# JBJ Formosa - is it suppose to be this loud?



## Drakken (Feb 9, 2004)

I don't know about the Formosa but my CSL 48" power compact is LOUD too. I guess that's the way they are, unfortunately.


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## PlantView (Feb 6, 2004)

This is a timely topic since I've been researching 36-inch power compact fixtures. Apparently noise is a fairly common complaint as the following post from last year illustrates.

JBJ cooling fans:
http://fins.actwin.com/aquatic-plants/month.200203/msg00102.html

Likewise, I've read similar criticisms about the Coralife Aqualight power compact strips.

It's a long-shot, but maybe a computer overclocker or someone familiar with PC cooling fans could comment on the feasibly of a fan upgrade retrofit.

BTW unirdna, do you have the optional legs, and what size tank is your Formosa being used on? I ask because I'm curious if you find that any distracting "light spill" from the fixture is occurring in the general room environment.

PlantView


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## Rex Grigg (Dec 10, 2002)

If it's a standard size fan you could upgrade the fan. But you have to know that most 110-120 volt fans are noisy. Measure the size of the fan in mm and let me know what size it is and I can give you some ideas to work with. Also you might try isolating the fan from the housing with rubber.


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## Drakken (Feb 9, 2004)

PlantView said:


> It's a long-shot, but maybe a computer overclocker or someone familiar with PC cooling fans could comment on the feasibly of a fan upgrade retrofit.


I have a 24" Smartlight that did not have a fan. I used my Dremel to cut an opening and attached a fan from an old computer. I used a 6V power supply from an old battery charger I had lying around and it works great. Good air movement and it's much quieter than my CSL fixture.

You can get all these parts at Radio Shack.


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## unirdna (Jan 22, 2004)

Plantview,

I opted not to buy the legs. I too was concerned with the 'light spill'. Not so much because of 'wasted' light, but because I did not want to be distracted while watching TV....reading a book...etc in the living room. If I was mounting the light on a 65 gallon, I would probably want the legs, since I would need to light to be further from the tank, in order to shed a triangle of light wide enough to cover the bottom. But I have it on a 46 bowfront (see photos), and as you can see, it will plaster the bottom of the tank just fine.

Rex,

I'd appreciate any expertise you could offer on this one. I've attached a photo showing the measurements of the fans. 

Additionally, would it be ok to simply turn the fan off for the duration that I am in the living room.....~2-3 hours at a time. Since my aquarium has a glass cover, I could probably get away with not using the plexiglass shield. And since there is a 1cm gap between the light fixture and the glass, I would think that some heat would escape - enough to keep things from breaking...

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Ted


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## Rex Grigg (Dec 10, 2002)

If you could open up the unit and measure the fans it would help. If they are NOT standard computer box fans then we may have a problem.


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## unirdna (Jan 22, 2004)

Got it, Rex.

The jbj unit consists of 3, 50 mm fans (each surrounded by a plastic frame and mounted with 4 screws). These fans look to be the same size as the fan on my CPU. The cooling fan that circulates air though my entire computer case is about 80 mm.


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## ninoboy (Jan 26, 2004)

You can get 12V DC micro fan from Radio Shack for about $12. It is 40mm fan and quite dependable. I use them for some DIY projects myself. I'm not sure how the JBJ fixture design the airflow, but usually 2 fans are enough. One to push air in from one end and the other to pull air out. Or you can do 2 fans blowing air into the fixture if there is another opening for air to come out. Using rubber washer to install the fan also will help reducing the nois level cause by vibration.


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## Rex Grigg (Dec 10, 2002)

Ok, www.cyberguys.com has 50 mm fans for $7.49 each. You want the magnetic Levitation fans as they are quieter than most. You will need a power supply to run them and they are 12 volt fans. 

BTW, I would never buy from Rat Shack except as a very last resort. Their prices are much to high. Cyberguys has 40 mm fans for $5.99 each.


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## unirdna (Jan 22, 2004)

Thanks Rex.

