Maxxfan help needed

davidmurphy02 · 05-10-2021, 02:33 PM

On the road at a gas stop, maxxfan came on and would not respond to any controls to turn it off. Had to pull the fuse. Unfortunately looks like the thermostat is on the same fuse.

Can I access wiring from below to disconnect and disable fan so I can put the breaker back? Not seeing anything obvious. Will be in a spot with no cell signal tonight...sigh.

I guess the circuit board issues others have had are visiting me now.

diannelgraham · 05-10-2021, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidmurphy02

On the road at a gas stop, maxxfan came on and would not respond to any controls to turn it off. Had to pull the fuse. Unfortunately looks like the thermostat is on the same fuse.

Can I access wiring from below to disconnect and disable fan so I can put the breaker back? Not seeing anything obvious. Will be in a spot with no cell signal tonight...sigh.

I guess the circuit board issues others have had are visiting me now.

I disconnected the power at the fan when mine was taken over by the fan demons.

rubicon327 · 05-10-2021, 05:54 PM

There is definitely other items paralleled on the same circuit as the Maxxfan. You should be able to remove the garnish ring from around the fan with four screws and find the power wires on the drivers side of the fan.

My bet is a new circuit board is in order.

HABBERDABBER · 05-10-2021, 05:56 PM

Your travel is loaded with travails! Good luck with all of them, but persevere, and work through the problems. It's all you can do, eh?

TahoeJoe · 05-10-2021, 09:09 PM

Bummer...my MaxxFan had the same issue and so it has a disconnect switch that was installed by the previous owner. I plan to replace the entire fan, but until then I use that switch. Anyways, I agree that you can easily remove the square frame from below and just disconnect the wires. I have removed and installed a couple of these fans on previous trailers, and that part is very easy...

stephen99 · 05-11-2021, 09:28 AM

Yep, new circuit board and voltage regulator to prevent future problems.

azjack · 05-11-2021, 10:01 AM

Nancy could not get the fan to stop or quit beeping. Reading the book for the fan it listed a last step to a problem, remove power. We pulled the power cord and turned off the battery switch, it fixed itself, probably had something to do with the temp switch which we never use.
AZjack

davidmurphy02 · 05-11-2021, 12:42 PM

Thanks everyone! When we got to camp last night I pulled the trim piece and disconnected the power wire, will check into it further later.

TahoeJoe · 05-11-2021, 01:13 PM

Oh good...hey keep us posted, I'm now wondering how to fix mine, or if I should just replace the whole thing, perhaps with something I like better...

davidmurphy02 · 05-13-2021, 08:56 PM

Well, things don't work out this easily very often...after several days to dry out I plugged the Maxxfan power back in and it is working normally again

We were camped on a mountain pass and had 12 hours of steady rain and mist at 30 mph blowing directly at the back of the trailer. I guess some of that moist air worked its way into the Maxxfan housing and caused the circuit board to short. Thankfully it seems to have caused no permanent damage since after a few days of dry weather all seems well again.

I did at least learn how easily the Maxxfan comes apart, and thank goodness for the power line spade connectors - probably the only ones in the trailer, everything else is crimped. And if it ever does fail again there are just 4 screws to remove and the fan unit will pop right off the roof flange.

diannelgraham · 05-13-2021, 09:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidmurphy02

Well, things don't work out this easily very often...after several days to dry out I plugged the Maxxfan power back in and it is working normally again

We were camped on a mountain pass and had 12 hours of steady rain and mist at 30 mph blowing directly at the back of the trailer. I guess some of that moist air worked its way into the Maxxfan housing and caused the circuit board to short. Thankfully it seems to have caused no permanent damage since after a few days of dry weather all seems well again.

I did at least learn how easily the Maxxfan comes apart, and thank goodness for the power line spade connectors - probably the only ones in the trailer, everything else is crimped. And if it ever does fail again there are just 4 screws to remove and the fan unit will pop right off the roof flange.

Same thing happened with mine after the weather dried out. When Escape looked at it they sprayed the motherboard with conformal coating to keep the moisture out haven’t had a problem since.

Perry Butler · 05-14-2021, 06:59 AM

Twice ours has started beeping, won't respond to anything, and the green light comes on. I just turned the battery disconnect switch off for a few seconds then back on and it works again. Don't know the problem but it sounds like I'll remove the board and spray it with "conformal coating."

Enjoy,

Perry

davidmurphy02 · 05-14-2021, 07:27 AM

Well, if you've seen my "Strange furnace problem" thread over the past month you'll appreciate the humor in this. After celebrating the return to life of our Maxxfan we needed to cool the trailer down a bit so left it running when we went to bed. Middle of the night it got chilly so I got up to turn it off and....nothing - no response to any buttons.

Looks like either a control board or new fan is in my future. After last night I would be reluctant to take it apart and spray the board with conformal coating only to have it mess up again after acting OK.

Can someone who has done this share what it takes to access and remove the control board?

HABBERDABBER · 05-14-2021, 07:31 AM

You'll need to do a search, but I found the post for fan disassembly and conformal coating, complete with pictures and process instructions. I'll look for it again.

davidmurphy02 · 05-14-2021, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HABBERDABBER

You'll need to do a search, but I found the post for fan disassembly and conformal coating, complete with pictures and process instructions. I'll look for it again.

I figured it was there somewhere..on the road with weak internet, fat fingers and tiny cell screen I don't do so well with forum searches but we will be home soon.

HABBERDABBER · 05-14-2021, 08:02 AM

Post #78 will give you the info on conformal coating and the process.

https://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f...tml#post365438

bon voyage,

davidmurphy02 · 05-14-2021, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HABBERDABBER

Post #78 will give you the info on conformal coating and the process.

https://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f...tml#post365438

bon voyage,

Perfect, thanks! Hadn't seen thse screws under the screen bezel, that looks very easy. Now my brain can go back to trying to figure out my furnace...

davidmurphy02 · 05-24-2021, 04:57 PM

Got a new circuit board, coated it with conformal, and installed it today - works great and really wasn't too much of a pain to do. I will probably take the old one and go ahead and coat it also and hang onto as a spare, since it was working/not working intermittently I was hesitant to trust it going forward.

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