more air!

I'm still not sure how to power something like that though. I'd like to mount the power cord and controller switch into an electrical project box (blue plastic box that components can be wired to).
 
  • #12
Ugh... yeah, I can relate. Those fiddly sounds that aren't quite homogenous enough to ignore drive me nuts.
If it changes pitch though, I've got to wonder if it isn't something outside the fan itself. Did you try running it by itself before you mounted it? I'd put it on a soft surface and see if it's really the fan. I thought my fridge was dying for several weeks this summer because it was making this obnoxious ringing noise. But then I cleaned it out and found that the vibration from the compressor was making some glass jars vibrate against one another in the back.
~Joe
 
  • #13
Yeah, it's the fan. I never hooked it up to anything cos I knew I couldn't deal with that noise! lol


The no pitch change is probably why I can tune out the PC fan, but now that we've been talking about it I'm suddenly quite conscious of it.
 
  • #14
Wow, super lame. I wonder how that could be OK to the manufacturer. But then, I guess most of the ventilation fans in the apartments I've lived in have been like that. Low standards.
~Joe
 
  • #15
64dB is VERY loud for a computer fan. My vacuum cleaner runs at 65dB.

Also, you would be surprised at how little power it consumes. It's most likely a 12v that takes up 15w at most.
 
  • #16
It's the "Inductor" duct fans sold by Suncourt Inc. at all the chain hardware stores everywhere.
 
  • #17
Update on my online searches for wiring a PC fan, just a heads up for others who may do a similar search, most search returns are dope growing related! People living with their parents be forewarned! lol

Anyhow what I've found out is that any of you wanting to go this route with me using 12V PC fans you must wire them with a 120V > 12V converter or "wall wart" from the old style electronics. If you get a wall wart that has the switches on it you can control the speed! I will buy a wall wart tonight and fiddle around with a spare 12V I have and let you know if I wind up in the hospital or if those weed head electricians know what they're talking about... :D
 
  • #18
Update on my online searches for wiring a PC fan, just a heads up for others who may do a similar search, most search returns are dope growing related! People living with their parents be forewarned! lol

make fun of them all yah want but potheads can be creative lil buggers :D when i was reading up on hydroponics a couple years back i got on a pot forum, they had better info and data than the tomato growers :D

though the plants themselves may be different, most the growing techniques are interchangeable....
 
  • #19
I know, it's amazing the DIY & plant growing technology weed has engendered. I cover my CP & succulent grow shelf in panda film which I've only ever seen advertised in a particular plant magazine which has only one topic... an it's not succulents or Cps! :D

I just wanted to warn any 12 year olds who might be reading this thread and decide to run a search for info on it and then have their parents blow up at 'em for visiting a weed site. "Yeah right just so you can see how to wire up a fan for your plants!"

---------- Post added at 08:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:39 PM ----------

Yup the dopers were right it does work! :D

I will make a photo tutorial on wiring it up later for the kiddies to see it here instead of elsewhere but I just tested it and it's awesome!

I picked up a 1.5V - 12 V Wall Wart with selector switches on the plug and now I have about six speeds I can run a 12V PC fan at. I'm ordering that 215 CFM PC fan right now! Oh yeah - wind tunnel!

Only problem is Wall Warts used to be under $10. Now it was $21 with tax!
 
  • #20
Hey swords,

You can use any fan, but I'd recommend a purchase from newegg since the prices are generally very low and the amount of reviews/ratings on each product can really help to steer you in the right direction. Here are some top-selling 120mm (4.7 inch) fans: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...73 4024 4802 1372526580 1372726538&name=120mm if you want to cruise around.

This one is about the fastest you'll get, at 3000RPM, but it is very loud (linking in case you don't care about noise): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185054

Personally I recommend this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835200028
It's adjustable speed from 1200RPM (very quiet) to 2400RPM (kinda loud, but it will push air very well). And it's still cheaper than the one you posted originally. With this you can control exactly how much air it moves, which in turn will help you balance humidity, temp, and air flow.

As for how to wire them for use with a wall outlet, read this: http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=2067&p=24474#p24474

Good luck. :)
 
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