It's great that you have shown how to achieve this using a more affordable option. Granted it doesn't have the bells and whistles of the victron option. Speaking of fans, would you ever consider doing a video showing how to replace the fans in your inverter, fridge, dc-dc charger, etc..? I swapped the fan in my inverter and fridge to a Noctua and now I never notice them. The Noctua fans are absolutely worth the money if you want to silence things in your van.
We have a class A coach and use a residential electric fridge, it was blowing in warm air into the living area. I was able to block it off and installed an exhaust hood on the exterior of rv with 2 small computer fan using this same set up. I did find my 1st two fan very noisy so upgrade them too the Noctua NF-P12 what a great little fan, moves a ton of air and is supper quiet.
I use that same Noctua fan to cool my electrical cabinet that houses my inverter/charger plus my solar controller. It's extremely quiet! I use a very similar control board but one that is variable fan speed.
We use this exact thermostat for our equipment enclosure. I put the sensor right between the cooling fins for our Mppt charge controller. We have a set of fans that are on the fins and another set of fans to blow hot air out of the enclosure. We set fans up after we added a 12v ac on our van and the added draw would overheat the charge controller which put it into safety mode thus drawing down the batteries. It’s been working great for a few years now. I was skeptical of this little thermostat but it has been rock solid.
Perfect timing. I just bought two cooling fans for my upcoming build and figured i was relegated to having to maunually switch them on and off forever.
I’ve been using this setup for many of installs but now have move over to the fan relay in the mps Much easier setup and less wire. People should note that if buying from Amazon not all of these wire up the same (just because they look the same) Thanks for sharing
The wiring amount will be pretty similar between the two. The proper wire to use is listed in the blog post that accompanies this video: explorist.life/van-rv-electrical-system-ventilation-with-a-12v-thermostat/
Very helpful. Our multiplus is under the bed in our front bedroom Airstream. Once the camper is cooled down there’s no problem, but until the air conditioner does its thing the multiplus has trouble cooling in the hot interior air. Discovered this issue during a recent Utah trip. Fortunately raising the bed to open the storage compartment until the room cools down Barely allows the multiplus to keep going, but this is a better fix. Thanks. BTW your channel was very helpful when I did the solar/lithium installation a couple of years ago. A month in Utah this September was the acid test, and it exceeded expectations - except the minor cooling issue. But I’m on it.
My Off Grid specialist installed 7 in our build. It’s a tiny space and so well designed. Even in Texas heat the box was almost the same temperature as the inside. This would have been a cool addition.
I had the same question. Mine would turn on for 15 seconds then turn off and then back on in less than a minute. I looked at the amazon page and found out that we need to set the parm setting to P1 and then adjust the time. It says the default for P1 is 2, but for mine it was set to 0. I set the P1 setting to 2.0 and now it runs until the temp drops by two degrees instead of a 10th of a degree.
Nate! I have some news for you! Regarding the fan control using temperature control asked you last week about the RUUVI sensors, I just discovered tonight that version 3.12 of Cerbo GX supports the RUUVI temperature sensors!!!! I just updated my GX and I got into the section for relay control and discovered that it had the RUUVI sensors listed. Wala, I got it set up! So, now I've got to hook up some fan(s) and see if it truly works!! 😎 Regards, Cliff
Excellent instructions as usual. I want to add a manual over-ride switch to this so I can turn it on when we're driving to augment positive pressure inside the trailer... Is this possible?
With the knowledge you've gained from this channel about relays and thermostats, that would indeed be possible. I don't have any specific tutorials about it though, so you're going to have to take what you've learned and apply it.
Excellent video, thanks, Nate! Question, can the thermostat be programmed to turn the fan on below a certain temperature? I need the fan to go on above a certain temperature as well below a certain temperature?
Do you notice that the victron multiplus 12|2000|80 fans tick? It drives me insane. They actually replaced the entire unit on warranty. Fans still tick and the thing hums so loud you cant sleep.
I've had one tick before; but it was because there was a piece of plastic/trash that came loose and was hitting the fan. The unit hums when under a heavy load/discharge; but that's to be expected with any piece of electrical equipment. I sleep with a fan on which drowns out any inverter noises.
