Adria Twin, Maxxfan installed. Easier than I expected. (1 Viewer)

[Peavy]

silly question maybe but which size roof light did you replace? How do you know which one to order?

Is pretty standard. In PVC, the rear skylight is 40x40 cm in most models.
Anyway I knew it was that size in the Adria Twin for sure.

 

[Steve I]

Fitted one earlier this year in my ih pvc, very similar experience to yours, and an absolute godsend over the weekend just gone at Whitby - leave it running all day cooling the van down, whilst the solar is topping up the battery with what it's using

Any idea how much solar you need to cover what it’s using please?

 

[Peavy]

Any idea how much solar you need to cover what it’s using please?

The Maxxfan uses 3A when running at 100%, actually not much (36Wh).
It depends on some factors, but let's imagine that your solar energy works on a good day, 5 hours of sun at 80% (the panels do not offer 100% of their capacity), and you are using your Maxxfan 24 hours a day because you are in Spain, in August (you're brave...)
You would need 216W of solar energy.

solar W x 5 hours x 80 / 100 = 864 (36Wh x 24h)

 

[Guigsy]

I've only ever run the MaxxAir on full for 10 minutes. It was returning to a van in the evening after a baking day to flush through some cooler air. Most of the time I have it ticking away at 10 or 20%. And if it's really hot, there's probably plenty of solar to spare!

 

[ED O'DARAC]

I fitted a Maxxfan a few weeks ago. It was incredibly useful in Norfolk last week when the temperatures went over 30C. The van was much more comfortable during the day. And setting it to 10% overnight kept a bit of airflow going without being too noisy. Money well spent!

I got the clear/light smoke version with the additional blind with lighting. The blind isn't great. It can only be either open or closed with no intermediate positions and it pretty much completely blocks the airflow. So we never closed it. Might be useful when it's really cold I guess? The light is good though. If I had known, I probably would have got the dark smoke or even the solid hood version.

Hi Marty, MaxxFan Deluxe is excellent, but the blinds completely negate the airflow. We found the same and it is right above our bed. We have since fitted Patented NiteAir, which gives full blackout WITH full airflow. Great for parking under floodlights and in hot weather. (The remote control works well with it in place.) www.niteair.co.uk

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[Birty]

Hi Marty, MaxxFan Deluxe is excellent, but the blinds completely negate the airflow. We found the same and it is right above our bed. We have since fitted Patented NiteAir, which gives full blackout WITH full airflow. Great for parking under floodlights and in hot weather. (The remote control works well with it in place.) www.niteair.co.uk

View attachment 921379

Is this simply a cover for a maxair? In not understanding their website?

 

[ED O'DARAC]

It is a new, patented blackout blind for MaxxFan which allows full airflow at the same time. We love it as my wife is quite light-sensitive for sleeping. We need to be cooler AND dark. All the 'roller-blind' and sliding blinds blocked all of the airflow which negates the MaxxFan. It works for us.

Is this simply a cover for a maxair? In not understanding their website?

Airflow

 

[Lenny HB]

Do you have another link as that file format not supported on my Win10 PC?

 

[ED O'DARAC]

Ha! Re: the blind, they seem daft to offer to block the light when it blocks 99% of the airflow (which was exactly the reason you wanted a roof fan) We love the Maxxfan above our bed but we added the new Patented NiteAir blind as it uniquely offers blackout WITH full airflow (100% air in /complete darkness). It works for us as we wild camp and there always seems to be streetlighting above our roofvents!

I fitted a Maxxfan a few weeks ago. It was incredibly useful in Norfolk last week when the temperatures went over 30C. The van was much more comfortable during the day. And setting it to 10% overnight kept a bit of airflow going without being too noisy. Money well spent!

I got the clear/light smoke version with the additional blind with lighting. The blind isn't great. It can only be either open or closed with no intermediate positions and it pretty much completely blocks the airflow. So we never closed it. Might be useful when it's really cold I guess? The light is good though. If I had known, I probably would have got the dark smoke or even the solid hood version.

..

 

[Guigsy]

Ha! Re: the blind, they seem daft to offer to block the light when it blocks 99% of the airflow (which was exactly the reason you wanted a roof fan) We love the Maxxfan above our bed but we added the new Patented NiteAir blind as it uniquely offers blackout WITH full airflow (100% air in /complete darkness). It works for us as we wild camp and there always seems to be streetlighting above our roofvents!


..

It would be a better design if the blind allowed at least a bit of airflow. But it's still useful as a light.

