12v PC fans in vehicles?

[damienperu]

When buying those little muffin fans make sure of the quality, they are not all the same even if they look the same. Some are pure junk and will fail after very little use while some will go for years of continual use. Make sure they have ball bearings not just sleeve bearings.

Yep, good advice. If anyone had a proven make/model number pass it on. I haven't decided yet for that reason. $15 - 20 range would be ideal as I want 8 + 2 spares and I need to keep the finance minister happy.

 

[86tuning]

I used a small, dedicated solar panel to power them so they ran during the day.

Brilliant! No need for temperature controllers or worry about draining batteries this way!

 

[Perfect.Pace]

To bring up an old thread, I have removed the rear ventilation flap on my car and replaced it with a 120mm PC case fan [F12 arcticcool £4] . Its hooked up to a 10w solar panel so runs when its sunny.

Because it vents the air outside of the car it helps to keep the interior a little cooler, another thing I have noticed is it stops the car from smelling [works really well for this] and keeps damp out [the dog gets in wet and the car used to smell a lot]. it is also hooked upto the car battery by a switch, so its possible to turn it on at night when sleeping in the back and I find this stops stale air and condensation on the windows, while only drawing a tiny amount of current.

All in all its one of the most useful things Ive added to the car.

 

[damienperu]

thanks heaps, they look like just the top quality - low draw fan i'm after... I still haven't finished the works I need to finish prior to being able to do this mod, so this really helps me as I hadn't found a model that really convinced me enough to buy them yet!

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

I have been running a couple of the PC fans on the outside of my popup trailer to provide more air for the fridge. I started with two with the thought I would always have a one if one went bad. Well that was several years ago and with all the dust, dirt, mud, and water I have not had one failure.

 

[verdesardog]

Those little fans can be great, but you have to be careful what you buy. Some are very cheap with only sleeve bearings and will fail in a short time. Make sure you get decent fans.

 

[Alastair D(Aus)]

noise

As said make sure you get the ball bearing type not sleeve. I have used a few over the years with success.

One trick I used for my fridge was to use a pair of fans and put in a 3 way switch which would have them off, in series or in parallel. Off for night time if the noise worries you, parallel for full air flow + noise, series reduced air flow but almost silent. I find with them in series at night in warm weather they still provide good air flow but I can hardly hear them.

cheers