12 volt fan for the van

petengail · Guru

12 volt fan for the van

justcruisin01 · Guru

Haven,t had any thing to do with these, how ever check the power consumpion first,
automotive 12v fans draw a lot of power, dont know if these are any different.

jimricho · Guru

I installed a small 12v fan but it is that noisy it's a pain in the r's. I think I bought it from Supercheap so it's probably the same as the BCF one. I also have a 10 inch box fan from Mitre 10. it's a 240 v unit so obviously it needs 240 to run it. It may run off an inverter but that is probably inefficient use of battery power, haven't sussed it out.

bill12 · Guru

Every thing is made for 240v , but if you have a big batterys .,You can run these things, if you are PREPARED. big or hugh baterries are nesessary if you want to run these thing sucessfuly.I am sory if I am a bit negative.

jimricho · Guru

bill12 wrote:

Every thing is made for 240v , but if you have a big batterys .,You can run these things, if you are PREPARED. big or hugh baterries are nesessary if you want to run these thing sucessfuly.I am sory if I am a bit negative.

The 12v fans are not made for 240v nor are they a 12v adaptation of a 240v fan. They are significantly different in design so that they can be powered from DC instead of AC (or in some cases in addition to AC). This difference is most likely the reason they are noisier.

Bill may be correct however in implying that running a 240v fan through an inverter may be inefficient and an unacceptible drain on the batteries. This could be especially so as fans are likely to be running for some hours at a time. I haven't checked this out in detail however.

Bill is certainly right about the use of big battery banks (and big inverters too) just to power 240v appliances such as microwaves, jugs, hair dryers, turbo ovens, bread makers etc. when 240v power isn't available.

Not only are large battery/inverter combinations seriously expensive they seriously add to the weight of a caravan reducing the amount of other stuff than can be loaded. The weight situation may be different in the case of large motorhomes.

-- Edited by jimricho on Wednesday 5th of January 2011 06:41:19 AM

jimricho · Guru

petengail wrote:

We are looking at a 12 volt fan for the van... hey a fan for the van, there has to be a rhyme there lol... sorry off topic already. We looked at one at B.C.F for about 70$ and another at a 12volt place for about 170$ . both were "box type fans" . one would think the $170 would be better but its still a lot of moolah for a fan. The guy at the shop ran one of the other type with the blue blades but it was very noisy because of vibrations. Both of the box types run off a cigarette lighter plug. What I intend to do is cut the wire and put on a two pin 12 volt plug and run it off the socket for the 12 volt T.V. As the cutting of the wire will probably void the warranty we will go for the cheaper model. Does anyone have any advice or experience with something similar? cheers pete

The fan I referred to in my earlier post is not a box type fan so the noise issue may be different, best to check it however.

Re voiding the warranty you could get around this by making up an adaptor to go between the cig lighter type plug and your 2 pin socket.

petengail · Guru

jimricho wrote:

petengail wrote:

We are looking at a 12 volt fan for the van... hey a fan for the van, there has to be a rhyme there lol... sorry off topic already. We looked at one at B.C.F for about 70$ and another at a 12volt place for about 170$ . both were "box type fans" . one would think the $170 would be better but its still a lot of moolah for a fan. The guy at the shop ran one of the other type with the blue blades but it was very noisy because of vibrations. Both of the box types run off a cigarette lighter plug. What I intend to do is cut the wire and put on a two pin 12 volt plug and run it off the socket for the 12 volt T.V. As the cutting of the wire will probably void the warranty we will go for the cheaper model. Does anyone have any advice or experience with something similar? cheers pete

The fan I referred to in my earlier post is not a box type fan so the noise issue may be different, best to check it however.

Re voiding the warranty you could get around this by making up an adaptor to go between the cig lighter type plug and your 2 pin socket.

I had not thought of an adaptor that is well worth a thought. Also thought about 240V inverter options but its too much hassle, when all I want it for is a fan. Thanks for suggestions..

justcruisin01 · Guru

We have a 240v 300mm box fan, the power consumpion is only 55watt, will run off a 100watt drink can size inverter. this may be a way to go when you consider the amount of air flow vers a 12 volt fan & the noise.
The 12v power consumpsion may not be that different.

