In terms of power, I turned the fan on at 2:30pm is I recall correctly and off at 8:10pm. That's just shy of 6 hours use. That's not bad. The question is how well it performs compared to my CPU fans. I have rather a feeling that the CPU fans shifted more air. Mind, my CPU fans are under sized anyway. What I really need is to buy a 4 inch CPU fan and run the two side by side with fresh batteries.
My paper test showed that the CPU fan really sucked a piece of paper hard against the fan. This little 3v fan, less so. I think 3v is a really good idea but I notice two downsides. First, the fan is very noisy and second, perhaps not as powerful as my CPU fans.
It is a dream of mine to be able to thumb my nose at 12v deep cycle batteries. I have an uneasy feeling that I'm going to have to suck it up and use a 12v deep cycle battery though. I'll probably just put a switch on the console that I can flip while driving to share alternator power with the deep cycle battery. That way, though I have to remember to flip the switch, I don't have to fuss about with generators or those laughable solar panels.
Being the 4th of July weekend, it's not safe to venture out on the roads. There are just too many drunk drivers around this weekend. Mind, there are plenty drunks or druggies on the roads anyway judging from the 5% of drivers that seem to be weaving along the roads. Thus, I'm staying home doing little bits on the bus.
I turned the fan back on about 1pm and as of 5:30pm it's still going strongly. I really like this. That's 10 hours use so far. Meanwhile, I rediscovered my Harbor Freight solar battery charger. I'd put a pair of AA NiMh batteries in place a few months ago. I put it in the sun to charge them today. I had a mysterious green LED alternately flashing with an equally mysterious red LED also flashing. Typically, there was no logical explanation so I'm just hoping the batteries will charge. Interestingly, that solar charger is designed for use with D cells. I'll have to see how well it charges AA cells before I come to any conclusions. The reviews and my experience count against it but I'll have to wait and see.
I had a little look at the steering wheel on the bus today. If I can figure out how to fix the horn button then I'll be happy. Incidentally, the biggest problem with the horn is that the cable keeps coming unattached at the front. Perhaps next weekend I'll take a look at that.
I'm having a go at removing the no guns sign. I just hate labels on things - especially unnecessary labels. I cut the labels off my jeans. It's all part of being an individual. Anyway, the sign is coming off but painfully slowly. I get a little more off each time. What would get it off easier would be a hot air gun or a hairdryer but I don't have one and for that little label, it's not worth spending the money!
What is helping me is the heat. The metal inside the cockpit gets very hot through transferred heat. This softens the glue a little but not enough to make the job easier. The temperatures today 110F in the cockpit, 108F in the galley and 100 in the bedroom.
While my latest fan does work and work well, I'll have to try it with two. Currently it seems that the fans are pulling the heat from the front to the back, raising temperatures at the back of the bus. I'm going to try it with a second battery fan.
I've ordered 4 fans from China that should work well together. Again, I have no idea of current consumption. I'm thinking that with enough suction from the back, air will be sucked in from outside at the front. Outside air is cooler! I might have to double up on the fans to ensure good airflow. A typical fan like this uses up to 6W or 500ma but more likely 160ma.
I turned the fan back on about 1pm and as of 5:30pm it's still going strongly. I really like this. That's 10 hours use so far. Meanwhile, I rediscovered my Harbor Freight solar battery charger. I'd put a pair of AA NiMh batteries in place a few months ago. I put it in the sun to charge them today. I had a mysterious green LED alternately flashing with an equally mysterious red LED also flashing. Typically, there was no logical explanation so I'm just hoping the batteries will charge. Interestingly, that solar charger is designed for use with D cells. I'll have to see how well it charges AA cells before I come to any conclusions. The reviews and my experience count against it but I'll have to wait and see.
I'm having a go at removing the no guns sign. I just hate labels on things - especially unnecessary labels. I cut the labels off my jeans. It's all part of being an individual. Anyway, the sign is coming off but painfully slowly. I get a little more off each time. What would get it off easier would be a hot air gun or a hairdryer but I don't have one and for that little label, it's not worth spending the money!
What is helping me is the heat. The metal inside the cockpit gets very hot through transferred heat. This softens the glue a little but not enough to make the job easier. The temperatures today 110F in the cockpit, 108F in the galley and 100 in the bedroom.
While my latest fan does work and work well, I'll have to try it with two. Currently it seems that the fans are pulling the heat from the front to the back, raising temperatures at the back of the bus. I'm going to try it with a second battery fan.
I've ordered 4 fans from China that should work well together. Again, I have no idea of current consumption. I'm thinking that with enough suction from the back, air will be sucked in from outside at the front. Outside air is cooler! I might have to double up on the fans to ensure good airflow. A typical fan like this uses up to 6W or 500ma but more likely 160ma.
At 8:10 I turned off the battery powered fan. It really is going strongly! That's 7 hours straight today and 6 hours yesterday. A grand total of 13 hours so far. It'll be interesting to see how long the battery lasts and how long the fan lasts. I know CPU fans are built for long term use as opposed to this fan.
Assuming 160 ma power usage or 2W then my proposed array of 4 fans would consume 640mah. Assuming a 12v deep cycle battery of 105ah at 60% usage, 60Ah would keep those fans running for 93.75 hours. Bearing in mind they'd only really be needed during the hot part of the day, purely running fans alone, that battery would be good for well over a week with no recharging!
Looking at my cellphone charger, it uses 1500ma at 5v. That recharges my cellphone in around 3 hours. That's not going to be 1500ma at 12v - how much less it'll be, I don't know. Assuming no difference, that'll consume around 9ah daily given two recharges a day. My tablet charger uses 2100mah about once a day for about 2 hours. That's around 4.2ah a day. Adding it all up, over 5 days that would be 21ah for the tablet, 45ah for the phone and 38ah for the ventilation. That's a grand total of 114ah. That in turn would mean a single battery would be unlikely to supply all of the casual power needs. If just the ventilation could be solar powered, that would make a huge difference.
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