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How to Stop Your MaxxFan From Beeping & Shutting Down When Using Solar Power

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How to Stop Your MaxxFan From Beeping & Shutting Down When Using Solar Power

Our 2020 Scamp 13’ was delivered from the Scamp factory with a Maxxair MaxxFan, an incredible fan which can either blow or suck air into the trailer (depending on the setting).  Since we don’t have air conditioning in our camper and use it off grid quite a bit, we really depend on this fan to keep us cool during warm weather (as well as blowing out smoke when cooking and also clearing humidity from the trailer when showering and sleeping to prevent detector alarms).

We soon discovered that our MaxxFan doesn’t like voltage variations beyond 12 volts.  When boondocking (without shore power), we usually use our solar panel briefcase to provide power to our Scamp 13’.  Voltage in our trailer can vary quite a bit when on solar power and is usually higher than 12V, sometimes reaching just over 15 volts (based on our internal voltmeter).  It’s common for our MaxxFan to complain (beep and stop) when we are running solar.  It especially doesn’t like it when our Scamp 13’ is running on solar and simultaneously running another appliance (like a water pump to provide water pressure to our sink when boondocking).  It generally will beep and stop in this situation.  We’ve learned that we can often keep it running as long as we don’t exceed the 30% speed setting.  On one occasion, our fan stopped altogether and wouldn’t restart.  To get it to run again, we had to pull the fuse (fuse labeled “rear of trailer”) to reset the fan.  Ughh!

It was warm on our recent trip to Big Bear Lake and we really wanted to use our fan at a high speed setting, but it wouldn’t cooperate.  Our MaxxFan just kept turning off when turned up higher than 30%.  With our solar panels soaking up the bright mountain sunlight at Big Bear, the voltage coming into the trailer reached 15.6 volts.  At this point, we needed a better solution.  Upon doing considerable research, we found that, indeed, voltage intolerance is a known problem for MaxxFans.  When the voltage is too low or too high the fan will often beep and stop.  It seems this fan has “Goldilocks Syndrome” as the voltage has to be “just right”.  A call to MaxxAir, maker of the MaxxFan, confirmed that there have been considerable issues with voltage affecting fan operation which have prompted the company to update the motherboard to accept voltages up to 15 volts.  The MaxxFan tech I spoke to said the motherboard used to have a voltage range between 10.8 volts – 13.8 volts (our model), but once more people started using solar panels and lithium batteries (leading to higher voltages within their rvs) the company came out with a new motherboard (sometime after 2020) to accept a wider voltage range (10.3 volts – 15 volts).  The tech told me that even with the new motherboard, the fan will still have problems with voltages outside the new voltage range.  Although some people have gone as far as replacing their motherboards in the hope that the more recent circuit boards will fix this issue, others have taken matters into their own hands by implementing other solutions.  The simple and inexpensive solution we implemented was to install a voltage regulator between the trailer power leads and the fan (the MaxxFan tech agreed with us that this is a good solution).  The voltage regulator we chose accepts 9V – 36V input (a much higher range than the new MaxxFan mother board accepts) and puts out a consistent 12 volts, and is rated waterproof, dust-proof, moisture-proof and shock-proof (and currently sells new on Amazon for less than $15!).  It’s also really small and fits nicely in the MaxxFan housing.  So overall, the nice thing about this solution is that it’s inexpensive and addresses both very low and high voltages.

The installation of the voltage regulator inside the MaxxFan is fairly simple and just about anyone should be able to do it in less than an hour with the right supplies and tools.  A significant point to note is that it is very important to figure out the polarities of all the wires before connecting them because some trailers (and even the MaxxFan itself) have some strange things going on with polarity.  Specifically, for example, our Scamp trailer has a positive black wire and negative white wire providing power to the fan.  Additionally, MaxxFan also wires their fan this way with the black wire being positive.  This wiring convention is contrary to what most people learn, being that black is usually negative and red is positive.

A voltmeter is a good simple way to determine polarity (set your voltmeter on DC V and use the black probe on the black wire and the red probe on the other colored wire – if the voltage shows a positive number, then the black wire is negative polarity, if it shows a negative number, then black is positive polarity).  On our installation, we determined that our Scamp 13’ black wire is actually positive and the white wire is negative. These are the wires that provide power to the fan and attach to the input side of the voltage regulator.   On our voltage regulator, the input and output polarities are clearly labeled (with black being negative and red/yellow positive).  The MaxxFan wiring polarity matches our Scamp trailer with black being positive and white negative.

