Maxx Fan

[padlin]

I'll tell you after I get it. From what I hear it's easy.

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by padlin

I'll tell you after I get it. From what I hear it's easy.

Thanks BobPat

[Eggscape]

The good old days when there was just a switch...on or off.

I guess the fan doesn’t have a dedicated power line to a dryer place where you could mount a motor speed controller in a cabinet and bypass the stuff in the fan?

Personally we only need high and low in the out direction.

For people with dual 6 volt batteries...switching between one 6 volt for low and both for high would be a very efficient way to operate.

[suncoastdancers]

Originally Posted by Eggscape

The good old days when there was just a switch...on or off.

I guess the fan doesn’t have a dedicated power line to a dryer place where you could mount a motor speed controller in a cabinet and bypass the stuff in the fan?

Personally we only need high and low in the out direction.

For people with dual 6 volt batteries...switching between one 6 volt for low and both for high would be a very efficient way to operate.

I may very old school but I find the lack of thought put into product design these days is disturbing. A bare, exposed circuit board located inside a roof vent. What could they possibly be thinking? I am not a “fan” of Maxxfan.

[CADreamin]

And, it's rare for anybody to post, out of the blue, that they have an appliance and it has no issues. Sometimes as rare as reading the manual.

Kind of like airplanes, you never hear about the ones that made in to their destination safely.

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by CADreamin

And, it's rare for anybody to post, out of the blue, that they have an appliance and it has no issues. Sometimes as rare as reading the manual.

Kind of like airplanes, you never hear about the ones that made in to their destination safely.

I don't know about that. A Boeing 737 Max 8 landed safely in Florida today.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/26/us/bo...ing/index.html

[akmacs]

Our maxxfan controls stopped working shortly after pickup of our trailer and I finally got around to contact the manufacturer recently. They sent a replacement control board. I installed it and it worked great on battery alone. However it failed as soon as I turned the AC converter on.

It is worse off now than before, the only button that functions is the auto reset button. Before we could use the up/down arrow in auto mode to get the thing running at least.

They actually sent two replacement boards so for plan B I ordered a buck converter off ebay and in combination with the other board I hope that fixes it for good.

Plan C would be a fantastic fan which I have had before and never had any issues.

Thanks to those posting their solutions on here, I'd be pulling my hair out without them!

[suncoastdancers]

Originally Posted by akmacs

Our maxxfan controls stopped working shortly after pickup of our trailer and I finally got around to contact the manufacturer recently. They sent a replacement control board. I installed it and it worked great on battery alone. However it failed as soon as I turned the AC converter on.

It is worse off now than before, the only button that functions is the auto reset button. Before we could use the up/down arrow in auto mode to get the thing running at least.

They actually sent two replacement boards so for plan B I ordered a buck converter off ebay and in combination with the other board I hope that fixes it for good.

Plan C would be a fantastic fan which I have had before and never had any issues.

Thanks to those posting their solutions on here, I'd be pulling my hair out without them!

Perhaps a power spike from the AC converter set it off? Have you tried removing all power, including battery power, to the board to reset it?

One other thing I can suggest. Put a digital multimeter on the AC converter output. The reading should be steady. If it jumps erratically up and down, then the AC converter is bad.

[rotorbudd]

Get a spray can or bottle with brush. Couple of coats and your boards are waterproof!
I went ahead and coated just about every board and all of the power converters I added just as a preventive to any rain or condensation.

Originally Posted by suncoastdancers

I may very old school but I find the lack of thought put into product design these days is disturbing. A bare, exposed circuit board located inside a roof vent. What could they possibly be thinking? I am not a “fan” of Maxxfan.

[jennykatz]

We ordered the maxxfan that is standard No fancy open close etc. The problems are with the optioned one right? We can turn on and off and in or out and it will keep 78 degrees I think that’s all it does?

BTW. My maxxfan top cracked I sent an e mail hopefully they will respond Also have a 9200 Coleman Mach 8 that did not have the red /blue thermostat knob control ? This one is on a hardtop boat we have (c-dory venture)

Jim enjoying camping in cooler weather

[akmacs]

Originally Posted by suncoastdancers

Perhaps a power spike from the AC converter set it off? Have you tried removing all power, including battery power, to the board to reset it?

