Heat issues w/ CFLs

[ebola]

Hi all,

Tons of people here seem to have built their own lights, so I'm taking a whack at it myself. I'm just wondering if anyone with some experience with CFLs can clear two questions up for me.

I'm just wondering about the heat issues involving two CFLs (I believe they are equivalent to 150 Watts incandescent, ~5000 lumens) in a light. I plugged these suckers in, and they do get VERY hot to the touch. I'll be housing them in a plastic window box from Home Depot, so my concerns are two-fold: will they melt the enclosure, and what kind of temperature increase can I expect in the water under them? I plan on sitting the enclosure directly on top of the glass panel I have covering the tank. I will be cooling the enclosure with two 92 mm computer fans, but they most likely won't be running at full speed if I can get away with it.

Thanks!

[Sploke]

I ran into problems with 4x65w CFs over my 55gal. They are enclosed in a wood canopy, which traps the heat. I had to add 4 small cpu fans to get enough air movement to keep everything cool - on a hot day my tank spiked up to about 96 degrees. As far as melting the plastic, hard to tell. Depends on the type of plastic and how you're mounting them. I would think that if you use good reflectors and use standoffs to give some space between them and the hood, it would be ok but I'm not positive. As long as you're running the fans, the heat shouldn't be an issue with the water.

[Cory Keeper]

I use three 23w CLFs, no heat issues, it will warm the wood canopy a bit, but not to extremes. In your case you might need to consider fans to help keep the heat down.

[jmhart]

I can't say about the plastic, really depends on the heat rating of the plastic itself. However, I run 8 x 23w 6500k over my 45g and over the course of a day it only increases the water temperature by *maybe* 1.5 deg. I house mine in a wood canopy, no fan, with a half-open back.

[ebola]

Thanks for the great replies, guys. I just assembled the deal. The transformer I had on hand wasn't able to do much more than spin the fans, so I had to sneak wires into my computer. The plastic vibrates something fierce, so that's out. I think I'll just monitor and hope enough heat gets siphoned out through the holes i cut.

[ebola]

Thanks for the great replies, guys. I just assembled the deal. The transformer I had on hand wasn't able to do much more than spin the fans, so I had to sneak wires into my computer. The plastic vibrates something fierce, so that's out. I think I'll just monitor and hope enough heat gets siphoned out through the holes i cut.

[TwoTankAmin]

I make open top wooden enclsures and mount the ballast on the outside of the back- never had any heat issues and I run multiple fixtures and several tanks. I have never needed fans.

[jmhart]

I make open top wooden enclsures and mount the ballast on the outside of the back- never had any heat issues and I run multiple fixtures and several tanks. I have never needed fans.

I believe the OP is refering to CFL's, the spiral compacts, with internal ballast that can't be mounted independently.

[00Smurf]

I had heat issues. 4x26Watt ge "Daylight" bulbs

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v427/00Smurf/Fish/0507081829.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v427/00Smurf/Fish/0507081829a.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v427/00Smurf/Fish/0507081849.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v427/00Smurf/Fish/DSC01773.jpg

[ebola]

That looks nice, smurf. I see you only had one fan for four bulbs. How did you wire it up? I can never remember what kind of current computer hardware runs off...

[00Smurf]

That looks nice, smurf. I see you only had one fan for four bulbs. How did you wire it up? I can never remember what kind of current computer hardware runs off...

thank you. that was my second revision. I ran the fan off some random dc 12V 1500mh power supply i had lying around. + to + - to - easy enough to wire up. It should run off any 12v psu.