# Battery Operated Crate Fans



## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

I read different reviews for this item. Some say it doesn't move enough air, they are noisy, and some dogs are restless when the fan is operating.

If it works it seems like a good idea in summer heat.

Has anyone had experience with these fans? The ones I'm curious about run on 2 D batteries and hang off the crate door.


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## Jason Sidener (Nov 8, 2006)

I have tried the ones like in this pic and they sucked. 

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:qo3ktcaM_y12mM:http://www.petco.com/Assets


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## Chris Michalek (Feb 13, 2008)

I use a Marine Battery 1000w inverter and a small evaporative cooler. Works like a charm


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## Julie Blanding (Mar 12, 2008)

Yeah, those stink. If you really want to move air, get a battery booster, power inverter and a box fan.
If you would like to stay smaller, but still move air...

I use these, and they do well enough for me.
I use a "Sky Kennel" that has holes in the back. I put one fan blowing air in and set up the other behind to pull the air out. These fans are nice because you can charge them, they can go into the 12V of your car, you can use batteries, or you can plug them into your battery booster.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5533603

Then hook it up to this if you worry about draining your car battery:
http://www.partsamerica.com/product...&MfrPartNumber=END615END480&CategoryCode=3013

I also use that battery booster to power my video camera 

I have at least 4 or 5 of those little blue or grey ones mentioned above, all they do is make noise.
JMHO. I also use the largest solar sun shade 12' x 20' or park in the shade when possible.
http://www.petedge.com/ProSelect-Solar-Canopy-ZW726.pro

I'm also a firm believer in hydrating products like "K9 Godog". Their are other ones, but this is the one I use. Be aware it will really keep your dog hydrated if used correctly, so walking them a lot is necessary. They pee like crazy..

Hope that helps!
Julie


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## Sarah ten Bensel (Mar 16, 2008)

I have the marine cell battery, inverter and 2 fans...what is an "evaporative cooler?"--
Also, I don't know much about batteries mine is a deep cycle marine. The charger can charge 2 amps, 6 amps, 10 amps. I was told to charge the marine battery at 6 amps, if I charge it to 10 amps will the battery last longer? I can run 2 fans on high together for about 4 hours before the battery dies. 
I will also tried the battery fans. Crap. I need the fans to really move the air. The fans are 10" "breeze" fans from Target. Easy to mount on the crate with bungees


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## Chris Michalek (Feb 13, 2008)

Sarah ten Bensel said:


> I have the marine cell battery, inverter and 2 fans...what is an "evaporative cooler?"--
> Also, I don't know much about batteries mine is a deep cycle marine. The charger can charge 2 amps, 6 amps, 10 amps. I was told to charge the marine battery at 6 amps, if I charge it to 10 amps will the battery last longer? I can run 2 fans on high together for about 4 hours before the battery dies.
> I will also tried the battery fans. Crap. I need the fans to really move the air. The fans are 10" "breeze" fans from Target. Easy to mount on the crate with bungees


evap cooler won't work in Minneapolis because the humidity levels are too high.... I lived there for 30 years. 

In AZ it's so dry things evaporate immediately... it's not like being back home where it's 90F and you're wearing a film of sweat.

Deep cycle batteries are designed for endurance. Car starting batteries are designed to give a quick burst of energy.


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## Julie Blanding (Mar 12, 2008)

How long do you all leave the fans running?


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## Marie Miller (Jan 16, 2008)

I love this Walmart fan and it will run for days without changing batteries


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## Jamielee Nelson (Apr 24, 2008)

Jason Sidener said:


> I have tried the ones like in this pic and they sucked.
> 
> http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:qo3ktcaM_y12mM:http://www.petco.com/Assets


I also bought that same one and it hardly worked... I ended up throwing it away the next day


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

Thanks for the help. Those Walmart fans look descent. The little hook faces the wrong way to hang off the outside of the crate door but I can jury rig something to take care of that problem. They are apparently out of stock right now. I hope they get more available soon.

My other problem is I already purchased and charged 8 nickel metal hydride D rechargeable batteries. They are quite expensive.:-({|=

That will teach me to read reviews AFTER the fact!


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## Nancy Jocoy (Apr 19, 2006)

I use the o2 cool fans - they are 12 volt so you can wire it up to run on a car battery instead of the expensive D cells [I have a spare marine battery for dog fans] - there is another more expensive fan "endless breeze" that is a bit better and moves even more air but the o2 cools are a good buy.

I just hooked up a monster fan to move air from my cab to my camper shell while driving - 5.5 amp radiator fan, not something you want to run unless the car is running. But I can keep the camper cool while driving.


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## Mike Schoonbrood (Mar 27, 2006)

> That will teach me to read reviews AFTER the fact!


Yanno I was just about to comment on how smart you were to look up reviews on those crappy blue fans before buying them, unlike me, who bought 2 of them (waste of money).... then you go and confess this!


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

The frickin fans are about 10 bucks. The stupid batteries were about 80 bucks. I had my head up my a** this time. If you know anyone who wants 8 already charged up D batteries I know where they can get some cheap!


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## Chris Michalek (Feb 13, 2008)

Julie Blanding said:


> How long do you all leave the fans running?


I've left them on for the better part of five hours when attached to the deep cycle battery.


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## Julie Blanding (Mar 12, 2008)

Lee H Sternberg said:


> Thanks for the help. Those Walmart fans look descent. The little hook faces the wrong way to hang off the outside of the crate door but I can jury rig something to take care of that problem.


