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UGL's avatar
UGL
Explorer
Nov 16, 2014

Adding a 12V Ceiling Fan

I will be soon receiving a 12VDC brushless PM motor 36" ceiling fan for my TT. I have lived my whole life with ceiling fans running, my parents were always the type to turn up the thermostat and turn on fans and turn down the heat a bit and run the fans in reverse.

So my point is I am very accustomed to them.

While in my living area I am hot when the A/C is off and also when the heater is running. So I opted to buy a fan.


I have three lights on the ceiling that I seldom use, they run from near the entry to the rear. The one located in the middle is best in my opinion.

I wanted to mount the fan in place of the light, running the power wires across the ceiling, through a over head cabinet and down the wall a bit to the switch and then run the control wires back to the fan. Of course using exterior wiring molding and the like to hide the wires and also putting the switch in a junction box.

Has anyone done this before? The fan seller claims it uses no more than 1 amp (12w) so the existing wiring and circuit fuse (15 amp) should be fine.

15 Replies

  • If you have a vent you might be able to replace it with a unit that has a fan and you can run that as a ceiling fan, other wise you are going to have a lot of modifications to do in order to secure the fan.

    navegator
  • Old-Biscuit wrote:
    How you gonna properly support it....not just the weight of fan but also the dynamic load as it goes down the road.

    Trailers/RVs that have ceiling fans have been blocked/braced inside the attic area for those fans OEM.
    The ceiling lights are just held in place by a couple of screws because they are flat against ceiling, light weight and aren't swinging about.

    Good luck.....but I don't think you have the ceiling support for a fan


    Old Biscuit has a very valid point!

    RV construction does not lend its self to be able to hang heavy or large objects from the ceiling paneling.. The paneling is only 1/8" thick so mounting a 36" diameter whirling set of blades directly to the paneling would not be a wise choice.

    Even bridging two of the ceiling studs with perhaps plywood and lag screws from the underside of the ceiling would be rather questionable at best.

    What is done in homes is you use heavy duty workboxes which are specifically designed to support the weight of a ceiling fan and there is special bracing for these boxes which span between the studs.

    RVs which are ordered with ceiling fans will have extra reinforcement in the ceiling area to handle the weight and torque of the ceiling fan motor and blades.

    Retrofitting in a RV is not an easy task and a ceiling fan is not something you WANT to have come down :E
  • How you gonna properly support it....not just the weight of fan but also the dynamic load as it goes down the road.

    Trailers/RVs that have ceiling fans have been blocked/braced inside the attic area for those fans OEM.
    The ceiling lights are just held in place by a couple of screws because they are flat against ceiling, light weight and aren't swinging about.

    Good luck.....but I don't think you have the ceiling support for a fan

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