Ceiling vent in the rain

[philpom]

Question for everyone, Do the MaxxAir or Fantastic Fans of the world work at all in the rain (and keep water out) or must you put one of those large covers over them for that to be feasible? It's getting close to time I install mine and I really want the natural light and stars to shine but being able to use it in the rain is a must. Wondering if they keep the water out if just cracked an inch or 4 or if a cover is mandatory. Maybe they re good except the worst downpour, I don't know so I'm counting on the brain trust here to help answer.

Appreciate the feedback.

While we're on the topic, 3 speed or 10? Reversible or not? I think I'm fine with 3 speed if it is a true low/med/high but some reviews indicate little difference. I do think reversible is needed depending on the season and what I need to help comfort.

Thanks for the info!

[friz]

We can move air in the rain with our fantastic fan. Just crack the cover open a little. High winds mess with the cover when it is not closed all the way. It tends to flop a bit. Vertical rain stays out better then horizontal.

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[tony.latham]

I'm with Friz with the Fantastic. Just crack it to the point it will run.

But... I think the Maxxair fans are built better. They have two supports for the lid. The Fantastic has one. The Max uses less juice.





Tony

[gudmund]

I have used my MaxxAir when raining with no problems being it blows outward when on, thus drawing air into the trailer though the side doors. (my model is has 4-speeds and only blows out-ward) I do also use one of their vent covers, which allows me to have the vent open when it is raining or stored and have had NO water getting into the trailer when left open. (I do try to remember to close it when traveling down the road, but 'yes' I have left it open 'many-a-time' and have had no problems when doing this.) have been using a cover since '12 on both of the trailers I have owned and won't go without one now, being I believe the function of it out-weighs it's looks - but after this long period of time = I don't think it looks right with-out one now ..............

[mtbikernate]

for all the circuit board problems the maxxair fans have, the overall weather-protected design is much better than others. I've ridden out some really rowdy weather in mine (vent wide open and fan going) with no trouble.

[Tom&Shelly]

Question for everyone, Do the MaxxAir or Fantastic Fans of the world work at all in the rain (and keep water out) or must you put one of those large covers over them for that to be feasible? It's getting close to time I install mine and I really want the natural light and stars to shine but being able to use it in the rain is a must. Wondering if they keep the water out if just cracked an inch or 4 or if a cover is mandatory. Maybe they re good except the worst downpour, I don't know so I'm counting on the brain trust here to help answer.

Appreciate the feedback.

While we're on the topic, 3 speed or 10? Reversible or not? I think I'm fine with 3 speed if it is a true low/med/high but some reviews indicate little difference. I do think reversible is needed depending on the season and what I need to help comfort.

Thanks for the info!

Always used the cover on our MaxxAir so we can't answer your first question. With the cover we've never had problems; once in awhile if the wind is blowing into the scoop, we might get a drop or two in. More often, we've needed to close our side windows to keep out the rain. (Or put old towels on top of our blankets under the windows.)

Never needed reverse on the fan. Ten speeds is silly, except if we had only three I'd like it to have the right three. We only use the three or four lowest. Much more than that and the fan becomes noisy; nice and quiet with the lower settings. I've tested the fan with an ammeter and they do design it correctly, so it doesn't waste energy heating resistors.

Tom

[philpom]

Good info, thanks guys!

[tony.latham]

for all the circuit board problems the maxxair fans have...

They go bad?

Tony

[mtbikernate]

for all the circuit board problems the maxxair fans have...

They go bad?

Tony

They are overly sensitive to battery voltage. There's a mountain of content about this. I had to replace the control board in mine after my AGM battery died and started throwing voltage spikes. The fan is very sensitive to voltage, and has no voltage protection. Awesome. Widely accepted solution is to install a buck converter to ensure the voltage stays below the threshold (that voltage is in the fan documentation, I don't recall what it is).

There's actually a bunch of sub-problems these things can have, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wyxDdn8Cpo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkIDSVldJis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIRG7lSR5yQ

[Graniterich]

The fan itself is sensitive to over voltage, or the control board?

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[mtbikernate]

The fan itself is sensitive to over voltage, or the control board?

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given what I've read about it, the control board is the critical part. though the mfr spec sheet doesn't specify. it just gives the voltage range it can accept. and the upper limit is not high enough to account for the kinds of voltages a typical AGM battery is going to experience at various points in its life (esp during charging and like mine, when it dies).

now that I've switched to a Dakota Lithium battery with a BMS, the voltages I'm seeing are much lower than what I did when I had an AGM. Which is why I've been slow to install the buck converter. I think I'll finally install it once I move my battery from the toolbox to the galley, though. I'll be doing enough electrical work that installing that component won't be any trouble.

[tony.latham]

They are overly sensitive to battery voltage.

Interesting. Makes me happy to have a Fantastic.

Thanks,

Tony

[mtbikernate]

They are overly sensitive to battery voltage.

Interesting. Makes me happy to have a Fantastic.

Thanks,

Tony

I'm still happy to have the reversible fan motor and the better cover to keep rain out. 10 speed settings is more than I need, but aren't really a problem, either. wouldn't cost the mfr much to either give the thing some voltage protection, or at least give it a wider possible range of working voltages so it's not so sensitive. but apparently they're plenty happy giving out control boards via warranty and selling more besides.

it's a tiny thing, and it's a fixable/preventable problem. so it just winds up being an irritation more than anything.

[Staryder61]

Our fantastic fan works great. Used fan from a wrecked motor home, $25.00, had a 3 speed switch on the fan. Then upgraded it to a forward -reverse switch I had laying around.
I wouldn't trade it. Have opened the cover (smoked color) 1 1/2" with rain and no rain inside. While fan is pushing out.
I bought one of the large cumbersome rain covers couple years ago. And just haven't seen the need yet to install it on the mini van camper.
Only info I can say about the fan as for battery usage. Have run the fan, with the volt meter showing 13 1/2 volts charged. Ran the fan 5 nights for 8 hours on speed 2 bringing the battery down to 11 volts. Is that good? Not sure? But I'm good with that.

[Graniterich]

So what I did was buy the single direction four speed from maxxair, cheapest one. Removed the control board, and put in a dpdt toggle switch and a pwm controller from Amazon. Fit perfectly, under twenty bucks. I now have the best of both worlds, totally variable speed with reverse. It is also very effeceint due to the pwm pcba

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