Project Supplies and Tools:

  1. MaxxFan
  2. 12V DC Voltage Regulator
  3. Voltmeter
  4. Wago wire connectors
  5. Scotch Fastener Tape
  6. Gorilla Tape
  7. Braided copper wire (AWG 14)
  8. Robertson Square #2 Screwdriver or
    1. Electric screw driver which accepts ¼” bits
    2. Robertson Square #2 bits 
  9. Wire cutters
  10. Wire stripper

Here are the Project Steps I took to install the 12V voltage regulator in the MaxxFan (also, reference video).

Project Steps:

  1. SAFETY: I made sure my Scamp 13’ was parked on a flat level surface (my garage), the tongue jack was stable, and I used heavy duty wheel chocks to prevent the trailer from rolling.  I also wore safety glasses to help prevent anything from getting into my eyes while working.  I made sure there was no power to the fan while working on it (by pulling fuse).
  2. Cut power to fan by removing fuse powering fan (fan won’t turn on after fuse is removed)
  3. Take off the fan screen by rotating the holders
  4. Remove the bezel/trim using the Robertson Square #2 Driver.
  5. Remove fan with Phillips head screwdriver (including screw on black manual fan knob).
  6. Unclip zip tie on the fan holding wires together
  7. Remove a bit more plastic sheath on each of the wires coming out each side of the voltage regulator to allow for more exposed copper to plug into the Wago connectors.
  8. Apply scotch Velcro tape (two sides) to the backside of the voltage regulator.
  9. Tape the voltage regulator into one corner of the inner casing of the fan.
  10. Cut trailer power wires attached to fan and test their polarity.
  11. Attach Wago connectors to the end of the trailer power wires as well as the voltage regulator wires and fan power wires.
  12. Create wire extensions and once polarities are identified, connect the trailer power wires to the voltage regulator and the voltage regulator wires to the fan (all using Wago connectors).
  13. Plug in fuse and test fan to ensure it works.
  14. Carefully insert wiring back into fan (using zip ties and Gorilla tape to secure loose wires)
  15. Screw fan back into place using a Phillips head screwdriver.
  16. Reattach bezel/trim using Robertson Square #2 Driver (and notch out bezel if necessary)
  17. Clean fan screen.
  18. Reinstall fan screen.

 

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly. 

Big Bear Lake, Serrano Campground

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Big Bear Lake, Serrano Campground
May 22nd – 25th, 2022 (3 nights)

Big Bear Lake is a beautiful mountain lake (elevation 6,800’) located about three hours from San Diego.  The area is great for all season activities.  Skiing is very popular at Big Bear’s Bear Mountain and Snow Summit ski areas.  Spring and summer are the perfect time for a camping trip at the lake as the weather is usually nice.  The two main routes to reach Big Bear Lake from Los Angeles and San Diego are going up on CA-330 or CA-38.  Highway 330 is quicker by about 30 minutes, but very windy with repeated hair pin turns and more trafficked compared to CA-38.  Since we weren’t pressed for time and had our Scamp 13’ in tow, we chose CA-38.  We left our home at about 11 a.m. and had a nice leisurely drive up to the campground, arriving around 2 p.m. (check in time) for a late lunch.  The CA-38 has some windy sections, but nothing like the CA-330, so we were very glad we took the slow and less direct approach!  Note:  both our Waze and Google Maps navigators kept trying to reroute us to CA-330 for a while when driving through Redlands.  Instead, we ignored the directions to exit on the 77B/CA-210 Foothill Freeway and stayed on the 10 East and exited on Orange Street and then right on E. Lugonia Avenue (which turns into the CA-38).  In other words, figure out your directions to use the CA-38 before you leave the house!

Serrano Campground is a beautiful campground set amongst tall pines on the north shore of Big Bear Lake.  This side of the lake is not as busy as the south shore where the village with all its shops and restaurants are located.  And, Serrano Campground is fairly isolated and private.   We noticed when pulling into Serrano Campground that there is a free day use area (Meadows Edge Picnic Area) across the street directly on the lake that will accommodate cars/RVs and offers picnic tables and a nice beach.  Meadows Edge seems a perfect spot to have lunch and relax when arriving early before 2 p.m. check in time.  There was no line when we drove up to the Serrano Campground Ranger Station check in kiosk.  We were given a map, told that no bears had been sighted recently (although campsites have bear boxes), and directed to our campsite (#121).  Site #121 (currently $37/night) is in partial shade and has no hookups (although there is a central dump in the campground / currently $10).  There is a water spigot directly across from Site #121 (and many sprinkled throughout the campground).  From this site, it’s only a short walk to the lake and the Alpine Pedal Path (more on this later) from Site #121.  We didn’t get any HDTV signals within our Scamp 13’, but the Verizon cellphone and internet coverage was very good during our stay here.

