cooling your tent or van

[mattyho]

Love this thread and thank you for posting it! I've got all my parts together and have just one question....my computer fan from frozencpu(?) has four wires and a connector coming out of it....don't want to fry the thing so I'm wondering if you have any detailed wiring pictures or info on getting everything hooked up. I'll be running the system off of a 12V deep cycle marine battery, charged with a 55W Coleman solar panel system to cool my VW Westy. I read that you "splice" the pump and fan together to one plug....how exactly is that accomplished? Do I splice the pump & fan together, then splice a plug to that? Thanks again for the great idea....

Also, I'm thinking that white PVC piping for the output would keep temperatures down compared to the black you use in your original post & pics....any reason you went with black? Just have it laying around or what?

Thanks!!

[FIGJAM]

The wire on the pump is nice and long.

The brown wire is the +(possitive) and the blue is the -(negitive) .



Three feet from the pump, I cut the wire to splice in the fan. This will give you enough slack to put everything in place without fighting it.

On the fan, the red wire is the +(possitive) and the black wire is -(negitive) .



I think I just unpluged that little connector on the fan and threw it away.

Ignore that black pigtail wire you see in the picture, I had that on there for a switch leg for the fan, then decided I did'nt need it.



The black pipe is heavier duty than the white, and I did'nt think of it first!

[usurpedus]

i know FIGJAM just got a new pump that appears to be working great with his single fan setup..

my questions is what pump is everyone using on their dual scythe(ultrakaze dfs123812H-3000) setup?

i have a pump but have no idea what model it is.. if someone culd let me know what theyre using it would really be helpful! thanks so much for all this amazing info..

[ibdave]

WoWoWoWoW,
I have a few newbi's joining us this year and they are building a blend of all the great Idea's.
I would like to point out to everyone a great tip.

My 13th year, I bring a RV full of crap. I have never turned down anyone needing help. If I got it and I'm not eating, we'll fix it or help ya. My long winded point is, if you need your battery charged, ask people with bigger camps. lots run gennies 24/7 and some have chargers. I always have my battery charger going for someone.

While this advice is free and good, your mileage my vary.

[FIGJAM]

i know FIGJAM just got a new pump that appears to be working great with his single fan setup..

my questions is what pump is everyone using on their dual scythe(ultrakaze dfs123812H-3000) setup?

i have a pump but have no idea what model it is.. if someone culd let me know what theyre using it would really be helpful! thanks so much for all this amazing info..

This pump works for the 5gal. bucket cooler.

http://www.harborfreight.com/solar-powe ... 66093.html

If you need more flow, this one is 80gal. per hour, but does'nt come with a solar panel.

http://www.siliconsolar.com/replacement ... p-103.html

Page 23 of this thread has all the info.

[wimala1]

a reply to flabio in addition to figjam's: original msg:

Some sites for improving performance of commercial swamp coolers recommend using the cheaper straw pads to improve cooling. Is this different form the nuture aire filter? The straw pad is definitely more fragile. But if care is taken, I'm curious as to the performance improvement. I'm going to get Durapads as a backup.

i originally tried the natur aire cocnut fiber filter due to being in south florida with no durapad around (and about $20+total to get it here).

it worked well - in that it wicked the water up and became saturated with the water flowing down on it. that being said, it was moopy. when it got wet, smaller fibers were constantly falling off and getting sucked in to the pump. if you even touched it when wet, small fibers were all over you and a new batch fell in the water. there is only a light netting on one side of the fibers. the other side is just loose - hence all the moopies. i did put un-netted side to un-netted side hoping to sandwich the loose fibers between the light netting; but then the inner most layer of fine netting came loose from the pad and would suk in to the pump.

either way, it was not a blazing success

btw, i still haven't gotten full tube flow around the complete diameter of the bucket with the harbor freight pump - even with smaller holes made with a jumbo paper clip. today i just went ahead and ordered the 80g pump that fig has used. it was on clearence / sale for about $8ea. so, with shipping i got 2 pumps for $25 - not bad!!

i also used the delta fan that fig has.

does anyone know how big the holes on the side of the bucket are?


thanks, tanya

[FIGJAM]

I think the holes are 2 1/2", but smaller holes are fine if you have enough of them.

You want somthing like this.

http://www.google.com/products/catalog? ... HAQ8wIwAA#

[wimala1]

thanks for the hole size!!

i hope the pump & fan come quickly so i can finish this. i want to pack this tent up & get it OUT of my dining room!!

will let you know how it goes. thanks for your help!!

[Asherbeez]

Finished my Monkey Hut this weekend and picked up a cooler pad. All I need is a battery for the fan and a fan itself. No excuses now!

[HandJamMasterC]

I finally got all my parts together including the pad. Hope to finish it up this week !!

[FIGJAM]

Looking forward to seeing it!!!

[andreas97]

I think I'll stencil the side of mine :

FIGJAM Industries
Bucket Cooler (tm)

[FIGJAM]

Or ACME.

[Asherbeez]

or ASKME

[HookahGod]

Thanks for the great Step-by-step, FIGJAM!

