Fantastic Fan and Battery Drain

[melissab]

I was just thinking about overnighting while traveling from FL to WY over the summer. I know we cant run the A/C off battery but can the fantastic fan run all night without draining the battery to the point of damaging it? I know furnaces run all night but their fan kicks on and off. A fantastic fan would run non-stop. I'm thinking it will be quite warm in the Southern States the first night or two till we get farther North and West so trying to figure out the best way to move air while sleeping. Any suggestions or should we just plan on hookups til we get to higher elevations?

Thanks!

Melissa

[Greg H]

I don't have one yet but I understand that they draw very little power, also I believe some have a thermostat that can turn it on and off during it's use.

[Kevin K]

What model do you have?
This Model 4000R
FanTastic Vent - Products
Performance:
AMPS

High 3.00

Medium 2.29

Low 1.86
Also depends on what amp battery you have. And how long it will last.

[Joy A]

I have a fantastic fan with 3 speeds. I've run it all night on the lowest speed without any problem.

[Darwin Maring]

Check this site for the Fantastic Fan. It appears that they are less expensive than joining the camping club price.
fantastic fan

[Greg H]

They're all over E bay.

[melissab]

We dont have one yet, just researching to know which one to get and how long it can run off battery. So are those numbers how many AMPS per hour is uses? In 8 hrs it would use 24 AMPS on High? Am I understanding this correctly? And how many amps can you drain a battery down to, 50% or something like that?

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Kevin K

What model do you have?
This Model 4000R
FanTastic Vent - Products
Performance:
AMPS

High 3.00

Medium 2.29

Low 1.86
Also depends on what amp battery you have. And how long it will last.

[Bruce Thomas]

Battery condition and capacity will affect the answer you seek. Some are more able to endure what your planning to do and some wont.
you'll need a battery of big enough capacity and in good condition to put up with that nightly. recharged daily.

[Larry C Hanson]

Hi Mellissa,

I tested my Fantastic fan 5000 RBT before installation
and it only drew about 0.4A on low once it got up to operating speed.
Think it is just like yours with the addition of a thermostat.

0.4A x 10 hours overnight is only 4AH and easily supplied by most
onboard batteries.

Bon Voyage, Larry H

[melissab]

Thanks for all the great input. Batteries is something I know nothing about as we've always camped with hookups. I plan on researching threads here to learn about batteries, amp hours, draw etc.

Thanks!

[Bill K]

That will keep you busy for awhile. LOL

Bill K

Originally Posted by melissab

Thanks for all the great input. Batteries is something I know nothing about as we've always camped with hookups. I plan on researching threads here to learn about batteries, amp hours, draw etc.

Thanks!

[Bruce H]

I had one with a thermostat knob in my last trailer. I believe the switch can even be added to existing fans without one. The switch works very well and it is easy to turn the knob till the fan just comes on. Then when things cool off it will turn itself off till the trailer warms up again. That will save some of the battery while you sleep. I ran mine all night several times with the one battery trailer and still had plenty of power the next morning.

[Byron Kinnaman]

I have a constant breeze fan, close to the same thing. I haven't checked the power consumption, but I can tell you I've run it a couple nights lately without worry about battery drain. It wasn't a problem.

[ThomasE]

To put it in perspective, the fan on high drawing 3 amps would be like having 2 lights on, most of the 12 volt bulbs inside a trailer would be 1-2 amps each.

[Mike Magee]

I believe it's fairly likely that a battery in decent shape could run such a fan on low for about three nights without doing any harm. If I'm figuring correctly, with a typical small battery rated at about 85 or 90 amp-hours, three nights of just the fan should take the battery charge down about halfway.

[Joe Z]

My Fantastic fan on "Low" draws just under 1 amp so if i ran it for 3 nights at 8 hours each night that would be a total of 24 amps.....use the thermostat on it and you can drop that figure even lower. I really like that fan as it moves a lot of air and is very quiet.
Joe

[barryra]

When you charge your battery out on the road/campsites... do you use a regular AC battery type charger? Do you need to unhook everything from the battery while charging? Thanks

[Pete]

Originally Posted by melissab

. . . can the fantastic fan run all night without draining the battery to the point of damaging it? . . . trying to figure out the best way to move air while sleeping. Any suggestions or should we just plan on hookups til we get to higher elevations?

The first summer with my trailer, I ran a test of my solar panel / fantastic fan setup. I unplugged the trailer from shore power, enabled the 100W panel, and turned the fantastic fan on low with the thermostat set cool enough to ensure it'd be running 24/7. (My batteries have 110 Amp Hours of energy storage capacity combined.)

The test continued day and night for 30 days. After a month, the batteries were working just fine. That was 3 summers ago and I still have the same batteries which are doing great. I don't imagine you'll be harming your battery using it for the fan on low at night and allowing it to recharge from you vehicle's alternator as you head to your next destination.

[Gina D.]

I have been running my Endless Breeze fan (A portable version of the Fantastic fan made by the same company) all day long for over a month now. It often runs for a couple hours in the evening when I get home as well.

I am using a 100w solar set up and a group 29 battery (120aH). I have no want for battery power for lights or water pump etc each day.

Keep in mind, I am stationary and have no other way I charge my battery.

I could use a charger when I run my generator, but I just don't need to. You should be fine with an average charging system.