Ron and Shirley · Senior Member

We have the Deluxe oscillating fan with clip, 4th one down on this page.
http://www.dynamicsolarsolutions.com.au/appliances.htm

We think its great, and use it both inside and under the awning. Not too noisy, but then all fans are a little noisy

DSS is located on the Sunshine Coast Qld (see contact tab) and we have found Jamie certainly knows his 12v stuff.

blaze · Guru

Go to the wreckers and get a second hand radiator fan, build your own box and rubber mount the fan. It will move more air than any purpose built commercial 12 volt fan. Set it up for less than a $50 I reckon
cheers
blaze

jimricho · Guru

justcruisin01 wrote:

We have a 240v 300mm box fan, the power consumpion is only 55watt, will run off a 100watt drink can size inverter. this may be a way to go when you consider the amount of air flow vers a 12 volt fan & the noise.
The 12v power consumpsion may not be that different.

Thanks for that info.... As my rig is currently locked down I didn't want to open it up (read "too lazy to" wink

) to check the details.

Keep in mind that even this would drain more "juice" out of the battery than an Engel type fridge would in full freezer mode, in fact it's nearly twice what my Bushman draws.

I mention this just to give a comparison.

I have a view that it's best to avoid using inverters when there is an alternative available and this includes forgoing some of life's luxuries, such as those mentioned in my earlier post, when free or bush camping.

Allara · Senior Member

Could try wet hession bags.

shieldzy · Newbie

The fan on e-bay is 14inch box type called endless breeze,

jimricho · Guru

Since the earlier post last month I have checked the power consumption of the 25 cm (10 inch for those still living in the 19th century) box fan and it draws 40 watts on high and 34 watts on low.

The label on the box says 60 watts (go figure??)

I would guesstimate this would be about 4+ amps (or 4+ ah per hour) on 12 v via an inverter depending on the efficiency of the inverter. I don't know how this compares with my noisy 12v fan as I haven't measured it.

Diggings · Senior Member

Jay Kar have a 12v portable fan for $20.00 has alligator clips on the leads and a big alligator clip for mounting, saw it yesterday at the Inverell Leisure show,
we wanted to buy one and went to the site twice but they were too busy talking to their friends to serve us, so will buy one on line.

Santa · Guru

I installed a Caframo 12 volt fan in the Kea in March this year, quiet, has a built in timer, very neat and folds away and draws very little power, less than 5 watts.

From memory I paid approx $150 for it from Whitworths Marine https://www.whitworths.com.au/main_specials.asp?intAbsolutePage=2&ListHandler=

More about fans here. http://aussiemotorhomers.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=999

-- Edited by Santa on Monday 2nd of December 2013 10:46:26 AM

-- Edited by Santa on Monday 2nd of December 2013 10:47:07 AM

-- Edited by Santa on Monday 2nd of December 2013 10:48:42 AM

-- Edited by Santa on Monday 2nd of December 2013 10:49:47 AM

-- Edited by Santa on Monday 2nd of December 2013 10:50:23 AM

tempestv8 · Veteran Member

shieldzy wrote:
The fan on e-bay is 14inch box type called endless breeze,

One plus about purchasing these fans is that they are not Made in China.

Whilst there is nothing wrong with buying products which have a Made in China label on them, I just prefer to support other countries that still manufacture stuff. In this case, the Endless Breeze is Made in USA.

KFT · Guru

We bought a caframo marine fan from whitworths a couple of weeks ago. They are on special for $139 plus post(until march 2015)

quiet fan with 3 speeds and off timer draws 0.4 amps on high.

excellent quality too.

frank

-- Edited by KFT on Tuesday 3rd of February 2015 03:42:55 PM

Lakers · Member

I bought a 10" 12v box fan some time back but gave it up (read "gave it away") .... far too noisy. Seems to be the case with many 12v fans I have heard about. I now have a 240v box fan that runs very well (and quiet) on 240v and also performs just as well on 12v through my 150W inverter. As the most I am without 240v is a couple of days, this is really the best of both worlds for me.

Cheers
Greg

jules47 · The Happy Helper

The Sirroco Camfaro fans are by the best value - they use very little 12v - something like .04 amp an hour on high speed (which we never use), quiet, can be turned to face the other direction, i.e. ours is near the bed, but ccan be turned to blow over the kitchen area. Not cheap, but efficient, can be plugged into cigarette type plug, or direct to battery, or via Anderson plug. We have two, and getting another.

They are on special at Whitworth Marine online at the moment, a saving of $60 - plus postage.