Fan for Clam six pack or Clam 1060

[Chad Holst]

I have a Six pack and a 1060...

I know clam sells a fan/light combo. I am looking for something lighter and without lights.

Has anyone built an electric fan to hang from the top of there portable, to help move the air around? I know this makes a huge difference in the amount of heat needed to keep the tent warm and the temp is much warmer. (less gas, more heat)

I was looking at computer fans. Maybe run it off of a flasher batt? Would would you suggest for fan and batt?

Was curious to SEE and maybe hear about some ideas and how you built them.

Thanks.

[Lusid]

I just did this yesterday. Found my misc PC bin full of PC stuff and found a 92MM fan.

With your Vexilar + Fan, you should have no problems running it.

These are just rough estimates but say the Vex uses 250mA(milliamps) and the fan uses 200mA totalling, 450mA.

Say your Vex battery is 9amps. If you take 9ams / .45a = 20hrs NONSTOP use. But you have to factor in voltage + temps which will reduce as it gets colder. So realistically you would get probably 5-6hrs of continued use.

What I would recommend is going to Fleet Farm buying a cheap 7amp battery for 20 bucks and run them separately.

As for PC fan's - bigger the fan the more CFM ( cubic feet per min) it will move, power usage will be typically the same. Most higher end computer fans have mini switches that allows you to control air flow right on the fan.

Goodluck!

[McGurk]

I actually built something like you are talking, using some stuff I had laying around. It is a light/fan combo housed in a "Frog Tape" case, which is a round 7" diameter case about 1.5" tall, with a removable lid. I used a 3" (92mm) comp fan, a 24 light LED strand (just loose on wires, no hard case strip), some zip ties and switches.

I used the LED's like the upper right side, without a battery pack.

Cut out the center of the case for the fan and mount it with 4) screw. I used a 3/16ths bit for the lights, all around the outside in even increments, and pushed the lights in snug, no glue. Drill some 1" holes on the lid so you have intake air for the fan, run your wires up through one of those holes. I mounted a couple of switches to the lid with some small holes and zipties, wired them up for individual switching with one long pigtail to go to a battery on the ice. I hang it on the center hub of my clam bigfoot using some long velcro strips, but there must be something better.

Sorry, no pix to show.

[walleye 4 me]

I just did this yesterday. Found my misc PC bin full of PC stuff and found a 92MM fan.

With your Vexilar + Fan, you should have no problems running it.

These are just rough estimates but say the Vex uses 250mA(milliamps) and the fan uses 200mA totalling, 450mA.

Say your Vex battery is 9amps. If you take 9ams / .45a = 20hrs NONSTOP use. But you have to factor in voltage + temps which will reduce as it gets colder. So realistically you would get probably 5-6hrs of continued use.

What I would recommend is going to Fleet Farm buying a cheap 7amp battery for 20 bucks and run them separately.

As for PC fan's - bigger the fan the more CFM ( cubic feet per min) it will move, power usage will be typically the same. Most higher end computer fans have mini switches that allows you to control air flow right on the fan.

Goodluck!

I did the same. Got a PC fan from our IT guy at work for free. Now sure how big it is but has 3 speeds. Ran a test at home hooked up to my vex. Running the vex and the fan (on med) together got about 6 hours. I bought another battery to use on an all day trip. used it a couple times in an 8x12 wheel house and made a big difference. very quiet. Plan on using it in my bigfoot 4000 in the future.

[Lusid]

I will get you a picture of my setup once I get home.

The eskimo is setup in the basement drying. Getting it ready for tomorrow!

[Chad Holst]

I did stop in at the local PC repair place. the guy said that the $16-$20 fans should work fine. But he said that i would want to put the fan on some sort of regulator switch, or i would burn through the battery very fast.

I know nothing about this stuff. So tell me if my thinking is correct on this...

1)I buy a simple Computer fan..say a 3-4 inch fan in a square plastic housing?

2)From that fan will be 2 wires. 1 wire will be wired to the battery the other to the "regulator type thing"?

3)The battery will have 1 wire coming directly from the fan and the other will be coming from the regulator that the 2nd fan wire is attached to?

The 7-9-12A battery will run the fan fine for..a day maybe, depending on how high i turn the regulator up?

Do i have to worry aboput how long the wires are, so i can zip tie the wire from the fan, down the poles in my house, and then clip the ends with aligator clips to the battery? Does wire length or size matter?

[Lusid]

1)I buy a simple Computer fan..say a 3-4 inch fan in a square plastic housing?

###92mm or 120mm fan (check amazon or newegg for pricing)

2)From that fan will be 2 wires. 1 wire will be wired to the battery the other to the "regulator type thing"?

## Red is positive, black is negative hook the two up to the battery and the fan will spin. Regarding regulator,I don't think the PC guy knew what he was talking about. 12v fan will run off 12v battery.

3)The battery will have 1 wire coming directly from the fan and the other will be coming from the regulator that the 2nd fan wire is attached to?

## see above.

The 7-9-12A battery will run the fan fine for..a day maybe, depending on how high i turn the regulator up?

## The fan alone will run for 6-8hrs at constant speeds. Whether High/Med/Low.

Do i have to worry aboput how long the wires are, so i can zip tie the wire from the fan, down the poles in my house, and then clip the ends with aligator clips to the battery? Does wire length or size matter?

##short answer no. wire length won't matter unless you are talking 1miles of cabling lol.

