Nicro Powervent 3000 Troubleshooting

[jviss]

Greetings,

I have two Nicro Powervent 3000 solar powered vents. They do not work. I bought replacement C-cell NiCd batteries and replaced one in one vent. No joy. I have voltage on the solar cell, and battery voltage, but in spite of several depressions of the power switch, the fan won't spin.

The electrical part is potted, so I can't easily probe to see what's going on.

Does anyone have any experience debugging and fixing these?

Know where to get parts, e.g., solar cell "O"-ring/gasket?

Thanks,

jv

Hatch Ventialtor Above Crop

• jviss
• Jun 8, 2018

 

[ggrizzard]

The world wonders the same thing. Mostly, the answer has been "You can't".
But maybe there's a new solution out there.

 

[RoyS]

There is a learning curve with power vents that runs like this: How many are you going to buy before you give up?

 

[Rick D]

Went though the same. Replaced it. In general, they seem to last five to seven years. Just consider it a replacement item like your water heater. It's worth the expense for me to have some ventilation on the boat. I have been using them for almost 40 years, starting with a wooden boat.

 

[jviss]

Thanks Rick. Unfortunately, as far as I can determine, the PV3000 is no longer available. I've written to Marineco about parts, etc.

The thing is, I have them in the two, main, overhead hatches in my boat, which are Lewmar Ocean hatches. I would prefer just plain windows, without the vents, and I may someday buy new lids, which would add up to about $800. Meanwhile, I just decided that if I have them, they may as well work! I bought 3000mAh NiCd C-cells on Amazon, and went at one of them. As I said, no luck. The guts are potted, or at least coated with some kind of clear potting compound. I wish I knew what would dissolve it without ruining the plastic. It's got to be the motor, or the switch, or the intervening wiring. I would think that even if the diode was blown, the charged-up NiCd would spin the fan.

Would like to fix them! (Those motors are cheap and available.)

 

[Rick D]

I totally preferred the square one. Thus the effort trying to repair it. No joy. Replaced it with the 4" version of this: http://shop.hunterowners.com/prod.php?4913 Good luck whatever you do. Please post the repair if you figure it out.

 

[jviss]

I will, Rick. Do you know, do the motors on these fail? Switches? Do you have any old parts lying around?

 

[jviss]

Found a brilliant thread on repairing these:
http://www.sailnet.com/forums/gear-maintenance/47138-nicro-day-night-2000-solar-vent-repair-11.html

I think you can probably get that motor for $1.50 from China on eBay, rather than the $9.00 he paid.

 

[Rick D]

I will, Rick. Do you know, do the motors on these fail? Switches? Do you have any old parts lying around?

No I don't know. I do know the motor would not spin with the new battery installed, so I assume it was that, but as I recall, the motor & solar leads were potted. I tossed the remains, so none to offer.