Controlling fan speed?

curioushiker said:

Holy shit man! I thought that my avatars rocked. Way to lay the cola to her...

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Dixie Daytona is her name and she has a pretty badass video over at tube8.

Hey, are those fan speed controllers bad for your fan? I just bought two new fans that werent cheap so im not trying to blow the motors on them after a month.

Ive read that if you hear a hum then that isnt good and you should quit using the adjuster. Would anyone agree with that.

Not sure with your brand of fan but when I talked to the guys at Can Fan they told me that the buzz is not good. If you are air cooling your lights then it is going to be critical that you get a variable speed controller. If you are just trying to control temps in your room then I would just use the ON/OFF type controllers. I plan on using one of C.A.P.'s temp controllers. I think they are about $80 but I think when we are talking about a $200 to $400 dollar fan then it is a small price to pay.

Shit.. who did you talk to at Can-Fan? The guy I talked to swore the buzz didn't mean anything and wouldn't shorten the life of the fan unless I cut the speed down so low that it didn't cool the fan motor. I talked to them 3-4 days ago.

curioushiker said:

Not sure with your brand of fan but when I talked to the guys at Can Fan they told me that the buzz is not good. If you are air cooling your lights then it is going to be critical that you get a variable speed controller. If you are just trying to control temps in your room then I would just use the ON/OFF type controllers. I plan on using one of C.A.P.'s temp controllers. I think they are about $80 but I think when we are talking about a $200 to $400 dollar fan then it is a small price to pay.

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Hey man, why do you think its important to have a speed controller if youre using fans to cool lights?

mrFancyPlants said:

Shit.. who did you talk to at Can-Fan? The guy I talked to swore the buzz didn't mean anything and wouldn't shorten the life of the fan unless I cut the speed down so low that it didn't cool the fan motor. I talked to them 3-4 days ago.

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Now that I think about it the buzz was more of a concern when trying to controll the 12" max fan only. They said it uses a special motor.
You are right on the heat issue. Fan needs to turn fast enough to keep the motor cool

renyman said:

Hey man, why do you think its important to have a speed controller if youre using fans to cool lights?

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My bad, I was daydreamin again. My next room will be an airtight CO2 room. I plan on using the IceBox setup on my aircooled lights.
When using the Ice Box units the fan speed needs to be regulated to keep the temps from falling too low.
You are right. Under normal circumstances when air cooling your lights full speed ahead.

Hey Curioushiker, what did you end up buying and how is it working out? I own a 8" Maxfan and I am/was going to buy the Grozone Temp 2V. That speed controler does exactely what I want it to. My fan is oversized and am guessing that it would be running on low most of the time. I'm disappointed to hear the 8" does not handle slow speeds well.

What up everybody. Couldn't help but chime in. I got a dial a temp from the hydro store and it works great. 28$ right now I'm using it on a canfan 6ho. No complaints. My guy at the local hydro shop says it will work for all of them. The 8,10,12. I couldn't tell u about the noise one the bigger models but the six is quiet. Can't even tell the fan is on from the next room. I will try to find a link for ya. Stay green.
Hope it works. Guess its only for 300 watt and under but he said it would work

mtrum75 said:

Hey Curioushiker, what did you end up buying and how is it working out? I own a 8" Maxfan and I am/was going to buy the Grozone Temp 2V. That speed controler does exactely what I want it to. My fan is oversized and am guessing that it would be running on low most of the time. I'm disappointed to hear the 8" does not handle slow speeds well.

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I havent bought mine yet. However I am goin to get the ON/OFF unit that C.A.P. makes. I cant remember the model but it is the One with a temp probe, light sensor and tempurature dial.
My fan is way oversized for my room so I am sure that an on/off setup is the way to go.
The warranty on Can products is outstanding. If it does give you problems just take it in for replacment.
If you check out Hydro Inovations IceBox setup there demo (try Youtube) has an 8" max fan colling 5 or 6 lights. They are using a speed controller that is made by GroZone (just for Hydro Inovations).
Hope this helps ya.

jon blaze jr. said:

What up everybody. Couldn't help but chime in. I got a dial a temp from the hydro store and it works great. 28$ right now I'm using it on a canfan 6ho. No complaints. My guy at the local hydro shop says it will work for all of them. The 8,10,12. I couldn't tell u about the noise one the bigger models but the six is quiet. Can't even tell the fan is on from the next room. I will try to find a link for ya. Stay green.
Hope it works. Guess its only for 300 watt and under but he said it would work

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From what I was told the Cans and MaxFans use different motors. The maxfan use a high perfprmance motor. The 12" in particular will fry if used with a conventional controller.

So the speedster & 8" max-fan do work together? I would keep it on medium to ensure the motor stayed properly cooled.

I use a Speed Master that I picked up from the local gardening store. There are two different methods to control the fan speed. 1 will f*** up your fans, and 1 won't. I made sure that this one wouldn't.

-ZOO

Anyone know how i can control a 12" phat fan 5 amp draw, 500w 1700cfm? A 10amp variac causes the fan to shut down in thermal overload I believe. Is my only option an expensive vfd?