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Dixie722 · 05-03-2015, 06:45 PM

great job on this, Nice to see someone with imagination and the skill to make it happen. I look forward to seeing the rest of the story, and the trailer.. richard in texas

perryg114 · 05-03-2015, 07:37 PM

I actually have one of those if the wife did not throw it in the trash again.

Perry

Quote:

Originally Posted by 68Streamline

Link to O2-cool fan

8-Inch Portable Fan - Fan Model FD08005A | O2COOL

aquinob · 05-08-2015, 06:48 PM

I got some time today (and some energy) to mount the fans. On one fan I took some spare sheet aluminum and cut out a circle with hand snips and mounted the fan. Be real careful using hand snips like this, lots of razor sharp barbs since you cant continuously cut. I wrapped the edge in electrical tape, that seems to work well enough. On the other fan I used some bar stock and mounted the fan midway. I also wired in a quick connect, another purchase from Amazon, so whatever is mounted below can easily be removed.

My thought is to reuse the old fixtures for right now till I have more time to fabricate new fixtures The problems that brings are managing the wires to the motor and the power to the fixture. The flat sheet makes that more difficult, but it provides a much better mount for the fan for air flow.

Here is the jury rig of the light fixture attached to the wiring for the fan and power. Setting the fan to exhaust on a medium to low speed, I went to the rear vent and opened it up and could feel a nice breeze being pulled through. Setting the fan on a higher speed and it sounds a bit like a turbine winding up which I attribute to the smaller size I ended up with. In hindsight I might have gone with a 10" fan or 12" which may have moved more air but I think these will do fine especially with one bringing air in and one exhausting out.

I also left the fan running on about the middle setting for a half hour and felt the heat sync on the controller. There was no appreciable heat so I think these controllers will work fine.

Here is a shot of the light lit up on full.

I'll spend some more time tomorrow trying to neaten this up and mount the light. It will help to keep the trailer cool while I get the rest of the work done.

aquinob · 05-10-2015, 05:55 PM

Worked on the trailer for three days in a row and I've given the fan a good test, having it run most of that time. The controller never got warm though I did have some issues with the connector I bought to make it easy to disconnect the light fixture from the fan.

I cleaned up the installation, this is pretty much how it will be till I get around to making a new cover. In the mean time I'll work on some sort of face plate for the rocker switch and the speed control. I also need to fab up a second aluminum mount/baffle for the back vent.

Closeup of the controller:

I'm happy with the results. It pulls a nice breeze without being obnoxiously loud. If I had to do something over, I might have ordered a slightly larger fan but these two will do the trick nicely and I think last a long time. And the cost per vent is probably around 50-60 bucks with no plastic to crack in ten years.

perryg114 · 05-11-2015, 09:13 AM

Way to go Bob.

Perry

cwf · 05-11-2015, 09:27 AM

Nyce!

For 'edge trim' you can find the 'door edge guards' that press over the edge of a car door to minimize chipping. It has glue already inside it. I have used it for many 'edge protection' applications... it works easy.. a little hit with a hair dryer or heat gun and.. you can follow curves easily..

aquinob · 05-11-2015, 11:35 AM

Thanks for the lead. On the next one I'm going to use the jigsaw with a metal blade to cut it. Cant be much worse than the snips and probably wont have the sharp razor wire bits.

Dixie722 · 05-11-2015, 03:45 PM

You really ought to make a kit like this and sell them to us.. I know I would want one.

perryg114 · 05-12-2015, 05:30 AM

I have been thinking of doing this for a while and maybe sell kits. Bob, do you have an interest in doing this?

Perry

perryg114 · 05-12-2015, 06:42 AM

Here is an option that is actually made by Fantastic Fan. This already has the fan part figured out for you. You would just need to repackage it to fit your vent.

Amazon.com: Fan-Tastic 01100WH Endless Breeze Stand alone Fan: Automotive

Perry

aquinob · 05-12-2015, 07:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by perryg114

I have been thinking of doing this for a while and maybe sell kits. Bob, do you have an interest in doing this?

Perry

I don't think so, but I'm willing to provide all the inspiration and tech assist I can.

aquinob · 05-12-2015, 07:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by perryg114

Here is an option that is actually made by Fantastic Fan. This already has the fan part figured out for you. You would just need to repackage it to fit your vent.

Amazon.com: Fan-Tastic 01100WH Endless Breeze Stand alone Fan: Automotive

Perry

I saw that fan. Not sure how much butchering you would need to do to make it fit. You could potentially make a box for it and mount it over the vent if you could remove the handle and feet and the power switch didnt get in the way.

perryg114 · 05-12-2015, 08:35 AM

I would pull the motor and switch and remount.