This is great for cooling down the electrics but do they make something that would also heat up the batteries. I live in the north and in the winter time the batteries need heat pulled in from the coach living area. ( Batteries and inverter are under the bed.) So if the air is cold in that area I want it to exhaust the air and thereby pull in warm air from the coach and if they get too warm, pull cold air in from outside. gsw
I Pretty much always install 2 fans; but I'm not one to geek about over CFM's, so I can't give any data behind why I do that. You can indeed wire a heater; but you'd likely need a secondary relay as this thermostat is only rated to 20A I believe (double check the specs there).
THANK YOU for replying and so fast! I am waiting for my 2024 170” sprinter to get built. Mercedes said mid June so I’m trying get all the info I can before beginning my build before then! You’ll be hearing from me a lot! Love your channel and you’re a life and money saver!
I'm from the US as is the majority of my viewers, so it makes sense for me to use measurements familiar to myself and the majority of my audience. When I watch videos using metric measurements, I just do the conversion in my head or google a conversion table. Hope this helps!
But how about this... if you share our videos so much that the majority of our viewers AND customers are from outside of the USA; I'll be happy to switch everything going forward over to metric. Happy sharing!
It's great that you have shown how to achieve this using a more affordable option. Granted it doesn't have the bells and whistles of the victron option.
Speaking of fans, would you ever consider doing a video showing how to replace the fans in your inverter, fridge, dc-dc charger, etc..?
I swapped the fan in my inverter and fridge to a Noctua and now I never notice them. The Noctua fans are absolutely worth the money if you want to silence things in your van.
We have a class A coach and use a residential electric fridge, it was blowing in warm air into the living area. I was able to block it off and installed an exhaust hood on the exterior of rv with 2 small computer fan using this same set up. I did find my 1st two fan very noisy so upgrade them too the Noctua NF-P12 what a great little fan, moves a ton of air and is supper quiet.
I use that same Noctua fan to cool my electrical cabinet that houses my inverter/charger plus my solar controller. It's extremely quiet! I use a very similar control board but one that is variable fan speed.
We use this exact thermostat for our equipment enclosure. I put the sensor right between the cooling fins for our Mppt charge controller. We have a set of fans that are on the fins and another set of fans to blow hot air out of the enclosure. We set fans up after we added a 12v ac on our van and the added draw would overheat the charge controller which put it into safety mode thus drawing down the batteries. It’s been working great for a few years now. I was skeptical of this little thermostat but it has been rock solid.
Thank you for sharing this solution and making it simple to understand.
I was literally looking on ebay yesterday putting bits together to make exactly this for my microcamper. A very useful addition
Perfect timing. I just bought two cooling fans for my upcoming build and figured i was relegated to having to maunually switch them on and off forever.
I’ve been using this setup for many of installs but now have move over to the fan relay in the mps Much easier setup and less wire.
People should note that if buying from Amazon not all of these wire up the same (just because they look the same)
Thanks for sharing
The wiring amount will be pretty similar between the two. The proper wire to use is listed in the blog post that accompanies this video: explorist.life/van-rv-electrical-system-ventilation-with-a-12v-thermostat/
Very helpful. Our multiplus is under the bed in our front bedroom Airstream. Once the camper is cooled down there’s no problem, but until the air conditioner does its thing the multiplus has trouble cooling in the hot interior air. Discovered this issue during a recent Utah trip. Fortunately raising the bed to open the storage compartment until the room cools down Barely allows the multiplus to keep going, but this is a better fix. Thanks.
BTW your channel was very helpful when I did the solar/lithium installation a couple of years ago. A month in Utah this September was the acid test, and it exceeded expectations - except the minor cooling issue. But I’m on it.
I need this for the RV fridge fan.
So kool I did this for my ute set up
My Off Grid specialist installed 7 in our build. It’s a tiny space and so well designed. Even in Texas heat the box was almost the same temperature as the inside. This would have been a cool addition.
I have been thinking of how to do this, and found that I already have one of these thermostats from an earlier project. Thanks for the video.
*Parts required, diagram, & programming steps available in the blog post:* explorist.life/van-rv-electrical-system-ventilation-with-a-12v-thermostat/
Wow what a great practical set up for cooling my system down I didn’t have much except venting but I’m gonna get this system thanks guys 😊
Glad it helped!!
in your example, can you set it to cool lower than the set temp... e.g. 70, otherwise its just going to kick on an off
I had the same question. Mine would turn on for 15 seconds then turn off and then back on in less than a minute. I looked at the amazon page and found out that we need to set the parm setting to P1 and then adjust the time. It says the default for P1 is 2, but for mine it was set to 0. I set the P1 setting to 2.0 and now it runs until the temp drops by two degrees instead of a 10th of a degree.
