Maxx Fan

CADreamin · 01-17-2020, 07:56 AM

Sleeping away here in an RV park with our ceramic heater on low and the bathroom vent open for ventilation (bathroom door was open). Our Maxx fan cover was not open. At 5:00am, the Maxx fan turned on at its highest speed. I jumped up to turn it off and, nada ... wouldn't respond to the controls. Couldn't turn it off nor would it respond to the speed controls. Opened the cover (manually) and then turned off the breakers which stopped the fan. When I flipped the breakers back on, the fan didn't come back on (whew). I'm thinking condensation on the cover must have dripped onto something (which doesn't give me a good feeling) but thought I'd ask for some thoughts, especially when one can't keep the fan opened because of rain.

cpaharley2008 · 01-17-2020, 08:54 AM

I always thought the MaxxFan was ideal for use in the rain as it has it's own rain shroud. I have always used it in the rain, on exhaust, with a window or vent cracked. As far as what happened to yours, perhaps a surge of some kind?

CADreamin · 01-17-2020, 10:05 AM

Possible. I believe the ceramic heater came on at the same time (so startled by the fan, I couldn't be sure) so there could have been a connection. Will be watching closely for a while.

fudge_brownie · 01-17-2020, 11:20 AM

Seems to me there has been some lengthy discussions about the circuit board on the Maxx fans failing due to moisture. I recall some use of Conformal coating the control board. There have been several threads on the topic. Too many to list.

tdf-texas · 01-17-2020, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fudge_brownie

Seems to me there has been some lengthy discussions about the circuit board on the Maxx fans failing due to moisture. I recall some use of Conformal coating the control board. There have been several threads on the topic. Too many to list.

Coating the control board with a conformal coating helps along with sealing the place where the fan motor leads go through the housing just above the control board.

CADreamin · 01-17-2020, 11:33 AM

Thank you. I tried searching the forum but it's nearly impossible on my smart phone. Will check when I can get to a computer.

peter · 01-17-2020, 01:14 PM

Are you camped near area 51?

CADreamin · 01-20-2020, 09:14 PM

Peter .... now that's a thought. Hmmmm ........

jumboscott · 01-20-2020, 06:32 PM

Similar issues, replaced system board (under warranty) and all is good.

CADreamin · 01-20-2020, 09:13 PM

Will call Escape tomorrow as we just had a repeat of the problem -- only this time it was a little more stressful. Eating dinner with our little ceramic heater on low when, all of a sudden, Maxx Fan came on (high). Tried resetting the breakers to no avail. Tried turning off the battery disconnect and nothing happened (the 12V lights didn't even turn off). Disconnected from shore power, switched off the fuses plus the battery disconnect and, finally, the fan shut off. Hopefully, a new board will take care of the problem. Thanks to all who responded.

rubicon327 · 01-21-2020, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CADreamin

Tried turning off the battery disconnect and nothing happened (the 12V lights didn't even turn off). Disconnected from shore power, switched off the fuses plus the battery disconnect and, finally, the fan shut off. Hopefully, a new board will take care of the problem. Thanks to all who responded.

The MaxxFan is powered by 12V DC. If you were plugged in to shore power it makes sense that the fan continued to run when you turned off the battery disconnect switch. This is because the converter was doing its job of converting 120V AC to 12V DC to supply the loads in the trailer. Find the 12V fuse that serves the MaxxFan and then you will know which one to pull if you have continued issues before the repair to the board can be made.

Do you have solar programmed to an equalization voltage that is quite high (15V+)? Some owners have reported that higher voltages than devices are made to handle could also be the cause of issues.
http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f8...tml#post278553

CADreamin · 01-21-2020, 07:45 PM

Thanks, Rubicon, for confirming the shore power conundrum. What was confusing was that, the first time it happened, we were plugged into shore power as well; however, flipping the top two fuses stopped the fan that time. Checked the solar (many times as we were 'dry camping' for the first six days) and our voltage never exceeded 13.4 so not too high and, in fact, low enough to make us think about another solar panel .... Now that we're home, will contact Escape and get their opinion and (most likely) a new board. Thanks again for all your inputs!

rubicon327 · 01-21-2020, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CADreamin

What was confusing was that, the first time it happened, we were plugged into shore power as well; however, flipping the top two fuses stopped the fan that time.

The top fuse is the main which would kill power to the entire trailer, including the converter. Second fuse might be the converter. If either of these was flipped off after the battery disconnect was already switched off then it would have stopped the fan because you killed the other source of 12V power that was coming via the converter.

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