Timed Circulation

[PigFish]

So I am not a 'fan' of the Oust Fan! However there are a number of people who don't have automated systems who would still like an automated timed fan that can push a hefty amount of air and water around inside their humidor.

Seeing it is a holiday weekend, I decided to prototype such a device, and here it is!

I purchased a couple of these programable timer modules about 6-8 months ago and have wondered just how good they are and what their mean-time to failure was. So I set one of them up to run a fan on a bench in the lab, 4 seconds run time, 4 seconds off time. The damn thing has been running almost non-stop for over 6 months now.

The setup:

Wood pattern PVC box that I port in the shop. This one has a ball bearing, long life 23CFM 60mm fan, tobacco plant grill guard, programmable timer, lever nut (EZ connect wire connectors) and some silicone rubber feet for the bottom. It is completely wired inside the box (the timer is in there as well). Plug in the wires to a 12VDC power supply (maybe an old router/cordless vacuum power supply) and you are off and running.

I don't have literature on the timer, but it has a nonvolatile memory and runs off 12VDC just like the fan. You plug in a 12VDC power supply and off it goes. I figure running one 30 seconds out of 300 seconds is just perfect. Of course you can select just about any time you want.

Cheers! -Piggy

Edited August 17, 2017 by PigFish
Updated video link.

[CUBANO]

Thanks for the info, Ray. Hope you're doing well

[lostsoulcamero]

How can I get one

[PigFish]

Email me what you might consider a fair price for the item. I am not really geared around selling small items.

I just prototyped the one and I have one more timer, the one that has been running for 6 months. I had not really thought about selling them as it takes me over an hour to make one and I am not exactly cheap! Most of the ABS parts I machine in small quantities for my stock but I had not really given any thought to stocking the timers or making any of these for stock. Perhaps I will buy some more of the timers today if there is further interest and I can make enough to cover my time.

One caveat. Remember, any electrical appliance generates some heat and this one is no exception. You don't want to lock it up in an insulated cooler unless the ambient will offset the amount of heat that it makes. I made this one for my "pre-made" humidor that my wife bought for me close to 20 years ago... That "one" that I have been swearing to convert to my own controller for a number of years now... -LOL Like most purchased humidors it suffers from lack of circulation (unlike my designs). I figured this was the easiest short term solution before I change it over to my 'better' controller and sensor.

This what I do since I don't watch sports!

Thanks for reading... -the Pig

[PigFish]

Thanks for the info, Ray. Hope you're doing well

Not bad mate, except my job is killing me. I swear I am going to quit every week we have an owners meeting. This just might be the week...! -LOL I could use a few weeks off.

How about you?

Cheers! -Ray

[CUBANO]

Not bad mate, except my job is killing me. I swear I am going to quit every week we have an owners meeting. This just might be the week...! -LOL I could use a few weeks off.

How about you?

Cheers! -Ray

Amigo, with all that hard work that you do , you must be a BILLIONAIRE by know. You should take the rest of the year off. LOL

[TheDistrictJP]

Very cool!

[busdriver]

Since the oust fans are no longer produced there is definitely a market for these! Sign me up if you make another run of these. Not real happy with my combination of cpu fan and an RV fridge fan for my wineador.

[PigFish]

How they work...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/e2np6d8qnsi32he/MVI_0009.MP4?dl=0

[Guest scsi]

Outstanding Piggy

Well done Mate!

[TheDistrictJP]

Very cool!

[Martin3203]

Very cool, nice job!

Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk

[CUBANO]

Thanks for the video, Ray

[lostsoulcamero]

I ordered one been running for a couple of weeks money well spent thanks again ray

[PigFish]

I ordered one been running for a couple of weeks money well spent thanks again ray

The pleasure was mine mate. Glad it is working out for you. If it can be improved, let me know and I will consider it! I am always improving my designs.

If you want a laugh, I have one running on my shop assembly desk. I want to see how long it will last and I have gotten kinda' used to it turning on and off every 5 seconds.

-Ray

[PigFish]

Bump!

[shlomo]

Any chance you can build a bigger one for a walk in, or do you suggest 2 or 3 of these?

[PigFish]

Any chance you can build a bigger one for a walk in, or do you suggest 2 or 3 of these?

