rayra
Expedition Leader
eta MkII design start further down the topic, here.
Something I've been doodling for a while. Seen things like it on police K-9 vehicles. And I want it for a similar purpose and also as something useful for vehicle camping etc. Essentially it's a window insert, trapped in place by the window, with 12v fans fitted to circulate air into / out of the vehicle.
Computer fans are just the thing for this, native 12VDC, very low amp draw, many sizes, many options for near-silent operation. And being DC you can add a rheostat and dial their speed up / down.
I just happened to have a tower PC I was gutting out and it had a large 10" / 240mm? fan in its side panel. So I set that aside with this in mind. The pressboard is 1/4" thick, also some leftover scrap.
Here's a couple pics of fitting a panel. The bottom edge is cut / curved to fit the top of the window glass (which I'd also traced onto the pressboard to get a snug fit at the top of the insert). That's then sandwiched with a couple 1-1/2" wide strips. The idea is to just socket the insert on top of the window edge, then raise the window and guide the top edge of the insert into the groove for the glass.
I added a simple $3 cigarette lighter plug from walmart, and added a 6' lead that will let me plug it into the power port on the back of the center console. I think I might have a rheostat laying around, too.
It's 'reversible' in that the insert will fit in either side. It's set up to pull air into the vehicle, but setting it in the other side would turn it into an exhaust setup.
Ultimately I'll probably re-execute the thing, newegg.com has nice quiet fans available in bundles, (4) x 120mm for $13. A row of smaller fans would work better, move air at the highest / hottest layer, and have the window reach higher / closed more. And be less noticeable. I can put some screen mesh between the fans and the pressboard
The whole thing could be built for <$30 starting with nothing. as this stands now, the only thing I didn't have laying around already was the cig plug.
Cmputer fans come in a massive variety of size, color, CFM ratings etc etc. You can be as plain for fancy with this as you wish. The average 120mm fan is 30-50cfm. The Suburban is 140cu' of cargo, call it just about 200cu' of interior volume. So with four fans running at max, that would be the full volume of air replaced every minute. Which pretty much means you could keep the vehicle interior at ambient.
120mm fans typically use 1/3-1/2A, so even running four wouldnt be a severe burden overnight.
Something I've been doodling for a while. Seen things like it on police K-9 vehicles. And I want it for a similar purpose and also as something useful for vehicle camping etc. Essentially it's a window insert, trapped in place by the window, with 12v fans fitted to circulate air into / out of the vehicle.
Computer fans are just the thing for this, native 12VDC, very low amp draw, many sizes, many options for near-silent operation. And being DC you can add a rheostat and dial their speed up / down.
I just happened to have a tower PC I was gutting out and it had a large 10" / 240mm? fan in its side panel. So I set that aside with this in mind. The pressboard is 1/4" thick, also some leftover scrap.
Here's a couple pics of fitting a panel. The bottom edge is cut / curved to fit the top of the window glass (which I'd also traced onto the pressboard to get a snug fit at the top of the insert). That's then sandwiched with a couple 1-1/2" wide strips. The idea is to just socket the insert on top of the window edge, then raise the window and guide the top edge of the insert into the groove for the glass.
I added a simple $3 cigarette lighter plug from walmart, and added a 6' lead that will let me plug it into the power port on the back of the center console. I think I might have a rheostat laying around, too.
It's 'reversible' in that the insert will fit in either side. It's set up to pull air into the vehicle, but setting it in the other side would turn it into an exhaust setup.
Ultimately I'll probably re-execute the thing, newegg.com has nice quiet fans available in bundles, (4) x 120mm for $13. A row of smaller fans would work better, move air at the highest / hottest layer, and have the window reach higher / closed more. And be less noticeable. I can put some screen mesh between the fans and the pressboard
The whole thing could be built for <$30 starting with nothing. as this stands now, the only thing I didn't have laying around already was the cig plug.
Cmputer fans come in a massive variety of size, color, CFM ratings etc etc. You can be as plain for fancy with this as you wish. The average 120mm fan is 30-50cfm. The Suburban is 140cu' of cargo, call it just about 200cu' of interior volume. So with four fans running at max, that would be the full volume of air replaced every minute. Which pretty much means you could keep the vehicle interior at ambient.
120mm fans typically use 1/3-1/2A, so even running four wouldnt be a severe burden overnight.
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