[Chad Holst]

Just got a free fan, this is a 2.5A 12v fan. so a 12v 12ah battery should be...

a 12ah battery should run a 1 A motor for 12 AH..so a 2.5A fan will run on a 12ah battery.. 4-5 hours, correct? This thing, for such a small fan, moved some serious air. Brushless, quiet (except the air) ball bearing.

The radio shack has a $20 fan that is a bit bigger, but is only .38A. It moves aleast 1/2 or less air, but is also quiet. If my calculation is correct, then that fan would run 28-30 hours on a 12ah batt? Do light "car style" batteries work the same way..do they have ah like the 12v 12 ah batteries that are built like my flasher battery? Maybe an ATV or lawn mower, recreational "car style" battery. My thought is these are made for more "sudden" discharges than a battery like i run my humminbird flasher on.

Next thought was to zip tie snaps on the poles of the house and on a 8-9 foot length of dryer tubing. I could snap the tubing in and have the fan (in the bottom of the tubing) at the floor next to the battery and simply pull the air down through the tube, and out the bottom. Needed for extra cold days with

Thanks for any/all help. Sorry im ignorant on this.

[Lusid]

Here's my 92mm setup.

[Chad Holst]

quick question..would a regular "dimmer" switch like i use in my home for lights work to regulate the fan speed?

[Lusid]

quick question..would a regular "dimmer" switch like i use in my home for lights work to regulate the fan speed?

You will need to find one for a 12v source otherwise the "home dimmer style" switches won't work because it will reduce the current too much.

[McGurk]

I wouldn't overthink it, a simple on/off switch will do fine for now. If you aren't happy with that after using it, you could look into a multi speed switch.

[Chad Holst]

I do have to get a switch of some kind, as this thing cranks out the air. For a little computer fan, it blows as hard if not harder than some regular room fans. Plus the sound from the spinning and the air rush is way to loud for a small ice house.

I'm guessing this fan was overbuilt for computer use then the CPU regulates it to maybe 1/3 or 1/4 of the capability of the fan. Again, the regular computer fans i looked at were all .25A or .3A the largest i found was .38A...this one i have is 2.5A!

So lets talk about this "multi speed switch". Is this an online purchase, something i buy at a computer store or would i find it in a menards/fleetfarm possibly for a different use but would work for my project?

[Lusid]

I warned you, 2.5A is pretty stout for a fan. I would keep it under .50A and it will move plenty air and remain nice and quiet.

Easiest way to incorporate a mutli-speed fan switch is to buy one with a fan that incorporates it.

Look for one at newegg or amaz0n

[McGurk]

As stated, that fan is pretty large and will suck up your battery faster than a smaller one. Using a multi speed switch will still draw juice that will be lost via heat transfer in cutting down your voltage. You might be better off finding a lower voltage fan than messing with a multi speed switch.

But, A simple (cheap) way is to get a 3 position (open/closed 1/closed 2) switch, a (between 30 and 50 Ohm) resistor, and some wire scraps. Wire one of the closed positions directly to the fan. For the other closed position of the switch you will need to splice a resister in-line of the lead to the fan. This might not be the most reliable way as the resistor will heat up by doing it's job, but it will work. Otherwise find a 12 volt potentiometer, but again you will lose juice to heat loss.

[Lusid]

Only issue with the resister method in addition to heat build up so power consumption. You will use the same energy using a resister compared to a potentiometer.

So say your fan uses .50A and you add a resister, it will use .50A. Compared to a potentiometer it would use say half if you were to turn down the power to half aka .25A

[McGurk]

You are completely right, Lusid.

[Chad Holst]

I do want to get more battery life out of the 12v 12A battery i am going to use. Since this is a 2.5A motor that would mean full speed will drain battery in 4.8 hours. Thats not a full day of fishing for me. At a min. i would like to double that. so to get it down to 1.25A consumption i will need this "potentiometer" you speak of.

Are these basic? do i need a specific potentiometer for for a 12v 12A batt and a 2.5A fan...or are they pretty general in the use/type they come in? Is there a chance that i have one of these inside an electric device in my home? I have alot of "dump" in storage boxes that are disposable if i need to steal some stuff off of them. Or, are these thing cheap and redilly available at a store?

[Lusid]

With your limited knowledge I would head to radioshack and ask them.

You will need to find a 12V potentiometer, they are not cheap compared to a 120v version. 8-10dollars range.

As for salvaging one out of an old part, no way to tell unless you rig it up and try it out.

Also - I would just buy a fan with the switches installed on it instead of buying a 8-10dollar potentiometer. But that's just me since you REALLY want to use the 2.5A free fan.

[McGurk]

As stated, by the time you are done messing around with searching for, buying, and assembling what you are looking to do in order to cut down the speed of an abnormally large fan, you could have simply bought a couple of smaller fans and just turn one or two on as needed. Your call, though.

[Chad Holst]

I got a 25ohm 3watt rheostat from radio shack for a few bucks. I'm gonna see how that works. Or I'm going to just pick up a fan they have that runs at .38A and call it a day.

Most of this work with the fan I have now is to just see what will work and to learn a bit about something I'm ignorant on.

[Chad Holst]

Reostat works..kind a. It works fine if i have it turned all the way up, but when i turn the knob to slow the fan, it slows it, but the fan cuts out then builds back up to that setting speed then cuts out...builds back up..cuts out. only is stable if i have it on FULL blast. which defeats the purpose.