Looks like cyberguys has em for 5.99......only they're out of stock right now. No worries, there must be 1000 places to find these, and now I know about what I should be paying.

Ted


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## unirdna (Jan 22, 2004)

Update. Rex smacks another one out of the park!!! Much quieter. JBJ should spend the extra 5 bucks and install these fans to start with :? . Installation was a snap, as they plugged right into my light fixture.

Ted


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## Rex Grigg (Dec 10, 2002)

And those fans are noisy compared to the PC Power and Cooling 80mm fans I have in my computers and canopy. Try 20 dB.


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## Momotaro (Feb 21, 2003)

After reading this I am also going to change the fans in my JBJ! Unfortunately, I could not find the 50mm fans on the Cyberguys webite. :? 

Mike


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## unirdna (Jan 22, 2004)

20 dB!?! That's really really good. I think the ones I installed were rated in the high 20's/ low 30's. If I had to make a crude guess, I would say that the stock fans were probably in the 80 dB range.....about as loud as a normal conversation. But I am not a soundologist, so don't go tearing me a new one, alright .

Mike, I thought I would be able to find the 50mm fans online....alas, nothing but dead ends. There are lots of ball-bearing 50mm on many sites, but those aren't the cadillacs......still, I'll bet they are better than the stock fans. I got mine from a local computer store.

Turns out 50mm fans are used pretty rarely. Older Celeron processors and video cards are about all they are used for. Most processors use 40mm and cases use 80mm.....so you may be in for a bit of a hunt. I'll keep my eyes open.

When you do finally get your hands on 3 fans, make sure you have a set of needlenose pliers handy, The plugs are set back into the ballast frame about a couple inches, and plugging/unplugging the fans is next to impossible without a pair. Note the larger blue-wired plug in front of the 3 smaller red-wired (fan) plugs. That is the power supply. Strangely, the speed of the fans is controlled by how many fans are pluggin in. If only one is plugged, it spins wildly. I know this because my original idea was to unplug two of the three fans in order to reduce the noise. What this left me with was one, very loud fan. I still haven't tried to run only one of the new fans (leaving the other two unplugged). I may try this soon, to try to reduce the noise that much further. I'm hoping that because these fans are frictionless, the noise will not increase simply because the fan speeds up. When I (originally) tested the light with only one fan running, it kept the unit nearly as cool as with all three. So 3 might be overkill anyway. 

I wish I knew more about electricity so I could reduce the power to the one fan....making the unit almost completely silent.


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## Drakken (Feb 9, 2004)

unirdna said:


> I wish I knew more about electricity so I could reduce the power to the one fan....making the unit almost completely silent.


What I did was take a fan from an old PC. It was 12V fan but I used a 6V power supply. This made the fan run very quiet. The power supply I used was from a battery charger.

HTH


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## Rex Grigg (Dec 10, 2002)

50 mm ball bearing case fan part # 148 0138
50 mm Mag Lev case fan part # 148 0370


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## aychamo (Jun 27, 2004)

Hey guys!

For those who ended up replacing the 50mm fans in the light unit with the mag-lev fans, I have a couple of questions.

1. Just how much quieter is it? Say the lights, standard, are just pretty annoying. How much quiter would they be? Or perhaps a percent reduction, or say "half as quiet" or what?

2. For the mag-lev fans, did you just hook them up to a 12v power supply? Were you able to snake the wires for the fan through the unit so that it doesn't look to junky?

Thank you
AYCHAMO!


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## rkundla (Mar 25, 2004)

unirdna said:


> JBJ should spend the extra 5 bucks and install these fans to start with :? .


The only problem is that you need the AC-DC converter to use the 12V fans. The direct wire 110VAC fans wire up with the ballast, no muss no fuss.

JBJ probably has some contract shop building crappy box fans for use with their fixtures. Cheaper to replace it than to engineer a better product. :icon_roll 

Ron


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## Mori (Jul 23, 2003)

I'm glad to hear about successful fan transplants, but was wondering if anyone could answer the question about operating without the fan by removing the plastic shield to increase air flow that way. Is that risky?


