Fantastic Vent problem

[Janss]

Called Fantastic a couple days ago. I checked out a few things they told me. Couldn't figure it out. Too late to call back today. Will call tomorrow, but thought I'd see if any of you have any suggestions tonight.

I have Model 2000DM in bathroom. Rocker switch on wall. Knob for vent cover...push up for "Auto", pull down for "Manual". Three speed fan knob.

It used to work, but now the fan does not rotate on manual nor on auto. Vent cover works fine on both manual and auto. Little plunger (spring) near hinge of vent cover seems okay (i.e. not stuck). They told me that's what tells fan that vent cover is open enough to start rotating.

This is what I think is weird. On manual and with cover open, when I turn fan speed on (1,2,or3), I can hear the same sound as when the cover is opening or closing on auto. I can hear and feel that vibration in the cover knob, so I know it is not a noise from the fan motor up on top. But fan is completely still.

I don't hear a whining or grumbling noise (like bearings). Also checked the fuse next to speed knob, it's fine, but seems like that is fuse that controls the vent cover.

Any ideas?

[Janss]

Success! Tried again and was able to get a little wrench (and my fingers) up between the fan blades from inside the RV. Loosened the nut on that plunger just a bit, moved the ground wire just a bit....and viola!....the fan works now! Sprayed some more DeoxIT, tightened the nut and all is well.

Thanks again everybody!

[Janss]

Chris, that's what Fantastic told me on the phone. Unfortunately, I'm afraid to go up on the roof. So I took the screen off from inside and was able to reach my hand up and did push that plunger many times. Also gave it a squirt of DeoxIT. Maybe I'll try some more. Might try to get a small tool up there to loosen the nut and jiggle the ground wire around, but not sure I can do all that through the fan blades.

Old-Biscuit....Auto mode works fine other than the fan doesn't run (yes, the speed knob is on), i.e. the vent cover goes up and down.

Dick B....I have a multi-meter, so thank you for that suggestion.

Thank you all for your suggestions!

[Chris_Bryant]

Go up on the roof and flip that plunger several times- it is 95% of the problems on FF products. It simply grounds out the fan motor, and gets corroded easily.

[Dick_B]

You might want to check the voltage at the various points along the fan circuit. On my manual unit, from inside, you can take off the decorative flange that covers the fan. (There is a screw that holds the knob in place that opens the cover manually. Back off that screw and pull down the knob to free up the flange.)

[Old-Biscuit]

"This is what I think is weird. On manual and with cover open, when I turn fan speed on (1,2,or3), I can hear the same sound as when the cover is opening or closing on auto."

When it is doing this....place in auto an see what happens.

[j-d]

As I remember I took the cover off the motor/gearbox area and somehow was able to pull one of the motor's two wires off. Taped the loose terminal to make sure it couldn't contact anything. I did this a couple years ago, but my recollection is that if I re-positioned the cover, it'd work OK till the next incident. And I believe the incidents arose after the battery disconnect had been Off then back On again. I'm not sure what the fan was/wasn't doing (other than it never got to the point that it didn't run at all...). What I'd notice was the cover lift motor humming against a closed (maybe fully open) cover that it couldn't move any farther.

[Janss]

j-d, I'd hate to have to do that. But I may have to try. Do you mean the wire from the fan motor that goes to the little spring that pushes down when the vent cover goes down?

[Janss]

Yes, right, rjxj. I don't know where to find the "main power" to this fan. Just looked at my panel of 12v circuit breakers (above my microwave) and none are marked "fan" or anything like that.

[j-d]

Our coach has an automatic Fantastic in the bedroom and a manual one in the living area. Bedroom one had annoying habits similar to what you describe. I made it "manual" by disconnecting and taping a motor wire and putting a couple 5/16" lockwashers over the knob shaft so it couldn't be pushed to engage the motor gears. We have MaxxAir2 vent covers so I don't care about the auto-close feature. MUCH happier with the vent.
I think the cover motor was confusing, or confused by, the position of the cover. It seemed worse when the house battery had been disconnected and reconnected.

[azrving]

So even if the cover isn't all the way up and the knob isn't engaged the fan should have still begun to spin? Right? I think that's how my 14 speed is. It needs to have the knob pushed up and engaged and it will bottom out when its all the way up and dead ends and stop the motor. So the only thing I can guess is shut the main power off to it and see if it resets or something. Mine has a remote control with soft touch and it rings a bell about removing batts. I have never had that happen so I'm just guessing in the way that I boot my phone or computer when it has a glitch. Again, just a wild guess.