Inline Fan Speed Controller on a Timer?

carbon filter > light > light > fan > exhaust out. is there a controller that adjusts the speed of the fan, lowering sound and power used, on a timer? i dont want to be pulling the same cfm at night when the lights are off, it will be a waste of the filter and electricity.
anyone know of a controller that does this? Or a better way to set this up?

my local hydro shop guy said to put the fan cooling the lights on the same timer as the lights and buy another fan for the carbon filter alone and have it running 24/7 exhausting right inside the grow room. 'just put the fan on top and leave it inside ur room' - his quote. will this work? doesnt seem right to exhaust the scrubbed air right back into the grow room... should i do what he suggests?
what do YOU, riu ers, suggest???

u can always use another fan. attatch it and have it always running, when the main fan pulls more air the 24/7 fan wont effect your head loss too much. that way you still pull air from your carbon filter. Also it means you get to buy a cheap shitty fan. my advice get something the same diameter as your set up. Like those glorified PC fans.

I ran the carbon filter-light-fan-out room, for a LONG time. I hooked it up to the light timer, but then noticed the smell was kickin my ass, so I began to run it 24/7. I called the fan manufacturer I use. Tjernlund, and they said runnning a fan below its speed is hard on the motors. I believe that, so i returned a speed controller I bought from harbor freight(wasnt much quieter at slower speed either). In the end, I ran the fan 24/7 thru my light, and out of the room. The vibration on the unlit bulb sucked ass, but I havent had one fail tooo early yet.

My current setup is outside-light-light-fan-out room, and Im running a carbon filter on a pedestal 24/7. I vent the filter out of the room. I imagine rerouting the same air from filter to room would work, but I rely on the negative pressure of a passive intake, to control errant odor loss. With a 500cfm filter and fan, its easy to generate a negative pressure in a 10x10 room. The result, All air escaping is filtered, and fresh incoming air at all times. When I get an airconditioner installed, I will probably put the carbon fan on a timer. No need to exhaust cold air, ALL THE TIME. For now, the outside air is cool enough. Anyhow, another point to remember, is that the constant starting and stopping of fans, shortens their life, and they are most noticeable in noise, as they accell or decell.

Can I get some rep for the lengthy answer that may be total bullshit? Happy growing to ya!

who the hell asks for rep?? and who asked you to type a long ass reply?? christ..
anyhoo's, i run my fan and speed controller on the same timer that my lights are on.. been this way for several months now.. no problems what so ever.. i also have a duct silencer on the output of the fan to quiet things down some more.. i would say that the combo of the two bring noise levels down by atleast 70 or so % over not having either of them.. i have an active air fan and the speed controller i have is made just for use with the active air fans..

I have never found such a timer. But heres what I did to have two modes of operation on my fans. I didnt want my large fan running full power or off when the lights were off. So this setup alows for
simple speed control of the fan when the timer is off. When the timers on the relay switches the fan to full speed. You can wire this or set the timer to configure any way you like.

racerboy71 said:

who the hell asks for rep?? and who asked you to type a long ass reply?? christ..
anyhoo's, i run my fan and speed controller on the same timer that my lights are on.. been this way for several months now.. no problems what so ever.. i also have a duct silencer on the output of the fan to quiet things down some more.. i would say that the combo of the two bring noise levels down by atleast 70 or so % over not having either of them.. i have an active air fan and the speed controller i have is made just for use with the active air fans..

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are also running a carbon filter on that same loop?
yea i was looking at duct mufflers along with insulated ducting. that should slice the noise down significantly. omw to hope depot

timers are no good for grow room fans, use a temp controller. these are brilliant, tested by me. i use them.
the fans will switch on and off to the temp you enter in to it.
it is a thermostat.
so buy one of these, originally made for lizard terrariums, etc. when the lights go out and the temperature drops the fans switch off, you can add a heater at the same time too, for winter to heat when its too cold,
you can adjust the temp of your grow room to a T.
very cheap, just follow instructions carefully to wire up.

ebay uk : http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ATC-800-Digital-Auto-Aquarium-Temperature-Controller-/150607165643?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item2310e2f8cb

ebay usa : http://cgi.ebay.com/Digital-LED-Heater-Chiller-Controller-ATC-800-NIB-/160589917807?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2563e7ae6f

You want a Titan Controls Mercury 4. It will allow you to set an idle speed and a high temp. For example if your set temp is 75, and the room temp exceeds that your fan is on at full power. At 65 the fan will either idle or turn off (depending on what you select). This allows you to keep negative pressure to avoid smells.

NedFlanders said:

You want a Titan Controls Mercury 4. It will allow you to set an idle speed and a high temp. For example if your set temp is 75, and the room temp exceeds that your fan is on at full power. At 65 the fan will either idle or turn off (depending on what you select). This allows you to keep negative pressure to avoid smells.

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Hmmmmmmmm

how much does it cost and from where.
i bet its an arm and a leg.

just buy the cheap one and totally seal your grow area with plastic and tape,
you can get a spring loaded inline non return duct damper that closes the duct when the fan is off, this will stop smells.
this one is galvanised steel, plastic ones are just as good but a lot cheaper.

ebay uk : http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/200MM-8-ANTI-BACK-DRAFT-SHUTTER-NON-RETURN-DAMPER-/270747488537?pt=UK_HomeGarden_Garden_PlantsSeedsBulbs_JN&hash=item3f09ced119

got word in another thread, ima do what the hydro shop guy suggested. 2 fans, one on lights on same timer, and another on carbon filter 24/7.
also this will help with the noise
http://www.phatfilter.com/phat_muffler.html

thank you all for your reply's!!

matatan said:

got word in another thread, ima do what the hydro shop guy suggested. 2 fans, one on lights on same timer, and another on carbon filter 24/7.
also this will help with the noise
http://www.phatfilter.com/phat_muffler.html

thank you all for your reply's!!