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[Bertilak]

Regarding restricting the light from waking you in the early morning, I've been experimenting with louvred panels, so that it allows light straight down, but restricts light spreading sidesways to where your head would be. It achieves this aim really well. First test in pic (our bed is NS), which is limited as the 3D printer I had available isn't quite big enough, so the edges are blocked with tape. It does restrict vertical light by c 50% too, but that could be improved by having thinner walls and full area. Airfow will be restricted too, but as others have said you rarely need more than the 30% setting.

Of course you can also buy Maxxfans with opaque lids. I also feel that separating the roof window function from the ventilation would possibly be better,

IMO a complete solution would have to include a thermal barrier and full draughtproofing. Maxxfans are bad news when it's cold and windy!
I can't see a neat way to do this, at least not without a removeable pad.

 

[Landy Andy]

The Maxxfan cover allows some airflow, but obviously does restrict it. I cut out the sides of my cover to allow more airflow.

 

[Landy Andy]

Maxxfans are bad news when it's cold and windy!

You can get a seal kit that makes them airtight

 

[Bertilak]

You can get a seal kit that makes them airtight

I've seen (and got) the seal kit round the edges, but it still leaves a 1/2in slot along the back edge, as a permanent ventilation "to suit EU regulations".
Easy enough to block if you take the fan off, but I've not done it, yet.

 

[Peavy]

I cut out the sides of my cover to allow more airflow

Could you share a picture? Thanks

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[Landy Andy]

Could you share a picture? Thanks

 

[Rambleon]

Just fitted a Maxxfan to my 2021my Adria Twin Supreme 640SLB so thought I’d describe how I installed it to help anyone thinking of doing the same and also allow others to tell me how I did it all wrong .

The existing roof light is fixed onto a black gasket with sealant so came off easily by sliding a blade between the roof light and the gasket. The remaining old sealant was then cleaned off with white spirit leaving a flat gasket 40 x 40cm. I used sikaflex to bed down the Maxxfan base and then secured with screws.
View attachment 650931

The difficult part of any Maxxfan install is getting 12v to it, Adria helpfully pre install a 240v cable from the rear roof light to alongside the mains breaker unit. The cable at the roof light was a bit of a pig to get as it was just beyond reach behind the timber. In the end I had to cut some of the timber batten to reach it.
View attachment 650933

Now to get a 12v supply to the other end of the 240v cable. Doing some research I found 3 ways to get the supply. Fish a cable under the dinette floor and connect to the leisure battery, do the same but connect to the 12v fuse box or take a feed from the back of the 12v socket beside the tv. I chose the last as I thought it the easiest.

Piggybacking to the 12v socket was easy. Drop a cable finder down the back inside the wall. Behind the dinette seat back there is a hatch, take that out and it helps drop the cable finder down and behind the boiler. It’s then simple to pull the 12v positive and negative cables through and connect to the 240v cable. I put a switch in so I could switch off the supply to the Maxxfan to save power as it’s on standby all the time for the remote control. View attachment 650935
View attachment 650936

Back onto the roof of the van, drop in the Maxxfan, being careful of the cables, and put on the internal frame. Done.

Overall it took me around 4 hours.

Away for the next 3 nights and looking forward to seeing what difference it makes.

Thanks Andy for the advice on fitting the maxxair fan, I've just fitted mine and it works great.
With a bit of fettling have managed to refit the original heki blind it is a concertina type which allows air to circulate up to 40 or 50 percent for night time use which is fine. and it matches my other blinds.
Big problem though ,the remote seems to interfere with tv reception so I noticed on an old FUN thread that it is caused by a faulty batch of circuit boards so am just trying to resolve that at the moment ,otherwise really pleasd with it.Thanks again for an excellent guide , Ray

 

[ivorantony]

No problem replacing the board but worth spraying it with clear lacquer to make it waterproof before fitting,

 

[Two on Tour]

I have got lazy and now ask Alexa to turn our Maxxfan Deluxe on and off.

 

[Rambleon]

No problem replacing the board but worth spraying it with clear lacquer to make it waterproof before fitti

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[Rambleon]

Thanks very much for the tip .any idea what is best ? Forc oating it ? I have sent an email to the supplier about this .

 

[Two on Tour]

Thanks very much for the tip .any idea what is best ? Forc oating it ? I have sent an email to the supplier about this .

I use Ambersil acrylic conformal coating on my PCB's

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ambersil-Acrylic-Conformal-Coating-Corosion/dp/B07ZZ9GWJS/?tag=mhf04-21

 

[Rambleon]

I use Ambersil acrylic conformal coating on my PCB's

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ambersil-Acrylic-Conformal-Coating-Corosion/dp/B07ZZ9GWJS/?tag=mhf04-21

Sorry for the delay ,Thanks very much for the coating info I will order some, I have got a new circuit board coming for the maxxfan as the old one was causing interference on my TV, (faulty batch apparently) I will be able to coat the new one before I install it