34g cad fan mod

[bilge rat]

Mornin everyone,
I have a cooling question for my new cad 34g MH
ive searched here, there and at NR and this tank is so new there are no mods as of yet.
I'm getting a consistent 3 degree bump when MH kicks on...disabling it till i can cool it.
I removed the panel on the sides of the lite opposite the switches
heres a pic, http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w.../tankltmod.jpg

I am thinking of 4 40mm case fans sice by side, pulling in air and pushing out the other side, here is the link and specs;
http://www.spirecoolers.com/main/pro...asp?ProdID=438
Fan blower
FD04020C1H3
40x40x20mm fan
High speed, Dual Ball, 3pin
Dimensions 40x40x20mm. (l x w x h)
Bearing Dual Ball bearing
Rated speed 6000 RPM +/-10%
Noise level 23.0 dBA
Air flow 10.25 CFM at 6000 RPM
Current A 0.14 A
Life Hours 70.000 hrs
Connector 3 pin mainboard

They will fit nicely between the t5 ends and the removed side panel and glass plate.
anyone here know electronics well enough to help me mod my MH out with some 40mm fans???
I have 40mm's install fingered out..just need ALOT of help with the wiring...walk thru talk thru type deelio.
not sure if this is the right forum or not..
thanks
joshuah

[bilge rat]

other link was bad heres pic of my lt with side panel removed, not sure which one of these too use..

[elmatth1]

I've got the 25 gallon CADlights tank and found that with the metal halide on my tank would get up to 86 degrees and the hood was extremely hot to the touch. I modded mine by cutting two holes on the top of the hood for a pair of 80mm cooling fans and that took care of the problem. All I did was wire the fans up in series so one blows in and the other blows out and hooked them up to an AC adapter from Walmart that I got for something like 12 bucks. Here's a link:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=4529474

They actually make an adapter to plug in to the AC adapter that has two wires that are stripped and ready to connect the fans to if you don't feel comfortable stripping the wires on the end of the adapter... couldn't find a link to that though.

I'll try to post a picture of what mine looks like in a little while if you'd like.

[bilge rat]

yeah post a pic
so you had to cut two big chunks out of your
hood reflector then?
joshuah

[elmatth1]

Joshuah,

Yeah, I just cut two holes in the hood and reflector as large as the inside of my cooling fans using my jig saw (I tried my dremel tool, but the aluminum was too tough to cut through at some parts) and mounted my 80mm fans on top. Here's a couple of pics for you, hope it helps.



You'll have to excuse the ugly workmanship on the plexiglass covers around the sides of the cooling fans, I haven't had time to polish them up yet. They are just there for aesthetics though. Oh, and I bought a couple of mesh computer fan guards to put over the fans to keep anything from getting into hood.

[elmatth1]

I connected them to an AC adapter that allows me to change the voltage, like the one I posted a link to earlier. I only have them running at 6 volts and they keep the hood and tank from overheating and are very quiet. When I have them running at 12 volts, you can hear the fans, although, it's not overly noisy. I'm sure the way you were thinking of doing it would work well too. I used the 80mm fans because I already had some laying around. Post a pic when you get the mod done. I'm always interested to see other DIY modifications.

Eric

[WILL2002]

I would suggest putting the AC adapter at the voltage the fan says on it or you will eventually burn up the motor in the fan. I've done what you are doing before and the fan gets gradually slower until it quits or it just quits altogether. I asked the electrical engineers I work with and they said "yes, if you don't give the fans enough voltage it will eventually kill the motors on the fan." just my 2cents

[zombiedust]

elmatth1.....Thanks for the advice.Big time ! You too WILL2002.

[elmatth1]

Will,
I have never heard that before. I've used six of these fans running at 6 volts on my old 75 gallon for two years, and never had a problem. Although, I have no way to know if they are slowing down any, but they never stopped or failed to start up again... I could just be lucky. Thanks for the advice though.

Eric

[fishymann]

Running at 6 volts should be fine. In computers they are usually ran on fan controllers which work by just limiting the amount of voltage supplied. Nice way to deal with the heat issue.

[bilge rat]

my concern is if the the combined CFM of 20+ blowing directly over the T5's and MH will be enough to cool it down...any thoughts?
sounds like you have more than twice the CFM im gonna have...or maybe not if your only runing 6v through each of them...
Each of the 40's comes with a 12v adapter so ill run them off the same timer i have my lights on.
Yours looks good, i just didn't want to have to cut into it or cut out reflector. Once the parts come in ill make a little log and post it.
joshuah

[bilge rat]

anyone?