Nate! I have some news for you! Regarding the fan control using temperature control asked you last week about the RUUVI sensors, I just discovered tonight that version 3.12 of Cerbo GX supports the RUUVI temperature sensors!!!! I just updated my GX and I got into the section for relay control and discovered that it had the RUUVI sensors listed. Wala, I got it set up! So, now I've got to hook up some fan(s) and see if it truly works!! 😎
Regards,
Cliff
Always great tutorials. Clear and concise. Thank you.
Glad it was helpful!
So do you typically position the fan(s) to drawn air into the enclosure or push air out or one to do each?
New viewer....man, that would be nice for cooling the venting area for an RV refridgerator!
Excellent instructions as usual. I want to add a manual over-ride switch to this so I can turn it on when we're driving to augment positive pressure inside the trailer... Is this possible?
With the knowledge you've gained from this channel about relays and thermostats, that would indeed be possible. I don't have any specific tutorials about it though, so you're going to have to take what you've learned and apply it.
Another great video!🙂
Thank you 🤗
Excellent video, thanks, Nate! Question, can the thermostat be programmed to turn the fan on below a certain temperature? I need the fan to go on above a certain temperature as well below a certain temperature?
Thanks for the info, what are the yellow joiners called?
What is the max temp for an electrical enclosure? Thanks for another awesome video!
You'll have to play around with what works for yours where the fans aren't running 24/7 but also turning on when appropriate.
I can't get a straight answer on watts/volts solar panels I need for a 48 volt golfcart. Can you help me
Do you notice that the victron multiplus 12|2000|80 fans tick? It drives me insane. They actually replaced the entire unit on warranty. Fans still tick and the thing hums so loud you cant sleep.
I've had one tick before; but it was because there was a piece of plastic/trash that came loose and was hitting the fan.
The unit hums when under a heavy load/discharge; but that's to be expected with any piece of electrical equipment. I sleep with a fan on which drowns out any inverter noises.
What happens if the power goes off and then on again. Does it hold the temperature set up? Or you need to program again?
Thanks
Mine keeps the configuration after completely removing power for any length of time.
Is there a way to have it turn on when it gets cold and off when it gets hot?
Will this work on a teardrop camper galley when closed up?
I suspect what is shown will work wherever it is installed.
This is great for cooling down the electrics but do they make something that would also heat up the batteries. I live in the north and in the winter time the batteries need heat pulled in from the coach living area. ( Batteries and inverter are under the bed.) So if the air is cold in that area I want it to exhaust the air and thereby pull in warm air from the coach and if they get too warm, pull cold air in from outside. gsw
Yep! You'd just do the same thing just leave the setting I showed at 2:57 and leave P0 set to 'H'.
At what point are 2 fans better than 1?
Is integrating a heater into the same setup recommended? (i.e. 2 relays instead of 1).
I Pretty much always install 2 fans; but I'm not one to geek about over CFM's, so I can't give any data behind why I do that.
You can indeed wire a heater; but you'd likely need a secondary relay as this thermostat is only rated to 20A I believe (double check the specs there).
Do you sell this kit? Can’t find it.
Just parts from Amazon. List of parts is in the video description or pinned comment.
THANK YOU for replying and so fast! I am waiting for my 2024 170” sprinter to get built. Mercedes said mid June so I’m trying get all the info I can before beginning my build before then! You’ll be hearing from me a lot! Love your channel and you’re a life and money saver!
I juse a bimetal switch that connects a 40 Celsius, it cost 99 Cents an works exelent.
Okie dokie tommie
Pains most of the world when you just speak in american metrics, which aren't metric but are based on metric.
I'm from the US as is the majority of my viewers, so it makes sense for me to use measurements familiar to myself and the majority of my audience. When I watch videos using metric measurements, I just do the conversion in my head or google a conversion table. Hope this helps!
But how about this... if you share our videos so much that the majority of our viewers AND customers are from outside of the USA; I'll be happy to switch everything going forward over to metric. Happy sharing!