Do I need the fan?

[ShadowMac]

I have recently reduced my lighting and changed my ballast from an ice cap 660 running 2-4 bulbs to a workhorse ballast running 2 bulbs.

Before I think the cooling fan was necessary. Now I am not sure. What do you think? Do I need the fan or can I lose it?

I ask because it is noisiest component on the tank and if I didn't need it I would prefer it was gone, so the tank is virtually silent.

 

[shoggoth43]

Maybe, maybe not. If you disconnect it, how hot do things get? Warm to the touch is probably fine, not being able to keep your finger on it for more than several seconds is generally not ok. Depending on the fan, it's also possible to either replace it with a quieter fan, or if it's a DC fan you might be able to drop the voltage to it and run it slower. Again, use the finger test. Electronics can handle some heat, but it will generally shorten the lifespan.

-
S

I have recently reduced my lighting and changed my ballast from an ice cap 660 running 2-4 bulbs to a workhorse ballast running 2 bulbs.

Before I think the cooling fan was necessary. Now I am not sure. What do you think? Do I need the fan or can I lose it?

I ask because it is noisiest component on the tank and if I didn't need it I would prefer it was gone, so the tank is virtually silent.

 

[ShadowMac]

are you referring to the heat of the ballast? I am assuming so, since generally the bulbs get VERY hot. I've had a burn or two as proof of that.

 

[feh]

If those fans blow on the bulbs at all I'll run them. The cooler the bulbs are the better they work.

 

[ShadowMac]

i went one day without the fan, the ballast was quite a bit hotter. Before I could leave my finger on it no problem, but without the fan it was too hot.

I'm using the fan

 

[SuperColey1]

If those fans blow on the bulbs at all I'll run them. The cooler the bulbs are the better they work.

Not true. Flouro tubes have an ideal ambient temperature. If at the perfect temperature then they work much more efficiently. Normally higher for T5 than T8. So get them cold and they won't work as well.
T5 ideal is 35°C (95°F), T8/T12 is 25°C (77°F)

That is nothing to do with the tube temperature. That is the ambient temperature so using a fan to cool them down will cool the ambient temperature thus losing efficacy.

In answer to the OP. If they are enclosed (i.e. in a luminaire) and there is a fan on the unit I would run a fan. It was probably put there for a reason. If not enclosed then not. I don't run fans on any of mine because they are all fixed to undersides of shelves in cupboards etc and not enclosed in any way.

Andy

 

[ShadowMac]

It is a DIY light system built into a wooden hood. The back side is completely open and the right side has a slot I made for the lilly pipe.

I built in the fan. Do you think it is not necessary? even if the ballast gets too warm to touch for an extended amount of time?

 

[SuperColey1]

Fix a normal thermometer in the inside of the hood for a few days. See what the ambient is between the water and the lights. That will tell you. The ballast temp is not a factor unless it is heating up the ambient temperature around the tube hence why in standard plastic hoods the ballast is in a seperate enclosed 'well' from the tube (or tubes.) normally with no fans


An end section of those sort of hoods would be like a capital M where the lights are clipped in the underside and the ballast is accesible in the centre from above. The Juwel 'I' Bar is a simlar idea where the ballast is within athe Ibar and the lights branch out from the sides

Andy