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Old 05-20-2014, 10:32 PM   #1
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Solar vent

Might it be possible to hook a solar panel directly to a Fantastic Vent? Or somewhat directly?

I have an old camper conversion that has a quilted liner on the hard top. It has a vent, but no fan. I really need better air circulation in the van, but running wires behind the quilting would be tough. The quilting is in nice condition and original, so I am hesitant to remove it.

I want to replace the current vent with a fanned vent. My thought is to take a 50w, 3amp panel and run it directly to the Fantastic Vent, which runs at 3 amp max. When it's sunny, it runs. Cloudy, it doesn't. Is there anything I need between the two? Am I totally off base?

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Old 05-21-2014, 11:26 AM   #2
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Re: Solar vent

how about one of these?



http://www.amazon.com/Round-Solar-Bo.../dp/B001C8B8D2
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Old 05-21-2014, 12:56 PM   #3
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Re: Solar vent

Thanks for the link. It might be a good addition. I think it will be too small to replace the current vent, which I'd like to do.

In that line of thought, this might be a better option though...

http://www.solarblasterfans.com/products/rvblaster/

It is more expensive than my idea.
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Old 05-21-2014, 03:28 PM   #4
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Re: Solar vent

Here's the same one, only square. It's 7x7" looks like. Is your hole in your roof the typical 14" roof vent hole? If so you could do 2 side by side and fab up a little plastic piece to replace your hole, or you could do 4 and perfectly fit the hole, or for the easiest mount you could simply cut a circular hole in your existing roof vent and pop this in it, which would be my choice, but I be these are nowhere near as powerful as a Fantastic Vent.

http://www.amazon.com/Solar-Roof-vent-S ... X07BGME0EQ

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Old 05-21-2014, 04:11 PM   #5
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Re: Solar vent

This would seem like a pretty easy one to fix up even with existing items. You could get a small solar panel and wire it to a 12v outlet, and then if you have a fantastic fan or some other fan, plug it into the outlet. That way you could even turn it "off" by unplugging if there is a time you don't want the fan running.

I know that we have this sort of automatic solar fan for our attic, and it runs summer and winter.
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Old 05-21-2014, 05:24 PM   #6
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Re: Solar vent

Those are all good ideas. I'll check into them.
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