Although Site #121 is listed within the Lake View section, we found only a few sites actually have a lake view (#115/116, #114, #117).  Our top site picks in the Lake View section are #115/116 (double site costing 2x the price of a regular site = currently $74/night), #114, #117, (#118 and #119 if reserving with families or friends as these sites are close together), #120, #121, and #95.  The other campground loops have road noise from Hwy 38/North Shore Drive (although not too bad).  For those wanting hookups, the Snowberry RV Loop has full hookup sites (currently $47/night).  If possible, we recommend the Lake View Loop since it has less road noise.  We used our briefcase solar panel system for power and Holy Grail Portable Grey Tank Solution to unload grey water, which allowed us to avoid paying $10 more a night for a full hookup site or using the dump our entire three night stay (despite the two of us taking hot showers every night!).

The wonderful smell of butterscotch and vanilla produced by the pines is reason enough to stay within Serrano Campground!  Scientists don’t know why Ponderosa pines smell like cookies baking, but guess the smell may result from a chemical in the sap being warmed by the sun.  Morning walks or bike rides along the Alpine Pedal Path (miles of paved bike/walking path along the lake and through the pine forests) are particularly effective in refreshing the soul.  Studies have shown that getting out in nature and breathing fresh air just produced by trees helps physical well-being by reducing blood pressure, heart rate and stress.  We definitely felt this to be the case during our visit!  We enjoyed morning’s walks along the lake as well as bike rides on the Alpine Pedal Path.  We chose to continue our bike ride across the Stanfield Cutoff which provides a bike path across the end of the lake into the village of Big Bear.  It’s a little over 5 miles from the campground to the end of the Alpine Pedal Path and back along the easy paved path (the path only follows part of the shoreline on the north shore and one end is close to Serrano campground).  Allow a couple of hours to complete the path for a nice time.  There are numerous places to stop and take in the views along with benches and signs with descriptions of the various aspects of Big Bear Lake.

Big Bear Lake also is a great place for water activities like fishing, boating / kayaking, water skiing, and relaxing on the beach.  There are kayak rentals at the dock near the campground.  We didn’t bring our inflatable kayak this time but did see a few campers fishing for trout from the beach.  We could spot a number of large trout close to the shore while walking along the sand.  There is an observatory right on the beach in front of the campground (Big Bear Solar Observatory / BBSO), but public tours have been closed due to Covid.  BBSO had the largest operational solar telescope from 2008 until 2020 (until the introduction of the Inouye Solar Telescope @ 4 meter aperture in Hawaii).  For those who enjoy mountain biking, Big Bear’s ski resorts (Snow Summit and Bear Mountain) turn into lift-served, gravity fed bike parks during the summer.  Riders can ride the lifts to the top and choose a variety of runs to ride their bikes down to the bottom.

If you enjoy animals, plan to visit the Big Bear Alpine Zoo.  The zoo is actually a rehabilitation center and sanctuary for wild animals that need help (e.g. injured, orphaned, and imprinted animals).  The zoo, owned and operated by a division of the County of San Bernardino and established in 1959, releases the vast majority of animals back into the wild after their rehabilitation.  We had a great visit walking the grounds of the zoo and saw a number of incredible animals, including bald eagles, golden eagles, owls, cranes, brown bears, grizzly bears, snow leopards, a white wolf, raccoons, and coyotes, among many others.  Some of the animals are rescued locally and others are from other areas of the country.  For example, we saw a Grizzly bear mother and her two large cubs who were rescued from Yellowstone National Park because they were constantly getting too close to the public.  The mama bear was teaching her cubs to steal food from people.  Most of the animals we saw seemed calm and contented, with the exception of one coyote who appeared distressed (perhaps a recent rescue).  Allow at least an hour to explore the zoo (currently $15 for adult entry).

If hiking is to your liking, there are a plethora of trails to explore.  With only a few days to visit and so much to see, we chose to hike one of the most renowned hikes, Castle Rock Trail.  This 2.7 mile out-and-back trail is moderately challenging and takes a couple of hours to complete (with stops for views).  An easy way to get to the trail from Serrano Campground is drive the CA-38E / North Shore drive (opposite direction than to the Stanfield Cutoff) around the West side of Big Bear Lake to Big Bear Blvd. on the south side of the lake.  The trail parking is on the street on a curve and there isn’t much of it, so best to arrive in the early morning.  There is a trail marker at the start of the trail.  The trail is steep with lots of rocky terrain, so take it slowly and watch your step.  Bring plenty of water and some snacks.  It’s easy to get off the main trail because there are lots of side trails, but there is a solution — follow the rock baskets (cairns) which are easy to see and usually there is one within sight (or within a short walking distance from the last one).  Castle Rock is off to the right near the top and there is a side trail that goes around its backside to the boulders.  We climbed a small portion of the boulders and were rewarded with a great view of the lake far down below.  The Castle Rock Trail continues on, and you can hike up until the trail ends and then on further if you want (at a branch at the top with another couple of trails – one to Bluff Lake)

