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gasstingy · 07-11-14, 01:57 PM

Has anyone made a 12v solar power ventilation system for the crawl space under their house? I’ve looked through quite a few pages of projects here going back several years and came up blank. Regardless, solar powered crawl space ventilation seems like a marriage made in heaven, so to speak.

Here’s the idea. I’d buy 8 12v computer style fans, wire them up with an inline blade style fuse going to each fan. Total up the power required to run them (12V * 0.60A) = 7.2w, 7.2w * 8 = 57.6W for the eight fans. Then I’d buy a solar panel that is rated about 80W. This way the fans would run wide open in bright sunlight and the power would fall off in lower light, and then not operate at all at night. If a humidistat could somehow be inserted into this plan, I’d love to put one in with a couple sensors to increase my odds of dehumidifying the crawl space as much as possible. I’d need your help with the humidistat setup. The power figures for the fans came straight off the back of the fans we buy/use to cool our LED price signs. I can get them at out cost of ~ $16.50 / each. They are rated at 120 cfm, so 8 should work out to 960 cfm once in a while.

I’d like to know about it if anyone has done anything like this, whether it worked well or not. I have a full vapor barrier under the house and it helps some. But, I still need to make it less humid. This was the idea that popped into mind.

07-11-14, 01:57 PM	#1
gasstingy Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Arab, AL Posts: 491 Thanks: 109 Thanked 49 Times in 43 Posts	12v DC Foundation Vent Fans Has anyone made a 12v solar power ventilation system for the crawl space under their house? I’ve looked through quite a few pages of projects here going back several years and came up blank. Regardless, solar powered crawl space ventilation seems like a marriage made in heaven, so to speak. Here’s the idea. I’d buy 8 12v computer style fans, wire them up with an inline blade style fuse going to each fan. Total up the power required to run them (12V * 0.60A) = 7.2w, 7.2w * 8 = 57.6W for the eight fans. Then I’d buy a solar panel that is rated about 80W. This way the fans would run wide open in bright sunlight and the power would fall off in lower light, and then not operate at all at night. If a humidistat could somehow be inserted into this plan, I’d love to put one in with a couple sensors to increase my odds of dehumidifying the crawl space as much as possible. I’d need your help with the humidistat setup. The power figures for the fans came straight off the back of the fans we buy/use to cool our LED price signs. I can get them at out cost of ~ $16.50 / each. They are rated at 120 cfm, so 8 should work out to 960 cfm once in a while. I’d like to know about it if anyone has done anything like this, whether it worked well or not. I have a full vapor barrier under the house and it helps some. But, I still need to make it less humid. This was the idea that popped into mind.