Perry

Dixie722 · 05-13-2015, 03:39 PM

We love the fan,, and your determination.,What I want to know is what kind of lights are in your light covers? looks like flourescent, or strip leds... I want some of these for sure.. my trailer is very dark (decor and design) and it is hard to have enough light. Please set me know. and thanks, Richard

perryg114 · 05-13-2015, 04:58 PM

This kit would end up costing as much as a fantastic fan but you would not be butchering the structure of your trailer. Unless there is some sort of structure between the skins you would risk falling through the roof if you step near a vent that is just attached to the sheet metal and there is no support structure under it.

Perry

aquinob · 05-13-2015, 07:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dixie722

We love the fan,, and your determination.,What I want to know is what kind of lights are in your light covers? looks like flourescent, or strip leds... I want some of these for sure.. my trailer is very dark (decor and design) and it is hard to have enough light. Please set me know. and thanks, Richard

Here ya go, its all documented in this thread: http://www.airforums.com/forums/f447...der-97498.html

aquinob · 07-27-2015, 07:16 PM

OK, so it's been awhile, but I finally got some time to go back and complete one of the fans, the forward unit. I had to button everything up when we took her out about a month ago, and it was so hot that opening a vent was pretty much out of the question anyway.

Previously I had started on making a wood mount for the switches out of some mahogany I had lying around. The other night I got to fitting in the rocker switch and the small pot to control the fan speed. Since the original light switch was mounted in the plastic, I had to modify the wood to make it much thinner so the controls would mount correctly, I.E. not too deep if that makes any sense. Pictures tell the story better than words.

I very carefully drilled for holes on either side and used a short metal cutting blade in a jigsaw to cut open two sections to fit the controls through. I also used a forstner bit to open up the back by each control so the pot and rotary switch didn't sit too low.

I had to cut back the heat shrink on the rocker switch so it would fit in the square opening I made in the wood. The pot for the fan speed sits next to it.

I decided to mount the speed controller on the side of the diffuser. Originally it was mounted to base plate, but I figured it would be easier to deal with the wires from the controls to the board since they were fairly short. I used some Isolate it Sorbothane strip that I bought for controlling vibration of the AC unit to pad the bottom of the board against the plastic.

The wood panel was glued to the plastic using my favorite adhesive, 5 minute epoxy.

I went to the local hardware store and got some of the brass nipple stock that is what they use for table lamps, some brass hex nuts and a small dark brass finial that I used to hold the whole fixture up just like the old switch held it up before.

Lights on, you can see I didn't put the screen back in yet. So far it works well, no different from the last time. I still have to work on the back unit by the bath. I've got a few other projects on the trailer as well as around the house to catch up on, always something to do, but never enough time to do it all.

kidjedi · 06-27-2017, 10:17 AM

Getting ready to do my fans/vents and thought I'd post my findings, even though this is an old thread.

I actually bought one of those 02Cool fans mentioned earlier in this thread when we were stranded in Wyoming on our first trip. It runs on D cell batteries or 12v, so seemed great for the Airstream. I was going to install the fan in one of the vents and wire it to the 12v system, but since it also runs on D cells, I've decided to keep it as is (it's great for a tent, and the D cells last longer than you'd think).

Next thing I tried were computer fans. One alone doesn't move enough air, so I installed four in one vent (I am also using two to vent the refrigerator). You can get *really* quite computer fans, depending how much you want to spend, and you can get *really* cheap fans (like free, in old, thrown out computers), if you don't mind a little noise... they're still quieter than the original fans by a LONG shot.

Finally, I just purchased an Excella that came with three new-in-the-box Fantastic Vents, so I had the luxury of taking one apart without feeling like I was throwing away my money (and it came apart easily, so I could actually put it back together if I wanted).

The motor and blades by themselves fit in the original Airstream vent housing, so you don't have to remove the aluminum lid and collar if you don't want to. You can even transfer the pin from the Fantastic Vent to the original housing so the fan doesn't operate unless the lid is open.

After checking the size to make sure the fan and motor actually fit, I searched eBay and found that you can get the motor and blades with "bow tie" (the piece that attaches the motor and fan to the housing) for around $30. So if you're handy with electrical, you can do your own switches and mounting in the original housing with an actual Fantastic Fan for around $30 plus wires and switches.

Probably a more "elegant" and quiet solution than the electric automotive fan, and definitely quieter with less power draw. Also it turns out, actually cheaper than the automotive fan and switch.