You can pup the little clip off and turn it around. No worries 
Yeah, for some reason I noticed they started clearing out their stock of those things. The last time I went into that store I purchased all of them.. hehehe.

Can you try and order it online? Maybe 02 itself has a website, I hadn't checked that out...
Oh.. can't you use the re-chargable batteries in those fans? I dunno..

Good Luck!
Julie


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## Julie Blanding (Mar 12, 2008)

Chris Michalek said:


> I've left them on for the better part of five hours when attached to the deep cycle battery.



Thanks Chris. I don't think I've left mine on for more than that. I think maybe 3-4 hrs running off the car battery. I'm going to see how long it takes to drain my portable battery booster with 2 fans on..just out of curiosity.

Julie


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## Chris Michalek (Feb 13, 2008)

Marine Batteries are not that expensive. I paid $80 for a 160 amp hour battery made for a solar system. I think the marine battery system is the best way to go because you're not dependent on the car battery for the fan...and in AZ batteries only last a couple of years in this heat. They can literally die at any moment.

If you have a deep cycle battery and an isolator 

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200343388_200343388 

you can ran your marine battery for as long as you can and then it will recharge when the car is running. AND, if your car battery is dead for whatever reason you can give it a charge from the deep cycle battery.


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## Nancy Jocoy (Apr 19, 2006)

I can easily run two fans for over two days [during the day]

The O2 cool pulls 0.7 amps on high, two fans = 1.4 amps; my deep cycle battery is small at 55 amp hours. Even with a deep cycle you are better NOT to fully discharge it though. So running 20 hours I theoretically pull 28 amp hours. I have to say though I am so impressed with my radiator fan in the back window that I am researching other 12 volt fans - the airflow is incredible]

Here is the deal with a 12 volt battery. If it goes in the passenger compartment of your vehicle, you need to spend the bucks to get an Optima or similar design because the design does not release hydrogen gas and is safer in other regards. In the back of a truck you can rig up a vent. Also they are heavy and should be properly anchored down. 

Now, if you charge the 2nd battery by hooking up an isolator and charge off the alternator, you should have a heavy duty alternator in your vehicle. I just charge mine with a plug-in charger off a wall outlet. I may eventually add a solar trickle charger or I may do an isolator at some point because I have a heavy duty alternator in my truck.

I don't like using an inverter for two reasons- (1) a lot of the energy is wasted as heat in doing the conversion from DC to AC and (2) you really don't want to pull off a typical car battery unless you have one designed for deep cycle and Cold crank amps [they do make such a beast because a lot of folks with monster stereo systems need them]. Car batteries are NOT designed to regularly deep cycle and will wear out prematurely.


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## Daniel Cox (Apr 17, 2006)

I have a good idea.
Buy yourself some 12 volt computer fans and mount them on something. You could get yourself a nice marine battery from walmart and a charger and put all the contents in a cooler or some box. You could make custom mount brackets for your crate door. These little fans can pull a lot of air and last a very long time. I would put 2 fans on each crate in case one went bad.

Here is a place to buy many different size computer fans. I think 120 mm is 4.7 inches.
http://www.directron.com/120mmfans.html

If you did this right you could make a nice setup that would run for days and easy maintained.


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## Nancy Jocoy (Apr 19, 2006)

Daniel, that is one of the things I am looking at - computer fans are cheap and move a lot of air for their current pull and are designed to run and run and run. 

When you look at fans, look at the CFM [cubic feet per minute] to see how much air they move.

The endless breeze moves 1000 CFM on high at around 3 amps and is nicely made but expensive
http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/rv-converters/12-volt-fans.htm
http://www.fantasticvent.com/assets/images/pdf/EndlessBreezeBro.pdf

I lost the O2 cool specs but I think it only moves around 200 CFM. I would like to find them again; it could be higher.

My 10" radiator fan moves 1250 CFM @ 4amps [I quoted higher amps before] and is very solid.

http://stores.ebay.com/Siliconeinta...W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ11191842QQftidZ2QQtZkm


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## Patrick Murray (Mar 27, 2006)

As they say, you get what you pay for. I've used those little fans and they do move some air. For sure, they're better than nothing at all. But they are what they are and what they are is reflected in their price.


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

I found lots of places on the internet that carry the O2 battery operated fan. Walmart is out of this item. Ebay is about $28 including shipping.


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## Lacey Vessell (Nov 18, 2006)

WalMart is just out of them on their on-line site. I purchased a "few" 02 Cool Fans for 12.88 each ( with tax )today. Lowes also carries them for about 5 bucks more. Walgreens also carries them for about 17.00. Maybe they are just less expensive in my neck of the woods.


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

I'll try Lowes and Walgreens. The problem here is we don't get a lot of hot weather so the stores don't carry some of the heat related stuff.

After my rechargeable D battery debacle what's a few extra bucks going to hurt?


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Just talking this over with my son who has taken over my position as family gearhead. He says you can probably find a very reasonable priced, electric cooling fan at an auto salvage yard or even on e-bay.


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

The original reason I went for the D battery operated fan was the convenience. I thought it would be great to just hang this little self contained fan off the crate door without the need for any other cords, wires, etc.

It looked good on paper.


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

I just checked back with Walmart's website. They now have the fans in stock. I have 2 on the way.


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