Maxxair - who's fitted one to an existing "skylight"

[PaulC70]

I'm looking at buying and fitting a maxxair deluxe and wondering if anyones fitted one and if they have any tips / tricks or anything to watch out for on doing so?
I've a Bailey Alliance SE 2021 and will fit to the existing skylight in middle of the van which is above the cooker.

 

[ivorantony]

I fitted mine last week to replace my 400mm henki over the bed, as been said getting power to it was time consuming,
ended up grinding a cutting edge to a 3 foot length of studding to bore a hole through a support timber I didn’t know I had in the roof,
The rest was easy, decided on the white cover and blind with LED’s that works very well, I especially like the fan on auto to drop the temperature inside the van when you are out,

 

[griff71]

i'm repainting my roof and also going to fit a maxxair fan to replace the skylight in kitchen area, the reason i opted for the fan was because after removing the skylight i found it had wires for a fan, i checked them out and they are live so thought i'd upgrade to a fan.
fitting it tomorrow.

 

[stewartwebr]

When we got our new motorhome I had not spec'd the Maxxair in the shower area. Thankfully, Morelo run integrated tubing within the roof space in the event it is spec'd on order, so running cables was not an issue and as others have said fitting is very simple.
I also purchased the blind with integrated LED lights. Unfortunately, the dimensions of the blind is slightly smaller than that of the Dometic roof light which it was replacing. The roof on my van has faux leather and well padded, this meant that the previous roof light left dents on the padding looking unsightly. I was able to use the blind unit from the pervious unit by cutting and screwing the fixing points from the new unit. This covered the marks which would have been visible with the new blind and looked more consistent with the rest of the roof units, it also gives better protection to the incoming light as it is thicker and better quality.

 

[ukfetchfan]

We are just about to fit two of these. I like the inside of my van to be as light and bright as possible. Would people recommend the white or clear for letting in most bright light. My understanding from previous posts is that the ‘clear’ is a little smoky and might therefore through a grey darker light inside?? What do you recommend. Thanks

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[DelViv]

I fitted one last night after removing the Thule 12v vent. As it already had a 12v feed to the Thule the hardest job was removing the old sealant. Well worth the effort though. Fabulous piece of kit

 

[ivorantony]

We are just about to fit two of these. I like the inside of my van to be as light and bright as possible. Would people recommend the white or clear for letting in most bright light. My understanding from previous posts is that the ‘clear’ is a little smoky and might therefore through a grey darker light inside?? What do you recommend. Thanks

I decided on the white one as I’m more interested in reflecting heat away than letting light in, admittedly it’s a bedroom above the garage with two existing side windows, but rarely are the blinds down on these,

I think the white top is a good compromise, it gives reasonable light without the greenhouse effect and I also have the LED shroud when it’s dark, easily assessable from the bed,

 

[Landy Andy]

We are just about to fit two of these. I like the inside of my van to be as light and bright as possible. Would people recommend the white or clear for letting in most bright light. My understanding from previous posts is that the ‘clear’ is a little smoky and might therefore through a grey darker light inside?? What do you recommend. Thanks

The most light will come from the clear. Although it’s not clear, it’s smoked. Then you can buy the smoke, which isn’t smoke but black. At least the white is white so that’s simple.

Ive fitted clear (smoked) to mine and wish I’d fitted white, as would prefer less light at night, and the blind is generally crap in my opinion.

 

[PaulC70]

I managed to refit the original blind, the manual turning knobs in the way so I removed it as it's got the remote anyway. I keep the knob in the motorhome with the other tools. Just in case.

 

[Wissel]

wish I’d fitted white, as would prefer less light at night, and the blind is generally crap in my opinion.

You can buy a different top separately if you wanted. Literally a 5 min job to swap over.

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[ukfetchfan]

Thanks for your thoughts. I hadn’t thought about reflecting light and heat away- good point ivorantony. I also didn’t know you could buy a different top separately- thanks Wiseek.
Amazing what you learn on here!

 

[Jaanus]

Fitted one to my Adria and was pleased to find an electrical supply already in the roof void.

Buying again I would not buy the “clear” version, I would go white, and not have the flimsy blind bit that goes inside. Even the ”clear” is smoked, so very light anyway.

Hi. Im planning to install Maxxfan to Adria Matrix 670 SL. Where did you install Maxxfan in your Adria? Im planning to put it in the kitchen area, were the cables already next to the roof window?

 

[Landy Andy]

Hi. Im planning to install Maxxfan to Adria Matrix 670 SL. Where did you install Maxxfan in your Adria? Im planning to put it in the kitchen area, were the cables already next to the roof window?

Put mine in kitchen area and cables were already there and wired across to the back of the above hob kitchen unit.

 

[Jaanus]

Superb, thank you. I have interior design thing put around the window that seems to be fitted pretty tight. Did you have similar and if so, how did you get it off without damaging it.

 

[Otter Spotter]

When we got our new motorhome I had not spec'd the Maxxair in the shower area. Thankfully, Morelo run integrated tubing within the roof space in the event it is spec'd on order, so running cables was not an issue and as others have said fitting is very simple.
I also purchased the blind with integrated LED lights. Unfortunately, the dimensions of the blind is slightly smaller than that of the Dometic roof light which it was replacing. The roof on my van has faux leather and well padded, this meant that the previous roof light left dents on the padding looking unsightly. I was able to use the blind unit from the pervious unit by cutting and screwing the fixing points from the new unit. This covered the marks which would have been visible with the new blind and looked more consistent with the rest of the roof units, it also gives better protection to the incoming light as it is thicker and better quality.

Have you tried rubbing the faux leather with ice cubes? That may ease the dents in the material.

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[Guigsy]

Just ordered a Maxxair and interior blind. We're away a few times in the next few weeks and it looks like it's going to get warm. Also, last year it chucked it down and we couldn't open the skylight in the rain, so a Maxxair will be useful then too.

I've got no idea how I'm going to wire it. It's going in the skylight above the drop-down bed which has a light nearby, which itself has a sneaky cable running behind the curtain skirting that hides the bed mechanism. I might run a temporary cable to that until I figure out a better route.

The other question is... how should I fix it to the roof? Stick it with Sika? Seamseal it? Use random screws and squirt sealant into the threads and cover the heads? Use Tek Screws and caps?... what size?

 

[ivorantony]

You can download the fitting manual and plenty of how do it on You tube, very straightforward honest

 

[Googlebot]

I used seamseal in case I wanted to get it off again. I also covered the screws in the stuff to stop water tracking down them.

12 months and no leaks yet.