How big a walk-in?

If it is the size of a closet, forget this, and install a small ceiling fan! Run it on very low, 24/7.

While I can make and scale these things, I don't see them as the right product for a walk-in. While it would be better ultimately to use a line voltage timing module, I could use one of these timers to a power supply, they have a robust relay, and run it to a fan (your standard commercial (home), buy it at a box store type of fan).

Don't get me wrong, I like selling my toys, but my goal is to solve problems, not sell stuff that does not work. I would rather build you a line voltage timer in a box, like in this project, that you can plug a home fan into and it would get you same job, likely better job, than how 2, 4 or a 12 of these.

It really is the wrong product for your application.

Want help on a solution, email me! Help is always free!

Cheers! -Ray

[backbone]

Any new wireless options out there now?

Im not sure I want to drill holes just yet. 

Thanks, BB

[PigFish]

15 hours ago, backbone said:

Any new wireless options out there now?

Im not sure I want to drill holes just yet. 

Thanks, BB

I am only interested in solutions that work! Now if you have a desktop box that holds 50 cigars then perhaps a small battery powered fan my help some. The emphasis is put on the word 'may.' 

When it comes to operating a humidor that is data logged, the facts come to the surface of any analysis of products. Even my timed circulation product is a relatively small unit. One fan for example, in a 5 cuft. humidor won't cut it. You require constant circulation in order to halt stratification. Let me rephrase that a bit... One won't halt stratification, but one can work against it, mix it it up such that it becomes a non-event, or lesser-event.

The only way to do this is to push the air and the water around with sufficient force and mass to actually accomplish the job. My unit uses a 25 CFM fan, and that is a considerable amount of air. But to be fair, unless that air is channeled and focused into the areas that you want the most effected, no fan will work!

Let me give you a simple example. You live in a 2 story home (lets say). You are hot in your bedroom upstairs while the AC has got the bottom story nice and cool. If you set up a big box fan in your kitchen to move the air around, does it solve your problem in your bedroom? The answer is NO...!

With no offense intended, a circulation problem could care less about whether or not one wants to drill a hole! The problems are unrelated. If circulation is what you need, it needs to be assessed not from a perspective of drilling a hole, but from the enormity of the problem!!!

Humidor stratification is an energy problem. One must use sufficient energy to tackle the problem. It is that simple. You can run the fan in your car off the battery. In order to run the AC, you need the motor (hybrid vehicles notwithstanding). The solution requires an analysis of the size of the problem, then one of the proper size must be fitted to solve the problem. That is all that I am saying! Allowing people to project a fantasy about the products that one builds may sell them but it is not fair to the consumer.

Best of luck on your research... -Piggy

[backbone]

Thanks for the response.

[Cep]

Are there problems with having fans running all the time?  

Example my wineador main fan is always on, and I have added a small battery powered fan for increased air movement that also is always on.  

Is there a benefit to using timers?  

 

[PigFish]

23 minutes ago, Cep said:

Are there problems with having fans running all the time?  

Example my wineador main fan is always on, and I have added a small battery powered fan for increased air movement that also is always on.  

Is there a benefit to using timers?  

 

Everyone's humidor is different, therefore different solutions.

To directly answer your question, in a wine-cooler humidor, or a cooled humidor that is able to offset energy turned to heat in the circulation process, 100% circulation, running 100% of the time is best. I have tested all sorts of solutions. I can say this definitively. On the other hand, opinions about inter-humidor variation are just that. Most people don't really care. They don't test for it, they are ignorant of it and as long as they are happy with the cigars that emerge, that is all that matters. It would appear that necessity, opinion and knowledge of variation go hand-in-hand.

Timed solutions are for two types of humidor administrators (my opinion). They are for those annoyed by the noise of fans in their humidor, and/or those who will have an increasing heat problem as a result of too much electronic activity in their "non active cooling" humidor.

Hope that helps! -Piggy

[backbone]

I bit the bullet and drilled a hole in the bottom left corner to run a power line into my cooler. 

I now have duel fans circulating  air.

Thanks PF!

[PigFish]

Sorry I could not get to your emailed questions. Cheers! -Piggy