One other thing I can suggest. Put a digital multimeter on the AC converter output. The reading should be steady. If it jumps erratically up and down, then the AC converter is bad.

I did cut power a few times with no luck. I have not placed a multi meter yet to check the volts coming in when the converter is on but since everything else has worked fine I'm assuming it is within it's operating range. Good suggestion though and I am going to check before I install the other replacement board.

[akmacs]

Originally Posted by jennykatz

We ordered the maxxfan that is standard No fancy open close etc. The problems are with the optioned one right? We can turn on and off and in or out and it will keep 78 degrees I think that’s all it does?

BTW. My maxxfan top cracked I sent an e mail hopefully they will respond Also have a 9200 Coleman Mach 8 that did not have the red /blue thermostat knob control ? This one is on a hardtop boat we have (c-dory venture)

Jim enjoying camping in cooler weather

Ours is a 5100K without motorized open and close either and it has functioned normally for a few moments since we picked up our trailer. We have not had any condensation issues on ours (but that sounds like another design problem) it seems like the control board should have an integrated DC to DC drop down converter or ensure it can operate up to 15v without damage. Either way, the design seems poorly engineered.

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by jennykatz

We ordered the maxxfan that is standard No fancy open close etc. The problems are with the optioned one right? We can turn on and off and in or out and it will keep 78 degrees I think that’s all it does?

If you read the manual you will see how you can set the thermostat to maintain different temperatures.

[suncoastdancers]

Originally Posted by akmacs

I did cut power a few times with no luck. I have not placed a multi meter yet to check the volts coming in when the converter is on but since everything else has worked fine I'm assuming it is within it's operating range. Good suggestion though and I am going to check before I install the other replacement board.

Hope all is OK. I have a bad AC converter once. It took out my fridge control board. That was a very expensive repair.

[akmacs]

Thought I would update regarding my Maxx Fan 5100k control board problem. I added the ebay buck converter to ensure voltage to the control board would not exceed 12V (set it to 12.10V) and installed the second control board I received from the manufacturer.

And.... it still wasn't working. As before, the only key that would work was the auto/temp reset.

At that point I was fairly disgusted and out of ideas so I wired the old control board up (with the buck converter) and tested before reattaching the control board and everything worked. Huh...didn't seem right but I wasn't going to complain. Mounted the buck converter to the fan housing, tidied all the wires up, attached the control board and reinstalled the keypad shroud.

Tested again and of course the auto key is the only one working.

Much grumbling ensued and I decided to disassemble and troubleshoot some more. I focused on the ribbon cable between the keypad and the control board and found that when the ribbon cable was straightened out (installs with a bend in it), it worked great.

So I reinstalled it but made it bend the other way and for now, that has fixed the problem. I'd guess the issue with my fan was the ribbon cable all along.

If you are going through multiple control boards on your Maxx Fan, I'd recommend checking the ribbon cable from the keypad to the control board as well.

I hope to get another keypad from Maxx Fan as I'm not confident my fix will last for long term but it sure is nice to have it working again.

[cpaharley2008]

Thanks Michael for the extra effort in finding the gremlins involved.....I'm sure others will find it helpful, I know I do!

[John in Santa Cruz]

How many wires in that ribbon and how far apart? If it's 10 per inch, find an old floppy disk internal cable or something, and cut a suitable size piece and solder it to the two boards...

[MyronL]

How to get around it? A bent ribbon, a cheapo bulb base, bad soldering, snakes, reliance on elements so elementary but fathoms deep because they demand dependence but require intuition beyond basic old school education. For me the lesson learned is clear: we are doomed, doomed, to perdition by the simplest of quirks.

[bdornbush]

Ah, entropy. My father in law used to say that the first law of thermodynamics is that you can't get something for nothing, and the second law, the law of entropy, is that you can't even get that much.

[akmacs]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

How many wires in that ribbon and how far apart? If it's 10 per inch, find an old floppy disk internal cable or something, and cut a suitable size piece and solder it to the two boards...

It has 8 pins but It appeared to be integrated into the keypad and only had a connector on the control board end. I believe the keypad and plastic shroud would have to be replaced as one unit.