PFO Ballast Mod - Active Cooling

[jostafew]

Hey everyone, I picked up a 250w PFO HQI ballast and intended to mount it inside my cabinet upside down but I felt that cooling would be an issue. Solution: active cooling! Punched out some new stainless panels and installed a cooling fan. I also relocated the starter to the side panel and installed a heat shield to protect it from any radiant heat off the transformer. Now it runs nice and cool and the ballast actually has some flanges for mounting! Thought I'd share incase anyone else is in a similar situation. Enjoy!

Couple photos:

http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd429/jostafew/Aquarium%20Stuff/IMG_0745.jpg

http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd429/jostafew/Aquarium%20Stuff/IMG_0746.jpg

[Lampshade]

Wow, great idea. Mine scares me sitting on a wood shelf it gets so hot. I"ll be doing something like this shortly.

[Aquatek]

Wow! Looks awesome. Where did you do the stainless covers?

[mark]

nice, plastic pieces weren't brittle?

[lastlight]

Very nice! How much for a retrofit kit? :mrgreen:

[Delphinus]

Haha no kidding. I'd buy two! (Seriously!!)

[pirate]

I'm gonna have to do this as well. Thanks for the good idea. :)

[jostafew]

Thanks for the interest guys, I appreciate the positive feedback! Actually there's not much to it when you have access to CNC punching and bending equipment (perks of working for a sheet metal mfg. company :mrgreen:) Honestly for the amount of work that it took I'd be happy to bang a few copies out for a couple bucks but the agreement is that I can only use the company equipment for personal stuff (no side businesses hehehe).

This was a quick one-evening project, have a look at the light fixture I did: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1918397
A sharp eye will also notice the SS perf panels in the cabinet doors complete with mounting for my RKL controller!

That one took a little more time to design and build :wink: The tank looks WAY better than it did in those shots, that was pretty early on and I had a wicked case of brown algae.

[lastlight]

good lord that's incredible work!

[jostafew]

Hey Mark, which plasic pieces are you referring to?

[mark]

^^

switch, socket, power cord clamp.

Pulled stuff apart that's be in use a while and will find pieces will break since so hard so need to source new to put back together.

[jostafew]

Oh I see. No actually, I didn't run into any brittle plastic in there. The ballast I was working with had been modified to use a more modern connector so the previous owner had zip-tied the plug in place and the starter and cap to the plug, so aside from the switch clips which were metal and the grommet for the power cord there wasn't much to get brittle and break on me!

[jostafew]

I keep getting interest from people who might like to do the same thing, so if you guys are serious about making your own mod kits here's the details:

- 2x 80mm fan grills like this: http://www.rpelectronics.com/cfg-80m-80mm-metal-finger-guard.html
- compact AC/DC 12v power suppy like this one: http://www.rpelectronics.com/rpr-12600-p5-ac-dc-adapter-12vdc-0-6a.html
- female 2 conductor socket to supply power to the AC/DC adapter. I used this one and soldered leads to it: http://www.rpelectronics.com/31-040-1-chassis-mount-socket-black.html
- 80mm cooling fan like this one: http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=8975&vpn=SF8025L&manufacture=Vantec

The key pieces though are the end plates. I also made a heat shield for the relocated starter but seeing how cool this thing runs I don't think it's necessary. My company will do custom parts like this, but it's pricey for one-offs. What I would suggest is for one of you to take orders from the others and get in touch with me, I'll then pass you on to a sales contact at my company. I'll provide you with all the info that you'll need to pass on to have them made. I've already done 90% of the work on the back end so there will be very little overhead involved in setting up this new product. Obviously the higher the number the cheaper they will be to knock out.

Here's a shot (not the best angle) of the relocated starter. I drilled the side panel and mounted it in place there with a couple #10 SS bolts.

http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd429/jostafew/Aquarium%20Stuff/IMG_0739.jpg

http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd429/jostafew/Aquarium%20Stuff/IMG_0741.jpg

[Parker]

Great idea, I just wish I wasn't three for three on my PFO ballasts going up in smoke this year.