I have all my parts on order and will be ready to build in the next week. For those of you wanting to get solar panels from HF, use "buyonline20" for 20% off, saved me $36 on the 45w system.

[Korwedge]

Here's the fan I've used for 3 years now! I made a rubbermaid style swamp cooler. It's powerful and doesn't suck too much power.

[HeyJoe]

Hey FIGJAM, thanks for the best thread around! I'm starting to assemble my cooler from your prototype and have a question about the fan.
[quote]FANS!

The key to good cooler is a powerful fan.

CFM=cubic feet per minute.

http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l2/g36/c43 ... y_CFM.html

I used this one.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/12959 ... 6c435s1108

It uses more power, but makes the bucket cooler very effective./quote]

I bought one of the Delta 120's online and am now trying to figure out how to connect it to a battery. I'm completely without any electrical experience so I'm hoping you can give me (and those like me) some pointers. It has 4 wires coming out it and they are all black. How do you know which to hook up to the positive and negative? The photos showed of your fan had two wires: red and black.

[FIGJAM]

Follow the wires on the fan.

I think there is a little white connector on the wire somewhere.

I think I just unplugged that and threw it away.

If they changed that, then strip off the outer insulation and see what color the wires are.

Normally red is power+ and black is ground-.

The other wires are for a switch leg I think, so you don't need them.

Once you get the wires exposed, you can test by touching them to the battery.

There's only one way to connect it that will work, the others won't let the fan function, but won't hurt it.

Hope this helps.



Just checked the site and see what you have.

Expose the end of each wire and do the touch test to a battery.

When it runs, mark those + and -, then clip the others off.

[FIGJAM]

This is the site I bought my fan from and it looks like they changed the wires.

http://www.axiontech.com/prdt.php?item=57484

So just test it, you WILL figure it out.

[bacterium]

Does this fan look okay? It's 252 CFM, but it also draws 4 amps, as opposed to the 1.25 of the 190 CFM fan. Also, would 66 dBa be a big difference from 55 dBa?

[waxpraxis]

That could much more seriously draw down your battery... Decibels are a logarithmic scale, so the difference from 55 to 66 is like the difference from a dishwasher and a handheld mixer. I don't know about you, but I don't like being around a mixer for terribly long. You could certainly deaden the sound, but I tend to think that fan is overkill.

[FIGJAM]

This fan puts out more then 3x that much air for 2.5 amps.

http://www.fantasticvent.com/products/e ... reeze.html

[HandJamMasterC]

After endless other things taking my attention, I finished my cooler. I'm still in the testing stage, and I need to fine tune the holes in the tube soaking the evap pad. But, initial run got me 16 degrees cooler and humididy up 45% or so. Completely solar powered, and I can unmount the fan and use it elsewhere if I want, then re-install it in seconds !!









My wife is VERY PLEASED ! Thanks Figjam for the idea !!

[The Bee]

My wife is VERY PLEASED !

Can't go wrong with that.

That looks like a sweet setup. Any plans for adding ducting? Looks like it would work well standing in the door of your tent or in a box truck without ducting.

[HandJamMasterC]

It is going in the door of our dome tent under a carport. Should be just the ticket !!

[FIGJAM]

The taper of the container may create some leaking.

I would try sliding some small dowls down between the pad and the side of the container to put a little space between the pad and sides.

Other than that, great job!

[HandJamMasterC]

I solved the leaking by sliding an extra layer of cooler pad in between the trash can plastic and the attached cooler pad. doesn't seem to leak now at all !!

[FIGJAM]

Perfection and grace put a smile on my face!

[HandJamMasterC]

Next I'm building a holder to put the solar panels on the roof of our carport, that I can rotate towards the sun !!

[wimala1]

well, my 190cfm fan came today and i was soooo excited that i just had to make it work. i also had the problem of the 4 wires. if you look at the plug in just the right light you will see that two slots are identified on the face of the plug. for my unit, it wasn't those two wires, but the remaining two. i couldn't wait to try it out so i made some touch wires out of paper clip, alligator clipped them in the jumper wire and alligatored the other end to my solar panel - weeeeee!! a working fan!!

unfortunately, it didn't end well. someone earlier mentioned that they got their finger in the skythe fan and now new why it was named that. well, guess what. the 190cfm fan will ABSOLUTELY chew your finger up!!!! i wasn't thinking, reached over to turn the fan a little and...WHAM!! the whole tip of my thumb got caught. believe me, it hurt like a (not enough bad words available to describe it!!!) anyway, after i stopped moaning, and my son got it all taped up, i marked which wire was hot.

it was not a fun experience and i now know why they sell the little fan covers!!!

to all, BE CAREFUL!!! i am glad it happened now and not 2 days before i left. i wouldn't want to try and keep a clean thumb, or have to constantly redress it, out on the playa.

btw fig, how much water do you normally bring with you and how do you haul/contain it? i know to plan for 2gal/day for about 5hrs of cooling, but any ideas on how you haul the water would be appreciated.