swimmer4uus
Member
First off, I am in no way the one that originally did this design. I'm simply adding this to our DIY section, and thought many people here could use this information for our lighting hoods and etc.. So, I will be using the originally Authors pictures, and you can find the authors work by simply google searching heatsink-guide. So, he is the one that put the work into developing this, but I will be using an EXACT copy for my lighting needs/temperature controls.
All our intensive lighting systems opperate better when the hood temperatures are kept cooler. That we all know. Some manufacturers have put in fans to alleviate that heat, and expel it outside of the fixture. For MH, and T5's, you can pretty much be ok with having the fan come on with the lights. As someone who loves all things tech, that simply wasn't enough for me. So I started looking at fan controllers that would regulate the speed of the fan dependant on the air temperature surrounding the lights. Googled a little bit, and found the following. A lot of what the original author has written, I am putting in my own words, but I'll be using his pictures because they are so much better than mine. After I finish my hood, I can post pics.
Parts List:
A MOSFET Power transistor (N-Channel)
Must handle 12V, and amperes required by the fan (or fans)
IFR510 Power MOSFET (for the United States, others are different)
Radio Shack Part No. 276-2072a
A 10K spindle trimming potentiometer
Radio Shack Part No. 271-343 or 271-1715
A 10K NTC temperature sensor
Radio Shack Part No. 271-110A Thermistor
Other parts you may want to use:
Heat shrinkable tubing
Small PC Board for the circuitry
Heatsink for MOSFET (only recommended when driving more than 3 fans)
Assembly:
The original author made this wiring diagram that quite frankly, couldn't really get any more simple to understand.
The circuit is expanded, but will be pretty small once you assemble it. He has used the PC Board to keep it in a tight, compact unit, also making it easier to install and mount.
And finally hooked up to the fans wiring
If you find yourself looking for these parts, and want to build this bad boy for yourself, it's going to cost less than $10. Also, this is a standalone system, and is not intended to need anything else to function correctly.
I'm simply going to copy and paste (minus some deleting that can be done) his explanation on calibrating this system.
"Before you start using the temperature control, the temperature at [the lights] should be kept must be set. This is done by adjusting the spindle trimming potentiometer. A good strategy to do this is: Start with it cool CPU. Turn potentiometer until the fan doesn't spin at all. Then, watch the temperature rise. As soon as the temperature gets close to the maximum it should reach, adjust the potentiometer so that the fan just starts to spin.
Exact adjustment is crucial if you'd like your temperature control to work the way it should. Do invest enough time adjusting it precisely. If the adjustment is not good, the temperature will either be too hot, or the fans will spin almost at top speed all the time, making the control useless.
You might notice that when turning your computer on, the controlled fans will not spin at all. After a while, as the system gets hotter, they will start to spin; and often they will spin a little faster at first, but then fall back to slower speed after a while. This is normal; the reason is that fans need a higher voltage to start spinning than to keep spinning.
If you change the fan connected to the temperature control, or if you add another fan, the temperature must be readjusted."
Hope somebody can find this useful
All our intensive lighting systems opperate better when the hood temperatures are kept cooler. That we all know. Some manufacturers have put in fans to alleviate that heat, and expel it outside of the fixture. For MH, and T5's, you can pretty much be ok with having the fan come on with the lights. As someone who loves all things tech, that simply wasn't enough for me. So I started looking at fan controllers that would regulate the speed of the fan dependant on the air temperature surrounding the lights. Googled a little bit, and found the following. A lot of what the original author has written, I am putting in my own words, but I'll be using his pictures because they are so much better than mine. After I finish my hood, I can post pics.
Parts List:
A MOSFET Power transistor (N-Channel)
Must handle 12V, and amperes required by the fan (or fans)
IFR510 Power MOSFET (for the United States, others are different)
Radio Shack Part No. 276-2072a
A 10K spindle trimming potentiometer
Radio Shack Part No. 271-343 or 271-1715
A 10K NTC temperature sensor
Radio Shack Part No. 271-110A Thermistor
Other parts you may want to use:
Heat shrinkable tubing
Small PC Board for the circuitry
Heatsink for MOSFET (only recommended when driving more than 3 fans)
Assembly:
The original author made this wiring diagram that quite frankly, couldn't really get any more simple to understand.
The circuit is expanded, but will be pretty small once you assemble it. He has used the PC Board to keep it in a tight, compact unit, also making it easier to install and mount.
And finally hooked up to the fans wiring
If you find yourself looking for these parts, and want to build this bad boy for yourself, it's going to cost less than $10. Also, this is a standalone system, and is not intended to need anything else to function correctly.
I'm simply going to copy and paste (minus some deleting that can be done) his explanation on calibrating this system.
"Before you start using the temperature control, the temperature at [the lights] should be kept must be set. This is done by adjusting the spindle trimming potentiometer. A good strategy to do this is: Start with it cool CPU. Turn potentiometer until the fan doesn't spin at all. Then, watch the temperature rise. As soon as the temperature gets close to the maximum it should reach, adjust the potentiometer so that the fan just starts to spin.
Exact adjustment is crucial if you'd like your temperature control to work the way it should. Do invest enough time adjusting it precisely. If the adjustment is not good, the temperature will either be too hot, or the fans will spin almost at top speed all the time, making the control useless.
You might notice that when turning your computer on, the controlled fans will not spin at all. After a while, as the system gets hotter, they will start to spin; and often they will spin a little faster at first, but then fall back to slower speed after a while. This is normal; the reason is that fans need a higher voltage to start spinning than to keep spinning.
If you change the fan connected to the temperature control, or if you add another fan, the temperature must be readjusted."
Hope somebody can find this useful
