New Toys update...
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Unboxing of an 4" AC infinity fan.
Been hearing a lot about AC infinity, they sponsor a lot of the YT growers and have some big claims.
I had heard of AC infinity before they branched out into the world of indoor gardening. They have a very good reputation in the world of Home Cinema with cooling fans for high fi racks and of course extraction units.
My only hang up before I even plug it in is the choice to use PWM to control the motor. I use Variac controlers for my other fans.
Whats the difference
"
Pulse-width modulation (
PWM), or
pulse-duration modulation (
PDM), is a method of reducing the average power delivered by an electrical signal, by effectively chopping it up into discrete parts. The average value of
voltage (and
current) fed to the
load is controlled by turning the switch between supply and load on and off at a fast rate."
"
A variable voltage autotransformer (also known as variac) is a transformer which is able to transform or produce AC mains voltages at different desired levels at its output. Thus unlike an ordinary transformer its output voltage is not fixed, rather can be varied manually to obtain more than a single voltage. The voltage obtained from such a device is normally an AC at mains level, which may be higher or lower than the applied input voltage depending upon its settings."
I have tried both types of controlers, veriac are far more expensive than the PWM but there is a huge difference on the sound the motors in the fan make. PMW can cuase a very fast pulsating vroom vroom sound as it sends the pulse to the fan motor. But with veriac you get constant voltage so no vroom vroom plusing, which in turn make the fan motor run super smooth and quiet.
Right let's get this box open
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You get a realy nice slick brochure... with canna all over it ahhhh, great if your in the US but im knee deep in prohibition land so I'm going to have dispose of it discretely.
Same as the box it has canna leaves on the side, it basically says im growing weed here is my fan. So glad it came in an Amazon box sealed. Again got be carful disposing of the box.
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Very impressed with the packing, looks like nothing can get damaged in transit. Also it's been well designed for that perfect unboxing dopamine fix.
It comes with all fixings you could think of. Straps, cable ties, reusable velcro ties, screws, 2 quick release clips. Every thing you can think of for good cable management.
There is also a very well designed and printed instruction manual for the complete AC infinity range. Makes me want to get more of the range.
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Smart looking fan, thers plenty of cable so no worries there. I maybe tempted in the future to shorten the power cord.
Plenty of length for the controller. If I wanted I could mount it any where within a 2m radius, thats realy handy.
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Installation was very easy, the fan slots into the filter neatly and quite snug to point you could lift the fan and the filter will not drop off
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Now comes the test...
First impressions is that at lower speeds it is very quiet. Very little motor sounds, nice and smooth. But once you go past 2/3 you notice the motor sound. Not as loud as others I've had but louder than my Variac controled rvk fan. At full power I would say it is a little bit more quite than my previous fan but not much difference than most.
Where it does succeed is in the lower speeds even though it is a PWM surprisingly its doing a great job, virtually silent only the air movement is heard. My breed chamber has a PWM controler and is considerably more noticeable at lower speeds than the AC infinity fan
Verdict...
It really good designed bit of repurposed kit from Home Cinema to Grow tents. Yes they have slapped canna images all over it but fair play to AC Infinity they haven't done the usual of 4 x the price of the original.
Overall it does what I says on the tin but at full power there's very little difference between it and other extraction fans of the same design.
I would be tempted to swap over to AC infinity throughout the loft only for their controlers and monitoring with a phone app... but I would rather a Variac hooked up to a troll master for a better motor volume at high speeds.