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Insulated Ducting! You wouldn't believe how much quieter things get when you use it, I know I couldn't believe it.

I had a 6" Vortex with ducting on it and I was testing it beside my current grow tent with everything powered up.... I could barely tell it was running vs the 4" without ducting.


I found a 10' box at home depot for $15. Gave me more then enough to run the ducts in the tent.

Since the insulated ducting worked so well, I will likely be adding it to my 4" fan also so that I can be used to bring fresh air into the lung room. Total noise between the two with ducting will be substantially less then the 4" without ducting.

-edit-

I also bought and wired a soild state speed controler (up to 6 amps) and it helps lower the noise a bit, but it is nothing when compaired to the insulated ductings effect on noise. Also proably much cheaper. I actually find the speed controller, when used with insulated ducting can actually INCREASE the noise. Many grow rooms noise isn't from the fans, but from the air movement. The insulated ducting solves that for the most part, but as you start using speed contollers, you will notice you are making the MOTOR louder while making the AIR quieter. but after installing the ducting I found at full speed the 6" was nearly silent, so the speed controller is pretty much useless.

Hopefully that made some sort of sense or I'll clear it up later

This is incorrect. Solid State PWM (Pulse Width Modification) speed controllers send "pulses" of 100% power at different durations to modify the pulse width and thus the total level of load on the motor.

A Rheostat speed controller is nothing but a two-terminal variable resistor. You are right by saying it shouldn't effect voltage, but it is much less efficent then PWM.

I'd go with a solid state speed controller for the best results.

Yup! But still a freq drive is the best way to control an AC motor. (but need a motor that can handle 600Hz or so that the freq drive is spitting out)

but back on topic. I have had some, but not full luck with the home depot dimmers, meant for ceiling fans, to work.

Lights (incandescents ) are resistive loads Motors are inductive loads. These need to be handled differently when not run at 100%.

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The Temporary Relief Assistant Trailer Park Supervisor. Carmelisous Jornl :: ElecUsageCostsCalc

Thanks alot for that information. You probably saved my families life. Thanks.

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Current Grow

Most Freq drives are designed for 3 phase motors. The output at full speed is 60 hz. All american 3 phase motors are built for 60hz operation. Most European motors are built for 50hz(they can handle 60 though). The cool thing about freq drives is that you can feed single phase to the drive(by doubling the feeder size) and utilize 3 phase on the output. These drives provide perfect speed contol. You can even program your fan speed to follow temp(or CO2, or humidity) inside of your grow. These drives are the backbone of a pro grow.

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e2 to e4

+1 on the insulated ducting. R8 ducting made a gigantic difference on my 6" 440cfm inline. I'm sure R6 or R4.2 would make a huge difference too. R8 is bulky but it is quite.

I've got a Harbor Freight speed controller (appears identical to the ones my grow shop sells) and I don't like it at all. It makes the fan motor sing/hum fairly loudly. It's a combination of what sounds like resonating fan-housing "sing" and motor hum. There are a few settings (barely on and nearly max) that are sort of "OK" but none of those sweet spot settings are what I need for airflow. Also, the fan noises don't strike me as good for the fan--although I'm not up to speed on the specifics so I don't know if that idea holds water.

Bottom line: running the fan full blast, insulating the ducting, and building a fan isolation box have worked better for me than trying to use the speed controller. It was more hassle to setup than the speed controller for sure--but I gotta do what I gotta do.




I'm told that a Variac speed controller will not produce ANY side-effect noises from slowing down the fan. If they weren't kind of expensive I'd have one already. Maybe in the future....

This is the 5A model but there's a 3A model as well.

You are correct. The motor you are using was designed for use on a 120V 60hz circuit. Changing these parameters will almost always shorten motor life. Sometimes saving energy or utilizing the benefits of precise control outweigh the possible damage.The power is yours alone to make that call.

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e2 to e4

Apparently my info is flawed to some degree, thanks for setting me straight, I just didn't wanna see another fire post or worse.

P@ssw0rd

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I've got those laying all over at work. You can get them at local used equipment houses for nothing.

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Lumens, lux, and adding it all up :: 16K HPS vs. CFL :: DIY Drip Irrigation :: Pack water transport