Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Trailer Mod - Upgraded Bunk Fan

The bunk fan/light combo that come with the Hybrid Trailers are, in my opinion, very inadequate.  I think they make more noise than they move air.  So, I have been looking for a fan that I could use that would help keep me cool inside my bunk.  I was considering the Fan-Tastic Endless Breeze, which is a very good fan, but a little pricey at around $60.  Then, walking around Target, I found the 02 Cool Fan for $22.  This was about the right size, but, how about performance.

So, I bought it, took it home, and plugged it into the wall using the power brick that came with it.  It has 2 speed, one less than the Fan-tastic, and it worked real well.  It was a lot quieter than those little bunk fans, and moved a lot more air.  Now, came the dilemma of how to mount it.  So I took it apart and found a lot of open areas that I could work with.  So, here is what I did.


I bought some threaded eye hooks at Home Depot, some extra nuts, and some regular and fender washers (to spread the weight on the plastic, probably overkill), and some light duty decorative chain.  I was going to attach permanent eye hooks to the camper, but Jen said to try and use the 3M stick on hooks, due to the fact that we want to upgrade and not depreciate the trailer with extra holes (she is my brain sometimes).

The next thing, how to power it.  This fan operates on 12VDC via a power brick, or, by 6 D cell batteries.  In my tests, the 6D cells, providing 9 volts, didn't perform as well as the 12VDC.  So, I went to Radio Shack, Bought the correct adapter tip, female to female 6 foot cord (which I cut in half), and Solderless 1/4" Audio Plug.


This setup seems to work great.  With the chain, I can adjust the angle of the fan.  The 12 volts means that it can run at any time.  The one thing that I want to get, next time I order from Amazon, is a 1/4 splitter.  That way, I can still use the stock bunk light, and use this fan, at the same time.

2 comments:

  1. Looks good! I came to the harsh realization the other day that I don't have any 12v fans in my camper (as we were sweating buckets at a rest stop). They all require 120v. I think I'll check these out.

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    1. Thanks Doug. I have some flexibility with this. The chain is looped through the eyes and adjustable up and down by lengthening and shortening the chain. I can also just mount it vertical without using the chain. I can also flip it around to blow in towards the middle of the camper.

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