Click to expand...

this guy is wrong, your grow space will go in to very severe negative pressure, where does he suppose the inlet air is coming from when your inlet fan is off, i bet you a weeks self ban from this site your outlet fan will burn out in less than a week with the exerted pressure of it trying to find air to pull. you will hear the motor noise increase when your inlet switches off.if it was as easy as adding fans to light timers then there would be no need for temp controllers or fan speed controllers etc.try it though. you can bill the hydro guy for a new exhaust fan.

stephaniesloan said:

timers are no good for grow room fans, use a temp controller. these are brilliant, tested by me. i use them.
the fans will switch on and off to the temp you enter in to it.
it is a thermostat.
so buy one of these, originally made for lizard terrariums, etc. when the lights go out and the temperature drops the fans switch off, you can add a heater at the same time too, for winter to heat when its too cold,
you can adjust the temp of your grow room to a T.
very cheap, just follow instructions carefully to wire up.

ebay uk : http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ATC-800-Digital-Auto-Aquarium-Temperature-Controller-/150607165643?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item2310e2f8cb

ebay usa : http://cgi.ebay.com/Digital-LED-Heater-Chiller-Controller-ATC-800-NIB-/160589917807?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2563e7ae6f

Click to expand...

I stand corrected !!! Since your idea is tested by you .... What do I know...

CoreyPKGrower said:

I stand corrected !!! Since your idea is tested by you .... What do I know...

Click to expand...

Ok, I'm a noob and still trying to figure out how to connect all my equipment. This controller looks great. I am so dense when it comes to electical though. So you wire your fans into this controller? It looks to me not like "plug and play" so to speak. Automation really turns me on, especially since my grow is seperate from where I live. When I'm away I'd like to rest assured that if my temps get too high then my fans kick on and if they get to low then they kick off. That would be awesome. I just don't know how to read a schematic for wiring.

There's also the duct thermostat you can get. They got them in the roofing fans part of the hardware store. In home depot its pt6 model, in lowes could be different brand.
Its not plug and play, you will have to hard wire it, but it should be very easy. Someone on here did it already, just use search. I will hook mine up in a day or so, still need something to do it.
I think all you have to do is connect the hot wire to the thermometer and thats it!

stephaniesloan said:

timers are no good for grow room fans, use a temp controller. these are brilliant, tested by me. i use them.
the fans will switch on and off to the temp you enter in to it.
it is a thermostat.
so buy one of these, originally made for lizard terrariums, etc. when the lights go out and the temperature drops the fans switch off, you can add a heater at the same time too, for winter to heat when its too cold,
you can adjust the temp of your grow room to a T.
very cheap, just follow instructions carefully to wire up.

ebay uk : http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ATC-800-Digital-Auto-Aquarium-Temperature-Controller-/150607165643?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item2310e2f8cb

ebay usa : http://cgi.ebay.com/Digital-LED-Heater-Chiller-Controller-ATC-800-NIB-/160589917807?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2563e7ae6f

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info...if this does the job it would save an arm and a leg.

Thanks for asking this question, Matatan. I have been thinking about this for quite some time. I am going to build my own air scrubbing system and run the inline fans from 3 medium/large grow rooms through it and then pump the warm air up into the living room in my house in order to lower my propane bills. I live in the middle of nowhere and getting propane trucked in is very expensive. I wanted to lower the speed of the fans during "lights out" so I'm not pumping tons of cold air upstairs, but I DO want some air moving so there will still be some air exchange at night. Thanks for the quality answer and too notch wiring diagram, CoreyPKgrower. That is the exact answer needed for this question. The only better answer would be somebody linking a website with that product already built and for sale. The next best answer was from NedFlanders. It's close and could work under the right circumstances. So, Ned, thank-you-diddly-do good neighbor-reno! (Bad joke)
I was thinking that between those two answers, this thread should be closed, but I realized there is still a chance of there being other ways to skin this cat. So... I look forward to other innovative ideas from this great RIU community. Thanks all!

I use an SMS smart controller.

Its temperature regulated.

There is nothing wrong with dialling fans down if you use the right equipment to do it.


My room temp is set to 22C for an ambient reading on the fan controllers temp sensor.
I then set my idle speed to around 30% on the controller.

If temps drop below 22C at ambient level the controller kicks the fan onto the idle speed.


Simples.


J

matatan said:

carbon filter > light > light > fan > exhaust out. Is there a controller that adjusts the speed of the fan, lowering sound and power used, on a timer? I dont want to be pulling the same cfm at night when the lights are off, it will be a waste of the filter and electricity.
Anyone know of a controller that does this? Or a better way to set this up?

My local hydro shop guy said to put the fan cooling the lights on the same timer as the lights and buy another fan for the carbon filter alone and have it running 24/7 exhausting right inside the grow room. 'just put the fan on top and leave it inside ur room' - his quote. Will this work? Doesnt seem right to exhaust the scrubbed air right back into the grow room... Should i do what he suggests?
What do you, riu ers, suggest???

Click to expand...

c.a.p. Vsc-dne

Titan Controls Mercury 3.

Has seperate day night temp settings, automatic variable speed control with a photo cell. all you do is plug your fan into it, set the two temp settings and it does.the rest.

Then just get a timer and you are done. Mercury 3 is about 80 bucks and a timer 20.

Owned one for almost 4 years. Love it, has never failed me.