Fantasic Vent "Guts/Brains" Up For Grabs

[DEITZ645]

Does anybody want / need the "guts/brains" to a Fantastic Vent? It can be yours for the price of shipping.

I upgraded one of the fans in my '06 to the model with a battery powered remote control, rain sensor, and reversible fan motor switch. The upgrade kit upgrades any Fantastic Vent to a 6600R.

6600R Upgrade Kit

The old unit works fine, comes with a rain sensor, all the hardware. It's basically all the interior parts that would change a non rain sensing unit to a rain sensing unit. See attached photo.

PM me with your name and address and I'll send you the shipping costs.

First interested paty gets it.

[Chipster]

If available let me know, I am interested.
Chip

[DEITZ645]

Originally Posted by Chipster

If available let me know, I am interested.
Chip

Chip,
You're the first response so if you want it, it's yours. Just PM me your mailing address and I'll reply with the cost and my address where you can send the shipping costs.

[Chipster]

Yes I want the parts. PM already sent !
Thanks,
Chip

[AndrewM]

Rats!

[Phoenix]

Me, too! The housing on the manual crank handle on ours is turning to powder and crumbling. Anyone know how to contact Fantastic Vent Company? Guess I'll have to dig to find the installation instructions, etc.

Just curious, what are those remote control kits going for? I might just upgrade ours to get the parts.

[Al - K4GLU]

The remote upgrade kits normally sell from 175-225. I was in Camping World today and they have them on sale - Presidents Club price - 149.95. Don't think you'll ever find them any cheaper. Sale ends 7/31 - and if you want them to do the installation it is 50 bucks.

[DEITZ645]

Originally Posted by Phoenix

Me, too! The housing on the manual crank handle on ours is turning to powder and crumbling. Anyone know how to contact Fantastic Vent Company? Guess I'll have to dig to find the installation instructions, etc.

Just curious, what are those remote control kits going for? I might just upgrade ours to get the parts.

Phoenix,
Look here for their contact number...

FanTastic Vent - Contact Us

They have GREAT tech support and customer service. All you have to do is call them or e-mail them, let them know what's wrong, and I'd be willing to be that you have a new part or the whole assembly in your hands in around two days.

[DEITZ645]

I got my upgrade kit for $145.99 from Adventure RV...

Fantastic Vent Upgrade kit 6600 Wireless Remote - $145.99

It took me about 15 minutes to remove the old guts and install the upgrade kit and it works as advertised.

[Al - K4GLU]

Can the arm be replaced from the inside or do you need to get on the roof?

[DEITZ645]

Originally Posted by Al - K4GLU

Can the arm be replaced from the inside or do you need to get on the roof?

Al - K4GLU,
The operating arm can be replaced from inside. The only thing I needed to get on the roof for was to remove the old rain sensor and install the new one, but I think that could have been done from inside too. I was waxing the roof at the time and just figured it would be easier to do the rain sensor while is was up there.

[Al - K4GLU]

Thanks - just ordered 2. Decided to do both of mine. I'm not worried about replacing the rain sensor since I've got vent covers that I hope to continue using. Think you can use the covers but you have to open the vents manually. We'll see.

[mutcth]

I really wish Fantastic Vent built a kit that gave me the 14 speed capability without all the other stuff. We have one fully manual vent and one "loaded" vent with the remote/rain sensor. To us, the best thing is all of those speeds - lets us run the fan slowly (but enough for airflow), keeping current low really, really low. That's awesome for boondocking - draws about 0.3 amphr instead of 0.8 for the manual fan on its lowest speed.

Or maybe this is the side effect of having a Trimetric battery monitor...or just me not wanting to have a second remote control in the trailer...

Tom

[DEITZ645]

The main reason I upgraded was to get the reversible motor. I don't understand why Airstream didn't put that model vent in our Classic in '06.

Now I can have air circulate in the trailer without opening the windows. The vent in the back exhausts air out and I can set the vent in the front to bring air into the trailer.

We used both vents a lot while we were at the BASH II and we were boondocking and the batteries didn't seem to mind them. We ran them on low to medium speeds. I need to invest in some kind of battery monitoring system. We don't boondock too much in a season, but it would be nice to have a better view of the draw/load on the batteries. Are there any systems out there that are easy to install and won't break the bank?

Oh and I don't really put too much faith in the battery monitor that came with the trailer. I would much rather have an analog style meter or a digital readout.

[Al - K4GLU]

[QUOTE=DEITZ645;1017555]The main reason I upgraded was to get the reversible motor. I don't understand why Airstream didn't put that model vent in our Classic in '06.

You could have accomplished that with a new switch - and I think Fantastic Fan will send you one for free.

[Phoenix]

I'd put the money you'd spend on a battery monitor towards a marine battery isolator switch and a generator. You'll end up spending more money (on the generator), but you won't have to worry about how much charge is left in your batteries anymore. I think most of the battery monitors are only flashing lights to impress people touring your Airstream. When it comes down to measuring how much charge is left, the inverter alarm screaming because it is about to shut down is a pretty good indicator that there isn't much left.

I wasn't sure how much we'd use the generator (mainly got two Hondas to run the air conditioner, which is a must in the southwest, especially if you do any boondocking). However, I found even in cooler weather, we use one for about an hour in the morning and evening to run appliances at mealtime; and that keeps the batteries charged up.

By the way, thanks DEITZ645, for the FantasticFan contact info.

[AirsDream]

As to battery monitors, there are a variety - I've never seen a good solar charge controller that didn't include one ... but for just assessing battery condition, it's hard to beat a plain old (but quality) digital voltmeter. My AM Solar charge controller always agrees to +- 0.01 volt with my Fluke DVM, so I think either is pretty much spot-on. Then there are state-of-charge chats out there on the Internet that will give you a pretty close equivalence between battery voltage and percentage of charge. Won't give you amp-hours of course, but you probably don't really need that, though it's a ncie feature to have.

[DEITZ645]

We use a Yamaha 3000 generator to top off the batteries when we're boondocking and I have a FLUKE DVM so I guess we're set. Thanks for the advice.

[mutcth]

Inverter? What's that?

For my uses - frequent boondocking for 2-3 days with no TV or microwave in a vintage trailer with no parasitic loads - the Trimetric battery monitor is great. It gives lots of detailed information about how many amp-hrs I've consumed and battery status.

I have zero interest in hauling around a generator. Different strokes, especially if you need to run air (but I don't have air either)...

Tom