Connecting Fan to Ballast

P

plasticine

Guest
My canopy is running a little hot and was looking to add a fan but am not sure what to get and how to wire it?
What voltage should I be looking for if I was connecting it to a workhorse 7 ballast and how should I wire it? Looking at Radio Shack I see a 12V and 120V so I am assuming the latter but obviously am not sure.
 

6stokes

Member
Don't even bother with the 12 volt, besides, it's DC volts and you need AC volts. You have to get the 120 if you want some good flow. A couple of suggestions for you:
The ones Radio Shack sells produce the proper CFM (cubic foot per minute) and I can't remember what that is, but the box will say. Reason I'm mentioning it is that I haven't had good success with the Radio Shack fans, so I would suggest anything else that runs at the same CFM. Other folks have told me that they had good luck with RS fans. Your call. Radio Shack also sells the fan covers to make a nice trim on the canopy. They're just a few bucks each and they will work with any brand fan usually.
Next, be sure to buy the right sized fan. I have a pretty big canopy and a four inch fan is just too big to fit. Drilling a hole for the air would have only left like a half inch of wood on either side. That was too scary for me, so I went with the three inch fans. You can buy a hole saw that fits a standard drill at just about any hardware store.
The power is something you want to be real careful about. One side of your ballast will be producing somewhere over 1000 volts. DO NOT CONNECT TO THIS SIDE OF THE BALLAST. Actually I would recomend not connecting to the ballast at all. I realize that you are trying to get the fans to go on and off with the lights, but depending on where in the country you live, you may want the fans to go off before or after the lights do. Certain times of the year I run fans 24/7, but I live in the desert. Just buy another timer and you can pick up a cord for the fans at the hardware store. They sell a cord that on one end has bare wires ready to connect to something that operates at 120 volts. The other end plugs into the wall.
Hope this helps
 
If you are gonna wire a fan to turn on with your lights, get a 120v fan. I bought one form radio shack for $20. White wire to white wire and black to black. No problem.
In the mean while I discovered my local appliance repair center:D !!!
They have used microwave oven fans. :D FOR FREE:D
I'm not sure what the cubic feet per minute is on each fan, but if the box is too hot, adding another fan is not to expensive.
 
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