Lighting setup

[Quinn]

Originally Posted by Lofus

What problems did you run into on the canopy TeeVee?

I started out with two 3.5" fans blowing in at the level of the reflectors and bulbs and holes on the other side for output. I figured this would be good enough to remove excess heat radiating off the top of the lighting hardware. The fans were wired in circuit. I soon discovered that these two fans were providing too much air and the output holes couldn't handle it, backpressure was building up and slowing the fans down. Plus my temperature was too high.

So I drilled another two holes on the other side and wired two more fans up there. All four fans on the same circuit - they wouldn't start. Thought I had a defective unit, so removed one. The three worked, but not at full velocity. Somehow being wired in circuit was splitting power across all the fans. So I swapped them to parallel - and realized they were powerful enough, I could have done with just one on each side. So now I have just two fans running, but big holes on both sides of the canopy that I haven't bothered to fill where I could put more. The fans are also too high as I am now realizing.

If I could redo it, I would mount the fans lower, so that they are blowing under the hardware, and just one on each side. Then I would put two inside the canopy at a 45 degree angle blowing at the water to help cool it down. That way I could get rid of the fan in my sump.