Hi all,
There have been several threads and approaches described to help with cooling the 3rd row seats. With the weather getting hot again, I wanted to post my revised system.
First, I thought it might be helpful to try to summarize the prior approaches (of which I am aware/can recall):
1. Simple way is to somehow attach a battery powered fan onto the side wall of the trunk - such as 3rd row ventilation
2. Adding a wireless thermometer is a great supplement. I first ordered this one, but thought it was too big. Now I have this one, which is a lot smaller and that I have attached via double sided tape next to the main center display.
3. Use a 'noggle' or device like this, also shown here. In my opinion, these a ugly
4. A full-service approach is the 'Airtainment' System - see here. Honestly, if you have $600-650 to spend, this is the way to go.
5. Zarwin's approach, described here: Another approach to cooling the rear facing seats. THe basic idea is to have a fan with a hose that draws air from the 2nd row and puts it in the 3rd row. I took ideas from Zarwin and produced the system described in this thread Interested in 3rd row seat ventilation?.
In this thread, I want to describe my recent modifications, which I think are simpler than the prior system and also seems to be fairly effective.
I started with the following components, some of which are described in the threads linked above:
1. A fan. I used this one.
2. A controller. I used a PWM unit such as this one. Any motor controller should work as long as the voltages and currents are suitable.
3. Wiring to connect the 12V dc supply at the center console, to the controller, and then to the fan.
Note that all these items are essentially described in the above linked threads.
At this point, rather than connect hoses up to the fan, I simply mounted the fan on a piece of metal - specifically a welding plate from Lowes/HD. I bent the metal plate so half of it could slide under the 3rd row seats and the other half could hold the fan. I mounted the fan by simply drilling two holes in the metal plate and using two small bolts/washers.
Here are two pictures of the fan mounted to the metal plate:
You can see in the above pictures I have taped/secured some window screen mesh over the top/bottom of the fan to keep little fingers out. I used the above system to test it out and decide if it worked well, which I was happy with.
I then built a small wooden box to go around the fan. I again used some window screen to cover the openings. I then used felt and spray glue to cover the box with felt. The end result is shown below.
It's been very effective and moves a surprising amount of air. I hope this might help others out in figuring out your own solutions to improving the 3rd row ventilation!
There have been several threads and approaches described to help with cooling the 3rd row seats. With the weather getting hot again, I wanted to post my revised system.
First, I thought it might be helpful to try to summarize the prior approaches (of which I am aware/can recall):
1. Simple way is to somehow attach a battery powered fan onto the side wall of the trunk - such as 3rd row ventilation
2. Adding a wireless thermometer is a great supplement. I first ordered this one, but thought it was too big. Now I have this one, which is a lot smaller and that I have attached via double sided tape next to the main center display.
3. Use a 'noggle' or device like this, also shown here. In my opinion, these a ugly
4. A full-service approach is the 'Airtainment' System - see here. Honestly, if you have $600-650 to spend, this is the way to go.
5. Zarwin's approach, described here: Another approach to cooling the rear facing seats. THe basic idea is to have a fan with a hose that draws air from the 2nd row and puts it in the 3rd row. I took ideas from Zarwin and produced the system described in this thread Interested in 3rd row seat ventilation?.
In this thread, I want to describe my recent modifications, which I think are simpler than the prior system and also seems to be fairly effective.
I started with the following components, some of which are described in the threads linked above:
1. A fan. I used this one.
2. A controller. I used a PWM unit such as this one. Any motor controller should work as long as the voltages and currents are suitable.
3. Wiring to connect the 12V dc supply at the center console, to the controller, and then to the fan.
Note that all these items are essentially described in the above linked threads.
At this point, rather than connect hoses up to the fan, I simply mounted the fan on a piece of metal - specifically a welding plate from Lowes/HD. I bent the metal plate so half of it could slide under the 3rd row seats and the other half could hold the fan. I mounted the fan by simply drilling two holes in the metal plate and using two small bolts/washers.
Here are two pictures of the fan mounted to the metal plate:
You can see in the above pictures I have taped/secured some window screen mesh over the top/bottom of the fan to keep little fingers out. I used the above system to test it out and decide if it worked well, which I was happy with.
I then built a small wooden box to go around the fan. I again used some window screen to cover the openings. I then used felt and spray glue to cover the box with felt. The end result is shown below.
It's been very effective and moves a surprising amount of air. I hope this might help others out in figuring out your own solutions to improving the 3rd row ventilation!
