Anyone Used a Dimmer swith on their extractors

using a dimmer on AC fans will cause them to use more electricity. It won't really hurt them, but it'll hurt the electric bill. If they're DC fans, then it's all gravy. I'd suggest the termostat option as that will save you energy costs as well as save your fans from excessive wear from being on 24/7.

 

Make sure you wired it up right.. Ok here is my attempt to tell you how it should be wired..

you have an extension cord or cord that plugs into the wall it has 2 wires, you take one wire from that cord, and one from dimmer and wire them together. Then you take one of the fans wires, connect it to the other wire from your extension cord. Now you have 1 wire from the dimmer and 1 from the fan, wire those together. Might work better, it you had it wired differently. Hope it helps, im in the same boat as you.. but mine only works as an on / off swith. I think it isn't sensitive enough. I have heard they work, perhaps the one I purchased for 3$ was poor quality.

***oops*** guess I should of looked at the date.

Err anyone out there have a dimmer hooked up to a 110vac fan?

 

well since its been brought back anyway u have to start it at full power to get the fan spinning then turn it down

 

Agreed.
And the dimmer will reduce the electricity used by te fan when dimmed not increase it like suggested before.

It's just a simple variable resistor in series with the fan.

And, uhh, o yeah, buzzing dimmers are no good. Get rid of it!

 

Hmm, I was just checking out my fan, and on the back it says that is in Impendence Protected. Does this mean that I can't idle it down? It is a noisy little bugger.. I am willing to try out another dimmer switch, but I am unfamiliar with this impendence protection.

 

Impedance protection is (i think) basically telling you not to wire in a dimmer swtich, as you have found it wont spin up till its got max power.. but you can turn it down once its spinning.. so dout it will enjoy running at lower Vs and will chew through power.

I recon money spent on a quieter fan will be worth it.. Most fans have an operating "DB" reading on the spec sheet, also look for higher flow rates.. Going to "proper" air con supplier will be your best bet as fans bought from DIY centres are shite.

I have wired my extractor so its only on when the HPS is on 4pm - 4am, but i have an a/c unit on all the time, the fan is on constant but the a/c kicks in when the grow room exceeds 27*c .

So during the day if my old man pops round the house there are no lights on and no noisy extractor fan humming.. thankfully the a/c is quiet and cant be heard.

 

Sorry I have to say this but what you say is absolute nonsense.
Impedance is like AC resistance. A good impedance match results in a effective power transfer between the primary circuit (mains power) and secondary circuit (the appliance). It also ensures that power balance between the primary and secondary is 'as desired'.

Think about your stereo/amplifier for a while. And the about your speakers.
Impedances like 4 or 8 Ohms are commonplace here.
If you hook up a 4 Ohm speaker to a amplifier thats supposed to work with 8 Ohm you may damage the amplifier, possibly even burn out the final stage of the amp.
(those little black boxes glued to the biggest fattest cooling block you can find in there)

 

umm, most of that went over my head. What I need to know, is will my "Impendence Protected" fan work with a dimmer? The dimmer I have will only run the fan at full speed, if I turn the dimmer down, nothing happens... Thanks for the reply's.

 

"Impedance is like AC resistance.."

So basically do not put anything that can alter the resistance before the fan.. which is what i said isnt it.. a dimmer switch is a resistor isnt it?

Booyah, i recon the answer is no, and as you have tried it and it only works at full power i think you have proved it..

 

This impedance protection is to protect the fan's motor.
This will not damage the dimmer.
There is very little to mess up here.

The worst thing you can do is power up the fan and prevent it from moving.
That may cause overheating since the fan cannot convert the power to motion, so it has to convert it to heat.

Try all you want, just make sure the fan keeps moving and you'd be good.

 

looks like.. it "may" work. The dimmer I had was for up to 600watts. Specificly for incandescent light bulbs, I am guessing that it wont power down to under 20watts. Goin to have to find a fan dimmer. thanx for all the reply's. happy growin

 

No no no no.
The dimmer controls the Voltage. Not the power.
Fans are supposed to operate just fine with only 50% of their 'intended' voltage.

You either have a very strange fan or just a crappy dimmer.