Fans For Cooling Light

[TammyLiz]

Hello there fellow diy people

I put together a little diy hood for a 2.5 gallon tank and it looks great, completely covering the tank with a glass top under it to keep condensation out of it. I'm having trouble with it overheating the tank to 85F! So I was talking to a guy at the LFS today and he had the brilliant idea to add a fan to help direct the heat from the light away.

So I have two questions.

1) Does anyone know if it would make enough of a difference even though the tank has a glass top over it? The fan would only be moving air through the space with the light, not helping evaporation to occur for cooling purposes. Would it still help?

2) I've heard of people using computer case fans for cooling lights but I'm not sure how I'd wire those. My husband says he's pretty sure they need direct current. Is there an adapter that's needed?

Right now the light is just one wire from a plug-in cord going to a switch and a wire going from the switch to the screw in fixure, and the other going straight to the fixture. Is there a way to incorporate the fan into this for power?

Thanks.

Later tonight if I have some more time I'll add a picture, for all you people who like to actually see things.

 

[dylema]

It would work mutch better if you have air being blown in and allowed to escape thus removing hot air and promoting evaporation to cool the tank. I don't know how it would work if there was nowhere for the air to go. As for the computer fans, don't quote me but I think if you have a 12V powerpack (with a high enough amp rating) you could wire it up through a switch and the fan should run fine.

Dylan

 

[promithius]

My suggestion would be to have 2 fans, one blowing cool air in, the other sucking hot air out. I *think* the fans can be wired to a 12v adapter and run through the mains, but i owuld make sure of that before quoting me!

 

[SkiFletch]

You guys are right, almoast all computer case fans run on 12VDC. So you can just buy a 12VDC transformer and wire them both in series. Red from transformer ---> Red fan 1 ---> Black fan 1 ---> Red fan 2 ---> Black fan 2 ---> Black from transformer. I'm a little confused as to how/where your lights are connected. You can stack the transformer on the same A/C line as the lights and use one switch to control both, or you can put a small switch anywhere in the circuit I outlined above to have independent control.

 

[Neo8223]

Hi, I would personally use a 40mm northbridge fan or a 60mm case fan. Your hubby is correct, these do need DC. I'd use 10V, as 12v is WAY Too noisy. You can get transformers that convert the AC 110V to DC 10V. ou can pick it up from one of your wallmart stores or something.

If your hubby knows about AC and DC then he probably knows how to solder, so get him to make a perminent connection once you have tested it works.

I think i would only use 1 fan however, and see from there whether you need another fan, but the first fan you use should have air blowing into the tank. I think this would work best. However, you can experiment

Its a bit wierd how you have temperature issues, my 2.7 gall tank has never had any problems and i got the light running 10 hours a day. I removed my back panel for my lid to make it easier for wires to go into the tank, and this might just be the sollution to heat dispersion. Mind you... i do live in the UK, home of rain clouds and dismal weather.