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## mr hyde (Sep 7, 2002)

I recently bought a 36 watt x 4 light fixture and wanted to install a fan. This light runs pretty hot like it is and it looks like there might be room for one fan either 40 or 50 mm. I noticed that the magnetic levitation fans are 12 volts and need a separate power supply. I'm looking for a quiet running fan that would hook right up to the wiring on the light. Are there any 120 volt fans that run quiet?


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## wonder woman (Oct 30, 2003)

I have a JBJ Formosa too, and would love to do what Unirdna (Ted) just did. I am NOT mechanically inclined, though. Could one of you extremely talented, handy men  please type up some sort of step-by-step process for replacing these fans, along with a supplies list? And, again, are these fans available at cyberguys, or maybe Frye's?
Thanks!


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## unirdna (Jan 22, 2004)

Christina,

A couple months ago, I posted how I made the mod in the DIY section.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=7774&highlight=formosa


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## wonder woman (Oct 30, 2003)

Thanks, Ted-
It looks like the only problem I'll have is the 12v wiring- finding it and doing it- I've never done anything electrical before. I also don't have a dremel, but I suppose my drill with the right size drill bit will be fine.
Much appreciated!


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## Rolo (Dec 10, 2003)

I'm finding my Aqualight's fans a bit too noisy. I took out the reflector (what a PITA that was) and checked out internals. It is a lot more cramped in there then the JBJ as it appears in Ted's pictures. Anyone tried applying this project to their Aqualight?

Otherwise I'm ready to just disconnect the wires and let the fixture run fanless. I'm wondering too if these fans do make a considerable difference; No air is circulated past the bulbs as it is in a JBJ. All air movement is behind the reflector.


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

I just went thru this same problem with my Current USA Orbit. Wow, what a racket! Fortunately in another life I did some serious research on how to quiet a PC. There is a company PABST, with an arm in the US, EBMPABST that sells the quietest fans you can find, bar none. But they are not cheap, and the distribution channels are limited. Web site is http://www.ebmpapst.us/home.asp . When I found the right fan, I had to call Digi-Key (http://www.digikey.com) to order it. A single fan was about $25, plus another $10 or so to ship.

Not cheap. But once I got the fan in, just like the PC I'm typing on now - silent. Or at least so close, it does not matter.

And just to bring it as close to silent as really possible, you might want to go out and get a "PC Noisekiller" kit by Antec. CompUSA should have them for $10 or so. It has all sorts of soft silicon gaskets and padded screws that help even a bit more.

Check out the decibel numbers you see on the pabst fans - it's the way to go for a quiet fan.


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## Rolo (Dec 10, 2003)

Heh, I realized retrofitting the Aqualight with new fans is extremely easy.

They aren't running 110-120vAC fans; they are 40mm 12vDC computer fans that are easily available anywhere. The fixture doesn't have to be dismantled; the fans and plastic grills pop out. No need for an AC/DC power supply (phone charger); there is a built in AC/DC converter. Changing fans is as simple as changing bulbs.

I've seen those Papst fans online and yes indeed, they are not cheap. Their 40mm size fan is at 19 db and around $15+ a piece. That's why I didn't buy one...and came across this fan. Much cheaper then Papst and much quieter - only 14 db! Just came back with two from a local computer store for $6 each. They are also rated at 12vDC and 0.08A, exactly the same specs as the original Aqualight fans. (Originals are 28 db BTW).

I'll throw up a tread in a few days with pictures after I get to this project.


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

Rolo - with a 12v, 40mm fan, you definately have a bunch of options now, with PC fans. My favorite source for such is www.endpcnoise.com - have gotten consistently good product from them for years now.

The thing to be careful of is decibel ratings, the Xinruilian piece-of-junk model RAH8025B2-C fan that came out of my Orbit is rated for only a few decibels more than the Pabst I replaced it with. But difference is not just audible, it's increadible. Bottom line - don't believe everything you read about a fan's noise output.

Also be sure to pay attention to the CFM, or airflow rating. It's easy to make a fan quiet if it's not pushing much air. But that's not necessecarily in the best interest of your lights or tank.

