Tek light fan mod

milkman55 said:
A few questions Lighthouze if I may....

Do you use the acrylic shield?

yes i do

I thought the goal was to keep the bulb ends cool. Do you think the middle fan is necessary? My eight bulb 48" TEK does not seem to get that hot.

The way i did mine was the 2 fans at both ends suck in the cool air outside, the middle fan blows hot air out. I think this works pretty well to keep the bulbs cool, i think 2 fans would be enough, but eh, if it's worth doing, its worth over-doing
Do you run the fans wide open or something less?

I run the fans at half speed, even at half speed you can feel the cool air leaking out through the acrylic shield at the ends
What did you use to cut the sheet metal and get the smooth edges?
I used a dremel with the reinforced cut off wheels, very easy to cut off then i attach the sanding bit to the dremel and smooth it out

Best looking fan mod I have seen. Very clean and functional.
Click to expand...

Thanks, credit goes to the guys from this thread
 
painkiller1009 when you took apart your Tek light did it have a sheet of metal behind the refleictor. My Tek Elite has the outer shell the part that you see and then the reflector and beneath that a sheet metal, the fans blow across the sheet metal, I believe that the ballast are in there also.
 
lighthouze08 said:
60047_796441263383_22208961_43450577_1855434_n.jpg


63086_796440859193_22208961_43450566_6411351_n.jpg


Each fan has a knob to control the speed right on the fixture itself
Click to expand...

Hey I have a question that hasent really been touched on. What about the reflector. I took my 6 bulb tek apart last night and what it looks like to me is if I put fans in the top then it looks like i'll just be cooling the ballast, and the back of the reflector, the reflector runs almost the intire lenghth of the fixture, did you have to cut the reflector any or do the small gaps at the end allow enough air to get to the bulbs. If you did cut them where did you cut them at and with what tool. also did you plug up the fixtures slotted air vents? I know you dont want to take your fixture apart again so if you could elabrate on the reflector that would be awesome. And possibly seal the deal for me.
 
i cut a few notches out of each end of the reflector to let the air go down to the fixture, i guess if you want you can drill several holes in the reflector. even with a few small gaps at the end, you can really feel the air get blown down to the bulbs once you put the fixture back together. i used the cut off wheel of the dremel to do the job

i did not plug up the air vents, i don't see the reason to.
 
lighthouze08 said:
i cut a few notches out of each end of the reflector to let the air go down to the fixture, i guess if you want you can drill several holes in the reflector. even with a few small gaps at the end, you can really feel the air get blown down to the bulbs once you put the fixture back together. i used the cut off wheel of the dremel to do the job

i did not plug up the air vents, i don't see the reason to.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that fast reply, I think I will order the same fans you did. By the way man that is a sweet mod you should be proud.
 
will acording to what I have read from t5 experts like grim reefer then the cooling alone has incresed your useable light output by atleast 25%. There is no question as to weather im going to to do it or not. Fans have been ordered :) Good luck man.
 
kdog308 said:
will acording to what I have read from t5 experts like grim reefer then the cooling alone has incresed your useable light output by atleast 25%. There is no question as to weather im going to to do it or not. Fans have been ordered :) Good luck man.
Click to expand...

that's awesome to hear, share your pictures when you are doing it. i would love to see it. gluck
 
I just purchased a 6 bulb tek fixture as well. I followed lighthouze08's instructions and purchased the same fans and power supply (I heard something once about imitation being the highest form of flattery). I have the dremmel and I am confident in my ability to cut the fixture/reflector... What I am concerned about is wiring up the fans, and controllers. Do you have any explanation as to how you went about doing this?
 
On my old light fixture, the fans were wired into the daylight power source, so when the daylight bulbs came on, the fans came on, is there a way to wire these fans into the plug for the day lights (bulbs 2-5 on my fixture)? Thanks
 
terry4505, yours turned out great. Mine has been running with the mod for almost a year now with no problem. In the winter time, i slow down the fans a bit b/c it's not that hot inside
 
Looking to do this to my TEK 6 bulb, but the link to the power supply is now broken. Can someone steer me in the right direction to power the fans and control module lighthouze08 used?
 
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