You can't take the Fisherman out of this Camper
Ontario, Canada
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Joined: 04/09/2004
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I installed a Shurflo Ceiling Fan last year and it seemed to work well. It is wired to the ceiling light fixture beside it on the ceiling and the light fixture switch needs to be on for it to operate (it's a remote control unit). After installation I noticed a number of light bulbs have been burning out prematurely so to-day I checked the voltage at the lights and I get readings of almost 20 volts when the fan is connected?? When I disconnect the fan from the circuit the voltage goes back to normal?? How can a fan.. which is not connected to any other wiring, increase the voltage? I checked all the wiring with a voltage tester and did not cross any positive or negative wires. I am stumped. The fan is now disconnected until I get some ideas of how to wire it without using the light fixture circuit. Anyone have any ideas?? I'd be happy to hear from you!
1960's: Tents.. 1970's: Soft top & Hard top P/U.. 1980's: 17' RV.. 1990's: 24' RV.. 2000's: FINALLY... 2002 Cougar 276EFS; 2002 GMC 2500HD Ext Cab 4x4; (Nfld/Labrador-Yukon/NWT/Alaska-Gaspe', Que./Florida!!)
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derwud
Pasadena, CA
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How did you ground the fan? In series with the lights or paralel? How is the trailer wired?
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You can't take the Fisherman out of this Camper
Ontario, Canada
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It is wired in parallel with the 3 ceiling light fixtures which follow it from the switch. I did not install a separate ground wire since the existing ceiling fixture wires serve as the positive and negative connections. I will try to see if I can run new leads to the ceiling fan from the area where a number of other switches are located and then add an additional cut-off switch specifically for the fan. Then I will be able to control the fan (which I believe is now always in the 'sleep' mode because of the remote control). This way I can cut off the sleep mode for travel without the battery drain that must occur when it isn't in use.. but waiting for a command from the remote.
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YC 1
Yuba City Calif.
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It cannot. However it might have a little oscillator circuit that produces a component of AC that fools your meter. I would be interested to see if the voltage reads differently with the circuits on.
The only other way to get an increase in voltage would be to have it hooked to two different batteries and have them in series some how.
The last idea that comes to mind is that just coincidently your converter may have taken a digger at the time you installed the fan. Stuff just seems to happen this way. I would measure other fixtures to see what the voltage across them is. Of course if the voltage truly is 20 volts the lights should be very bright and as you have mentioned they won't last long.
I think an eyeball test might tell you the real story. Turn the lights on without the fan running and then turn the fan on. If the lights do indeed get brighter your voltage is going higher.
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You can't take the Fisherman out of this Camper
Ontario, Canada
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YC 1 wrote: I think an eyeball test might tell you the real story. Turn the lights on without the fan running and then turn the fan on. If the lights do indeed get brighter your voltage is going higher.
That's exactly what happens.. that is why I checked the voltage at the lights. When I turned on the light switch (to the fan and the lights) the lights would get brighter instead of what I expected.. a slight flicker or a slight dimming. They got brighter and I couldn't understand why until I checked the voltage which was higher than it should be!
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derwud
Pasadena, CA
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Call the fan company, sounds like a back feed issue...
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mikelab
Escondido, CA
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you might have a "step up" transformer in the fan that gets the motor up to speed, kind of like a capacitor on an a/c motor. sounds like you are getting back feed on the circuit. my best guess is you have a bad fan. let us know....
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reactancexl
Tempe, Az, USA
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Joined: 02/21/2004
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ok, please ignore my ignorance but I have a question. You say it measured 20 volts. Did you tap off of a 12VDC system? IS the fan 120v AC?
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YC 1
Yuba City Calif.
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You can't take the Fisherman out of this Camper wrote:YC 1 wrote: I think an eyeball test might tell you the real story. Turn the lights on without the fan running and then turn the fan on. If the lights do indeed get brighter your voltage is going higher.
That's exactly what happens.. that is why I checked the voltage at the lights. When I turned on the light switch (to the fan and the lights) the lights would get brighter instead of what I expected.. a slight flicker or a slight dimming. They got brighter and I couldn't understand why until I checked the voltage which was higher than it should be!
Fascinating. If I were to approach this I would run a piece of wire to the frame of the vehicle and into the area of the lights. I would connect this wire to the negative lead of the voltmeter so I have a good reference. I would then start at the light and measure each side of the bulb then do the same for the fan. I would do this test with the fan off and then on. The only way to get 20 volts is either through adding a couple of battery circuits together, some device creating AC and and having it stepped up, or having accidentally tapped into some ac circuit. I would expect 120 volts of course and some quick smoke but some weird condition could let this happen. I won't try to explain because it would make no sense. I have 30+ years as an electronic tech troubleshooting some really weird issues.
You might want to run a couple of wires for a test and just supply your own 12 volts directly to the fan. Just add an inline fuse to one side of some zip/lamp cord and run power to the fan. This would totally isolate it from the rest of the vehicle.
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You can't take the Fisherman out of this Camper
Ontario, Canada
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It is a 12V remote control fan. I rechecked it to-day and connected it from a positive 12V lead, with the ground lead connected directly to the trailer frame. It still boosts the voltage to the lighting fixtures to more than 20 volts?? It doesn't make any sense?? I don't know how this can be possible. There is what looks like a capacitor in the circuit board but I don't know if that can create this problem. I sent an e-mail to the Shurflo company with the details of my problem. I have now had numerous light bulbs burn out as well as two melted plastic light fixtures. A couple of days ago the fan in the bathroom quit. I think the motor is burned out! My propane detector has also started acting up and my battery was overheating until I disconnected the fan. The ceiling behind the light fixtures that overheated is dark brown/black. I'm living in this trailer right now and will not reconnect this fan because I'm concerned I'll have a fire.
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