FantasticFan Power

[calewjohnson]

I am looking to add a FantasticFan to the vent in the kitchen, our stove vent doesn't vent outside, and the ceiling vent is right over the stove. I have a question about a power supply for the fan...I pulled the shroud off the existing vent and found the wires that go to the 12v ceiling light near the vent, would this be a good source for power or will I need to look somewhere else? The only downside I would see with using that wire is that those lights are switched. I would really like to not have to run wires back to the power panel. Any help would be great!

Cale

[Bonefish]

Voltage Detector (AC)


Get one of these a Lowe's, HomeDepot, ACE, etc.
It will tell you if the line you are looking at is AC (120) or not.
Only beeps near AC lines. DC no reaction.

[calewjohnson]

For some crazy reason, I was hoping that they used certain colors for lighting circuits and another set of colors for sockets, etc.... Almost like a really big wiring harness.

[h2guy]

For what its worth, on my trlr, the white wire is ground, and the white/red stripe is the positive on the 12vdc circuit.

You could connect to either wire but the motor will run backwards if your motors positive is connected to the white wire.

[ktmrfs]

calewjohnson wrote:

ktmrfs wrote:
you could wire into the overhead lights, but as you mention, the lights need to be on for the fan. Here is a likely alternative, worked in my outback 295RE.

There may or may not be an unswitched wire running nearby. If not here is what you can likely do:

if you pull the microwave, you'll likely find that the wiring to the stove fan and lights drops down from the ceiling behind the microwave to the stove fan, or comes up from down below and then goes to the stove fan. So now you have a always on 12V source.

If needed drill a 1" dia hole or so into the ceiling behind the microwave. Then fish a wire from the vent over to the microwave. Now you have an unswitched power source for the vent.

Myself and several others have done this on outbacks.

If

By chance, have you had your interior lights down? Just curious as to what color those wire were....trying to see what I am playing with.

Cale

sorry, but I don't recall what color the wires were.

And knowing how trailers are built, I wouldn't count on the next trailer having the same color wires anyway!!

[calewjohnson]

ktmrfs wrote:
you could wire into the overhead lights, but as you mention, the lights need to be on for the fan. Here is a likely alternative, worked in my outback 295RE.

There may or may not be an unswitched wire running nearby. If not here is what you can likely do:

if you pull the microwave, you'll likely find that the wiring to the stove fan and lights drops down from the ceiling behind the microwave to the stove fan, or comes up from down below and then goes to the stove fan. So now you have a always on 12V source.

If needed drill a 1" dia hole or so into the ceiling behind the microwave. Then fish a wire from the vent over to the microwave. Now you have an unswitched power source for the vent.

Myself and several others have done this on outbacks.

If

By chance, have you had your interior lights down? Just curious as to what color those wire were....trying to see what I am playing with.

Cale

[calewjohnson]

wbwood wrote:
Test the wires with the light off at the switch. We had two fantastic fans installed on our class c. Because not knowing anything about the electrical and whether or not there would be wires at our existing vents, we opted to let CW install them. Didn't cost a whole lot to have it done right and no worries.

Hmmmm..a little taboo, paying CW to do it and it was done right... 🙂

Cale

[calewjohnson]

Thanks for the input guys. Unfortunately, my microwave is in the island, near the floor, that is a no-go. The two wires I saw was a paired wire, white/red. The red was twice the size as the white. I do have a test light, I will give it a look next time we are out. I am not worried about grease and what not, it will go in the roof/ceiling in the 14inch x 14inch existing hole. I am looking at FantasticFan 6600R, so the wife will actually be able to use it. Once done, yes, the silly alarm will quite going off every time we cook. Boggles my mind why I have a vented hood that is not actually vented to the outside....yes, I appreciate not having another hole in the trailer and not having to deal with critters and cold drafty air, but....

Cale

[old_guy]

I have one installed in my old TT and it ran fine. you just have to clean the blades more often as they tend to gather a lot of grease on them. the new fans are easy to disassemble to clean. and yes the wire should supply plenty of juice to run the fan. anyway mine did.

[Clay_L]

You might want to check with Fantastic to see if the fan will handle the heat over the the stove.
As cheap and noisy as the fans usually found in vents over stoves they are rated for the environment.

[ktmrfs]

you could wire into the overhead lights, but as you mention, the lights need to be on for the fan. Here is a likely alternative, worked in my outback 295RE.

There may or may not be an unswitched wire running nearby. If not here is what you can likely do:

if you pull the microwave, you'll likely find that the wiring to the stove fan and lights drops down from the ceiling behind the microwave to the stove fan, or comes up from down below and then goes to the stove fan. So now you have a always on 12V source.

If needed drill a 1" dia hole or so into the ceiling behind the microwave. Then fish a wire from the vent over to the microwave. Now you have an unswitched power source for the vent.

Myself and several others have done this on outbacks.

If

[Hiking_Hunter]

Yes, test the circuit like wbwood suggested. You can use a needle to pierce the wires so you won't have to cut them then splice them back just to test. I did the same installation for the same reason. In my 5th wheel there were three wires - a ground, a switched lead and one that was hot all the time near the old unpowered vent. Don't know why it was there, but I didn't question it - just used it to power the Fantastic Fan. Negative will probably be white, hot will be black or brown. The Fan doesn't pull much power.

No more smoke alarms while cooking breakfast...

[Shadow_Catcher]

What gauge is the wire (probably 14 stranded) and what else is on the circuit? Check the fuse what amp rating?

[wbwood]

Test the wires with the light off at the switch. We had two fantastic fans installed on our class c. Because not knowing anything about the electrical and whether or not there would be wires at our existing vents, we opted to let CW install them. Didn't cost a whole lot to have it done right and no worries.