But hey, at the $5 and $6 for the for the ones you mentioned it's worth a shot. Good luck! Watch that air flow...


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## Rolo (Dec 10, 2003)

Wow, I just changed the fans and the difference is incredible!! Whenever I find my usb cable for the digicam I'll put up some pictures w/ instructions.

I certainly know now that the decibel ratings can't be depended on. The original fans were rated at 28 db. Impossible! Using this decibel chart the original fans are between 50-60. With the new ones installed, "Whispering at 5 feet" (20db) as the chart says is exactly how I would describe them.

I'm sure even though the 40mm Papst fan is 5 decibels higher then the ones I have now, Papst are probably quieter. Silence is their middle name. But with the cost of the current fans I have now I'm 100% satisfied.

Heck, this was so easy I might try a Papst fans that pushes more air if I have nothing to do. The swap took only 5 minutes and the only tools needed where those attached to my left and right hands. :icon_roll


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

Rolo - 5 minutes, 5 dollars, and a massively audible difference? Sounds like a winner to me! Save the Pabst for when you've got nothing else better to do, and money to burn.

Congrats!


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## Betowess (Dec 9, 2004)

http://www.cyberguys.com/templates/searchdetail.asp?T1=148+0370
This is a link to the 50mm mag lev fans for JBJ's Formosa "adjustment/repair". I just ordered 3 so I hope they do indeed fit. Now to find an old 12v adapter laying around. I don't have the light yet, but its coming. Unirdna, thanks for the DIY post.


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## mcd19 (Apr 30, 2007)

unirdna said:


> Update. Rex smacks another one out of the park!!! Much quieter. JBJ should spend the extra 5 bucks and install these fans to start with :? . Installation was a snap, as they plugged right into my light fixture.
> 
> Ted


Where did you find fans that plugged right into the JBJ fixture. I am having the same noise problem and it would be nice to replace the noisy fans without cutting and splicing wires.


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## unirdna (Jan 22, 2004)

mcd19 said:


> Where did you find fans that plugged right into the JBJ fixture. I am having the same noise problem and it would be nice to replace the noisy fans without cutting and splicing wires.


I found mine from a local computer store. 3 years later, they are still running perfectly. If I recall (and that was a long time ago, afterall ), JBJ fans have a 2-pin connector. So, that's what you have to look for. Also, take note of the width of the plastic "fan box", as this can also vary. IMO, your best bet is to disconnect a fan and bring it with you to your local computer shop (MilwaukeePC is mine). 

Be advised, the JBJ DC source for the fans is overpowered. This is why they are noisy and prone to frequent burnouts. The BEST way is to use an alternative DC source (such as a 6v or 9v AC/DC adapter from an old answering machine/phone/etc). The difference is staggering.


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## mcd19 (Apr 30, 2007)

unirdna said:


> I found mine from a local computer store. 3 years later, they are still running perfectly. If I recall (and that was a long time ago, afterall ), JBJ fans have a 2-pin connector. So, that's what you have to look for. Also, take note of the width of the plastic "fan box", as this can also vary. IMO, your best bet is to disconnect a fan and bring it with you to your local computer shop (MilwaukeePC is mine).
> 
> Be advised, the JBJ DC source for the fans is overpowered. This is why they are noisy and prone to frequent burnouts. The BEST way is to use an alternative DC source (such as a 6v or 9v AC/DC adapter from an old answering machine/phone/etc). The difference is staggering.


 Thanks for the advice Ted I am going to replace the fans and hopefully it will quiet the fixture. Thanks again for your help.
Mike


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## Joetee (Mar 28, 2006)

I had to replace my fans on a 30 inch JBJ. I bought them from the manufacture. 
One of the fans are mounted so it will cool the ballast. This may be important to the guy who asked about turning off the fans when he watching TV. Mine aren't that loud but I do hear them.


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## Left C (Nov 15, 2003)

I just posted this on another thread, but this might help. Jake did a mod on the JBJ fans: http://www.plantgeek.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6716


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