Adding 12V fan

jshrader · 03-05-2019, 08:16 AM

Hi Folks -

I want to add a couple of 12v fans to the rear of my '05 SMB. (Caframo 'boat' fans)

In one location I have a 12V light fixture that I could probably do without, and could remove it to hardwire one of the new fans in its place.

The other location has no fixture to replace, but is directly above the 12V panel under the bed; and I could theoretically hardwire it into the fusebox?? (electrical newb here, I know enough to be really dangerous).

Any advice, or directions anyone can give me? I searched here, and quite frankly, I can't get much out of the search engine on this site. I have better luck using Google, but still didn't see anything here.

Thanks for any advice!

Joe

TomsBeast · 03-05-2019, 09:47 AM

I mounted one of those inside my van, and took it out after just one trip. The thing was irritating! The annoying pitch and volume to me, was almost as bad as a fly buzzing round your head while trying to sleep. It it had moved a large volume of air, I might have tried to tolerate it, but I found it not very effective. Too small fan blade span means to move any air at all, they have to crank up the RPM. The Fantastic roof vent fans on the other hand, are pretty quiet on low and medium speeds, and the location is further from your ears.

At the very least, set up that fan and test it before going to the trouble of mounting it, to make sure you can live with it.

NattyT · 03-05-2019, 10:51 AM

An alternate you might also consider: 02Cool 10" 12v box fan - https://www.o2-cool.com/FD10002A?page_id=841

I picked up one of these last summer, and have been happy with it; we set it up at the campsite and store it during travels. It moves a lot of air, is very quiet, and is reasonably efficient.

The fan itself is 12v, and out-of-the-box runs via 120v AC (wall-wart), or D-cell batteries. For use in the van I made a 12v accessory adapter that plugs into an existing receptacle that's wired into the house batteries. When used this way it really does move a fair amount of air; I wouldn't expect the same results when using D-cells though.