Is it possible to dial down inline fans?

[agoutihead]

We have had issues with setting up our inline centrifugal fan & carbon filter lately for the exhaust.

It is just blowing too much air & is making a lot more noise than we'd like. Blowing a lot of air is a good thing we realize, but if we can dial the fan down some how, it will still pull enough heat out of the room & filter the air to make it worth running yet still be much quieter & not like there's a tornado coming out of our window lol.

Is there any way to dial it down? My mate is an electrician, so he can take care of any wiring needs.

 

[jahrastafareye]

haha yes use a "speedster" speed controller ftw! hazaa! no wiring needed

 

[agoutihead]

Yes awesome thank you!

eBay has them for like $25 not bad

 

[187020]

What size fan? How big the room? Exchanging air 2x/min ain't too shabby. Peace

 

[rives]

You'd better check the compatibility of the speedster with your fan before you buy it. They are designed for brush-type motors, which most fans aren't. The other option is a triac-based speed controller, such as the KB in the following link. I think that Home Depot, amongst others, carry them.

http://www.kbelectronics.com/

 

[Harry Gypsna]

Electronic "dimmer" type speed controllers make fans hum and buzz. What you need is a variac, or stepped voltage transformer controller-more expensive, but solid, and much better at the intended job

 

[Hammerhead]

these are the right speed controllers to use with inlines. Not cheep

http://www.4hydroponics.com/growroom/items.asp?ItemNo=canTrol

 

[They]

these are the right speed controllers to use with inlines. Not cheep

http://www.4hydroponics.com/growroom/items.asp?ItemNo=canTrol

Unless one buys from a non-grow store.

http://www.officebeyond.com/vaau.html

Like many things in this hobby the mark up is crazy.

 

[St3ve]

The best for you would be one with a thermostat.. you set it to the temp you want it and it keeps the minimum speed to keep the max temp.

 

[supermanlives]

yes all my fans havespeed controlls. also duct silencers

 

[TribalSeeds]

Anyone have any luck slowing down a max fan? They dont seem to like the Speedsters

 

[Killuminatti]

Supposedly the 12 inch MF def requires a vari volt controller like the one made by Can. But I've heard different things regarding the 14 inch model requiring them. I would like to hear about this too as I was thinking about what to do with my vent setup.

 

[St3ve]

It says on their website that they do work well with controllers.. you just gotta get the correct one.

 

[bench warmer]

Variable AC transformer + Duct muffler will do the trick

 

[rives]

You are best off checking with the manufacturer of the fan to see what they recommend for a specific model. Each type of speed controller has its' good points and its' bad. The speedsters work fine for brush-type motors, but very few fans are built that way. The triac-based controllers like the KB are basically high-speed switches that modify the portion of the sine wave that the motor sees, and have perhaps the widest applicability. The variacs are a variable transformer that lowers the voltage that the motor sees, but the lower voltage results in higher current and can potentially be a problem at low speeds because of the reduced cooling and higher amperage.

If I remember correctly (no personal experience with them), the Can line of fans work best with a triac-based controller, with the exception of two models for which they recommend a variac. I use Fantech fans, and they are working fine on triac controllers.

 

[BlueBalls]

Speedsters are triac-based speed controllers.

Here is a shot of the BTA26 TRIAC inside the Speedster


Here is its data sheet
View attachment 7470.pdf

 

[siddhartha]

Also a short run of insulated ducting quiets things down a lot.
Sidd

 

[rives]

Speedsters are triac-based speed controllers.

Here is a shot of the BTA26 TRIAC inside the Speedster
View attachment 165651

Here is its data sheet
View attachment 165652

Now that is an interesting bit of information! I have never pulled one apart to look - now I'm going to have to see what the hell the difference is. I have one that works great with any motor with brushes, as their instructions say, and my fans hated it. The fans work well on both KB and Grozone controllers, which are also triac based, as well as a homemade triac controller. The data sheet that you posted says that the BTA version is specially recommended for inductive loads as a result of it's high commutation performance - I wonder if this translates to poor performance in a motor without a commutator. Curious.

 

[yesum]

I use a cheap generic speedster with a cheap Hydro Farm active air inline fan. No hum or anything. I have read of using the more expensive controllers but took the chance to save money and no problems.

 

[Hammerhead]

I have a speedstar.(18$) Its not in use at the moment...It seems pretty cheap compared to the Variac controllers. For 50$ these seem to be better built..