Fantastic Fan install - no power :-(

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

OK - finally got around to removing the old overhead crank-up vent on our pop-up TC. I'm astounded how sticky the old Dicor still was on a 22 yr old camper! MUCH scraping later (and grateful for an aluminum roof), the new Fantastic Fan fit perfectly into the hole. I also discovered Northstar already had 12v wiring in place for a powered fan - bonus!

Unfortunately, when I plugged the camper into 110v, there seems to be no power to the wires in the vent opening. 😞 (The overhead lights worked, so I did have proper power)

Ed tossed out some ideas - maybe there's no fuse in place for something that hadn't originally been installed; or the wires aren't hooked to ??? on the other end. I didn't even look at the fuse box - it was dark and my back ached and I was getting crabby. Getting old ain't for sissies.

Tomorrow, I will contact Northstar and ask for advice, but I thought I'd throw my question out on this forum in case someone else knows the answer and I can start screwing down the fan.

Thanks for any suggestions!
Deb

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

Z-Peller wrote:


Glad you got your fan wiring sorted out!....thanks for letting us know!

When we bought this camper, the tent portion was heavily mildewed simply from condensation. Having had a previous TC with ordinary vent that "rained" on me one cold rainy night (condensation contacting the cold metal frame) - I swore that any future RVs MUST have a powered exhaust fan. IMO - it makes an enormous difference!
Thanks for your help!

[Z-Peller]

After waiting for my 16 ga wire and Scotchloks to arrive, I set about trying to find a handy place to tap into the overhead wires. I removed a section of corrugated plastic wiring guard - and lo and behold, hiding inside there was a black wire not connected to anything!! I checked it for continuity to the in-place fan wires, and got a beep. 🙂 So I simply Scotchlok'd it to a black wire next to it (apparently the neutral had already been connected) - and TADA! the fan runs like a champ!

Glad you got your fan wiring sorted out!....thanks for letting us know!

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

Z-Peller wrote:
Hmmm....I think I would use a sharp point light tester and poke the black & green wires to make sure they all have power before tapping into them. Maybe one of them is the fan prewire to the fuse panel and is dead?... hard to say but just a thought.

You win!!! After waiting for my 16 ga wire and Scotchloks to arrive, I set about trying to find a handy place to tap into the overhead wires. I removed a section of corrugated plastic wiring guard - and lo and behold, hiding inside there was a black wire not connected to anything!! I checked it for continuity to the in-place fan wires, and got a beep. 🙂 So I simply Scotchlok'd it to a black wire next to it (apparently the neutral had already been connected) - and TADA! the fan runs like a champ! So I spent the rest of the afternoon screwing the fan to the roof (the butyl tape had already pretty much locked it into place) and then drizzling Dicor over everything. Once that sets up for a couple of days, I'll add a rain cover.

In case anyone who has ever made an instructional video is reading this: THANK YOU! I watched a couple of videos showing "how to replace a vent with a fan" and they were invaluable!

[Z-Peller]

Hmmm....I think I would use a sharp point light tester and poke the black & green wires to make sure they all have power before tapping into them. Maybe one of them is the fan prewire to the fuse panel and is dead?... hard to say but just a thought.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

wopachop wrote:
No worries if youre over it.
But you should be able to remove the front of the electrical panel. Where ever your fuses are, the face of that panel should have screws holding it on.

Post a pic of the panel? How many spots dont have a fuse? Borrow fuses to fill the empty spots and use your meter to see if you have 12v to the fan now.

Each fuse slot had a fuse - there were 5 plus a master fuse for the 12v side; and 2 breakers for the 110v side. The entire "box" is about 12" wide x 8" tall x 6" deep. I unscrewed it from the cabinet and tried to pull it forward to see where the wires enter in the back, but I could only move the box about 1/2". Not wanting to yank on it and make something come loose....that's about the time I decided to Scotchlok into the wires I could see. I'm OK with using white vinyl tape to hide the fan wires as they run along the ceiling - this is still an old (but pristine!) TC.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

AnEv942 wrote:
If it would give enough room possibly changing knob to a crank arm handle?

I even have a spare crank handle from a previous RV, but nope. The thermostat knob has about 1/32" clearance, thank goodness. Fortunately, even at age 67, I'm still tall enough to be able to reach the ceiling 🙂 I'll be putting a rain cover over the fan, so needing to close it won't be critical.

[wopachop]

No worries if youre over it.
But you should be able to remove the front of the electrical panel. Where ever your fuses are, the face of that panel should have screws holding it on.

Post a pic of the panel? How many spots dont have a fuse? Borrow fuses to fill the empty spots and use your meter to see if you have 12v to the fan now.

[AnEv942]

If it would give enough room possibly changing knob to a crank arm handle?

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

OK, thanks everyone! I traced wires all over the place trying to find a terminal block or something similar (I can't get to the back of the electric panel). Since the camper's a popup, I can clearly see there are 4 wires going to the roof: 1 green, 1 black, 2 whites. I'm assuming the green and 1 white are for my marker lights; the black/white would be for ceiling lights. Even though there's a light about 6" from the "fan wiring", I can NOT see a connection, nor is there much room to poke around. Also - zero slack in the "fan wires". So I'm going to take the easy way out and simply Scotchlok wires from the Fantastic Fan over to where I can tap into the spot where the black/white ceiling wires are visible.

I'm adding this next part in case anyone else is pondering installing an exhaust fan in an older popup TC (looks like the new ones don't have the same lift system): I'm glad I was setting the new fan in its hole from the top of the roof - when it wouldn't sit flat, I went into the camper, and wouldn't you just know it, the crank-up knob on the Fantastic Fan was hitting the bar that folds inward as the top is lowered. It's not a huge deal - I'll just have to keep the knob loose and use as needed.

[wopachop]

You might already know this trick but if you discover multiple wires just go up to the ceiling and wire nut those 2 wires together.

Then set to continuity and find the 2 wires in the distribution panel that beep.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

Oops - sorry I wasn't clearer: yes, I used my multimeter to test for 12v power (it will test to 1/1000th of a volt). I'll grab a worklight and go searching for the other ends of that wire......

[wopachop]

Remove the cover on the electrical panel so that you can see the wires back there. Most likely you will find no fuse like you guessed, or there will be loose wires not screwed into a terminal.

[Z-Peller]

You are saying no power to fan. Do you mean that you have been using a tester on the wires?...or that your fan has not started running?...Depending on model your Fantastic fan has direction rocker switch, 3 speed knob, thermostat knob. Do you have all those controls turned on?...if wires are dead with tester then I would try to determine if they are prewired from one of the nearest ceiling lights and are capped off there and need to be connected or as suggested check 12v fuse panel for fan circuit fuse needed.