We really enjoyed Serrano Campground at Big Bear Lake and are already planning another visit.  There are a few areas of interest that were closed or we didn’t have time for during our visit which we hope we’ll be able to explore next time.  We would like to visit the Discovery Center (visitor and nature center), the Big Bear Solar Observatory, the Alpine Slide, hike some more trails, enjoy an evening interpretive program, and perhaps do some kayaking on the lake.  As always, make sure to take some movies to enjoy in your camper at night as well as some of your favorite games (like our favorite, Sequence).  So, if you are looking for a fantastic lakeside getaway, look no further than Serrano Campground at Big Bear Lake!

 

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly. 

No Hookups, No Problem!

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No Hookups, No Problem!
While going through my pre-trip checklist (see my article “Use Checklists to Prevent Problems”) right before heading out to Yosemite a couple of weeks ago, I noticed our heavy duty surge protector hadn’t been used in a while.  The surge protector has been sitting in its cardboard box on the top shelf of our garage cabinets and collecting dust for some time.  In May 2021, we were fortunate to be able to stay within the park at Yosemite (Upper Pine Campground), but had to plan for no hookups as the Yosemite campsites don’t have any (which is often the case in National and State parks), so we didn’t need to take the surge protector.  During the trip, we used our 100W solar briefcase (two 50W panels) every day, and even though our campsite was mostly shaded, there was always enough sunlight to keep our Scamp’s batteries well charged.

Our campsite at Yosemite also lacked any other hookups (e.g. water and sewer).  However, there is a central dump station at the entrance of Upper Pines Campground and drinking water spigots at each bathroom.  We dumped on the way into the campground and used our Holy Grail Portable Grey Water Tank Solution so that we didn’t need to move the Scamp all week!  I filled up our portable Grey tanks (four 5 gallon jugs) once during the week and drove them to the central dump early in the morning when there is little activity at the dump station and poured them out.  Filling our Fresh tanks was easy using our dolly and 6-gallon water jug.  The water spigot near our campsite was just a short walk away and the spigot had high pressure, so filling our Fresh jug was super-fast.  I made two or three water refill runs during our Yosemite stay.

Having had a chance to reflect back on the past year and a half since receiving our new Scamp 13’ using our trip log book (see my article “Take A Page From Star Trek and Log Your Travels”), I was surprised to realize how few times we actually used any types of hookups!  We sometimes used electrical and water hookups while staying in the driveways of family, but for the most part, our stays have mostly been at National and State parks where no hookups were provided.  And, these stays have usually been at locations where central dump stations and water spigots were available and our solar panels (along with our Jackery 500) served to maintain a sufficient charge on our Scamp battery.

Along with solar panels, we rely heavily on liquid Propane during most of our stays.  Propane does a great job of powering most of our appliances which can run on this gas.  Propane is efficient and can last a long time.  Appliances in our Scamp that can run off propane are the gas stove, refrigerator, furnace, and hot water heater.  The great thing about propane is that you can carry a lot of it (we always carry 2 Viking composite propane tanks) and it can be run without hookups.  One tank can usually last us over 10 days even in very cold weather when we run our furnace.  One just has to take care to follow proper safety protocols when running propane.  Small travel trailers are usually outfitted with combination carbon monoxide/propane detector alarms; the one in our 2020 Scamp 13’ is located near the front door under one of the dinette seats.  It’s essential that every small travel trailer have one of these alarms because carbon monoxide and propane gas exposure can be lethal.

After almost two years of travelling with our Scamp 13’ to mostly State and National parks, we’ve learned that during our stays water is usually available via spigot (or it can be brought in containers) and electricity can most often be provided by the Sun using solar panels (assuming good weather).  We’ve noticed that the Scamp’s electricity demands are not high (especially if using a battery bank, such as the Jackery 500 in which to run non-essential tasks like watching the 12V television and charging devices like phones, cameras, etc.) and propane can also be used to alleviate electricity demand by powering our refrigerator.  And, lastly, we’ve learned we can extend our time between trips to the Dump Station by as much as 5 or 6 days by using portable containers to hold Grey Water.  Ultimately, it’s the Black and Grey tanks that force us to a Dump Station (see my article “Why It’s Smart to be a Zen Boondocker….”).

So, instead of steering clear of campgrounds without hookups, embrace them and expand your options for adventures.  And, once you understand the constraints of your small travel trailer, you can plan your trips so that Dump Station stops occur when you need them (such as every five or six days), allowing you to stay in one place longer and more easily (by using portable Grey Tank containers which can be dumped independently of your trailer).  Happy Camping!

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly.