The vent fans in my '63 run on either 12v or 120v, is the motor actually a 12 volt being run by 120 converted to 12v when switched to the "city power" position? In looking at the fans it looks like what could be a converter in each of the 120 lines. Everything works fine at present , but I am thinking about installing a Fantastic fan and I don't want run it just off my battery. If the 120 is already being converted, this looks like a fairly simple wiring job.
The vent fans in my '63 run on either 12v or 120v, is the motor actually a 12 volt being run by 120 converted to 12v when switched to the "city power" position? In looking at the fans it looks like what could be a converter in each of the 120 lines. Everything works fine at present , but I am thinking about installing a Fantastic fan and I don't want run it just off my battery. If the 120 is already being converted, this looks like a fairly simple wiring job.
Your ceiling fans run on 12 volts DC or 19 volts AC.
They are not in any way related to 120 volts AC.
The 19 volts AC, is close to the same as 12 volts DC, as far as DC motors are concerned.
So, if I wire in a Fantastic fan, can I just hook it up to both sides of the switch. What I thought was a converter is actually a transformer that is taking the 120 down to 19 v?
Inside the gray box next to the old fan between the ribs you will find a gerbil. Should be a tan once since your rig is an early 60's. They changed over to dark brown in 1969 thru 1974. If you wanted to change the old fans to new Fantastics you will have to do what I did on my Tradewind; I had to replace the gerbis with white ones.
__________________ J. Rick Cipot Sandi Gould NEUNew England Unit Airstream Life Magazine WBCCI #3411 AIR #17099 2009 Silverado 2500HD 2004 22' Safari 1960 24' Tradewind
Inverters change direct-current power to alternating-current power and converters do the opposite. You should already have a converter in your trailer that also acts as a charger. I would just wire the fans up to a 12v source and be done with it. When you are hooked up to shore power, it will power all of the items.
__________________ History doesn't repeat itself, people do!
My trailer is a '63 and has two seperate electrical systems ,nothing was converted to 12v. So my question is really about the 19v ac power to the fan that Andy was so informative about. What I do for 12v is either charge the battery via my tow vehicle or from an onboard marine charger when I am on shore power. I'm not interested in total conversion to 12v system.
Inverters change direct-current power to alternating-current power and converters do the opposite. You should already have a converter in your trailer that also acts as a charger. I would just wire the fans up to a 12v source and be done with it. When you are hooked up to shore power, it will power all of the items.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 63air
My trailer is a '63 and has two seperate electrical systems ,nothing was converted to 12v. So my question is really about the 19v ac power to the fan that Andy was so informative about. What I do for 12v is either charge the battery via my tow vehicle or from an onboard marine charger when I am on shore power. I'm not interested in total conversion to 12v system.
1963 was the last year of the converterless system. Your fans run on 12 volts DC, powered by the battery, which originally was only charged by the tow vehicle or a battery charger. The boxes should be transformers to go from 120 volts ac to 12 volts dc.
1964 was the first year of any kind of converter in Airstreams. I would suggest bypassing the transformers, and installing a single converter somewhere near the battery, and going straight 12 volts to the new fans. This is what we did with our '63, and it served us very well, and has continued to do so onward through two more owners. It's a lot easier to keep up with one converter than several transformers.
1963 was the last year of the converterless system. Your fans run on 12 volts DC, powered by the battery, which originally was only charged by the tow vehicle or a battery charger. The boxes should be transformers to go from 120 volts ac to 12 volts dc.
1964 was the first year of any kind of converter in Airstreams. I would suggest bypassing the transformers, and installing a single converter somewhere near the battery, and going straight 12 volts to the new fans. This is what we did with our '63, and it served us very well, and has continued to do so onward through two more owners. It's a lot easier to keep up with one converter than several transformers.
Absolutely, Terry is right on. As the second downstream owner of Terry's 63, I can tell you that his "conversion" to a converter works great, and is THE way to go.
It takes care of everything for you, essentially bridging the 12VDC and 110VAC systems. On top of that, when hooked to shore power it will charge your battery(ies) for you much better than the tow vehicle does.
You can buy some really nice new ones for not so much money these days, or if you're resourceful, you might be able to scrounge up a "vintage" one for even less.
I only have one fan I am thinking about switching , if the power is already transformed -problem solved. But I am still curious about the 19v ac that Andy mentioned.
Quick Links
Hybrid Mode
