nicro solar vent

[SycloneDriver]

I want to post my recent experience with a new Nicro day/night vent.

First impressions are that it looks well thought out and well made. The instructions that came with it are above average.

I bought a hole saw and mounted it through the forward hatch of my San Juan 7.7m. I used marine sealer to glue it to the hatch. Worked great, but about four weeks later I noticed it was making a little noise. I was not surprised, as I had read about a lot of motor failures. One week later the motor was dead.

Not wanting to deal with the hastle and expense of returning the unit, I took it apart. Disassembly is relatively easy, three screws and shake/pry the solar panel off. Then pull the fan blade off, remove one more screw, remove switch nut, slide battery contacts and motor out. Testing revealed that the motor was bad. I took it apart (I've taken lots of small motors apart) and cleaned and lubricated it. I was surprised that the armature had three capacitors mounted to it, never saw that before. I used lubricating oils designed for small brushed motors. One oil for the brushes and one for the bushing. It's working again. I did have to resolder one wire as I broke it while fiddling with the motor.

I hope this helps someone. Next time I'll post some pics.

 

[Tim R.]

Thanks SycloneDriver. I have one of these in my forward head and for the last 8 months it has sounded a little clunky. I thought this was normal as it just keeps on running. I think I will disassemble mine(I also have worked on a lot of small motors) and check it out more closely.

 

[Dan Johnson]

I have a pair of Nicro 4 inchers in the dorade box on my H34 for almost seven years now. Only problem I've had is the need to replace the batteries two years ago when the original ones wouldn't hold a charge any longer.

 

[THECUSCUS]

The warranty on these vents is 2 years, and they pay the shipping both ways. After 18 months mine took a crap, i e-mailed them, they sent a warranty form to fill out, afew days after e-mailing the form back to them I got an e-mail saying they would sent me a replacement and due to shipping costs they didn't want the old one back. I was expecting to get just the photo cell/motor piece, but I got a complete unit as if I got it off the shelf of West Marine! I can see trying to fix an older unit (maybe I can repair my old one), but if its still under warranty by all means contact Nicro Vent. They did an outstanding job of standing behind their product!

 

[tkanzler]

The feedback section on West Marine's site for the Nicro vent units has a lot of negatives in the reliability area, and some comments that they've cheapened them recently. The only one I have is pretty old, and it still works (plastic housing is brittle), so I'm happy, but I have to think twice before buying a second one for the forward hatch or deck.

I really need more ventilation when the boat is closed, but they're not cheap. I'll have to consider passive methods of maintaining some small air flow.

 

[SycloneDriver]

warranty & shipping cost

I would sware that the warranty clearly stated that the buyer was responsible for the cost of shipping. It's good to know that manufacture makes it easy to get a replacement.

I read several forums & reviews on these vents before I made my purchase. There have been many complaints about motor failures on the new units. I was not at all surprised that mine failed. Very high failure rate for such an expensive unit. The only reason I went ahead and made the purchase was because of the 2 year warrnaty, that and I needed the air flow. If it fails again I'll e-mail Nicro.

Maybe I should have sent it back but it is working again and I'll have it back on the boat sooner than if I had to have return it. I like to tinker with things.

 

[Steve Dion]

The original Day/nite solar vent from Marinco did not have a removable battery. I called them after about 3 years and they gave me a new one for about 50% of the original price. The replacement one had a removable battery.

I was very pleased with the customer service from Marinco.

 

[Ross]

After ten years my computer fans on a dedicated 5 watt panel are still as reliable as manhole covers. You can get a surplus VW solar panel for about 25 bucks and scavange the fans from a dead computer.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

Mines been working well for 12 months with just a slight hum to it. I only turned it off when I closed up the boat for the winter, so I suppose about 5 months off.

 

[SycloneDriver]

follow-up

I checked mine a few days ago. So far the repair seems to be working.

 

[rpwillia]

Alternatives to Nicro

Seems these are pretty pricey and fail a lot. Are there alternatives?

 

[JVB]

It's pretty cheap to replace a dead motor yourself. But you need to be able to deal with soldering very delicate wiring. The replacement motor I used came from http://store.sundancesolar.com/smmoforsopr5.html
I wrapped plastic electric tape around it about 3 times to get it to fit tightly in the unmodified housing. Then I added a 1/4 inch balsa wood stick between the motor and its hold down screw since the new motor is shorter than the old one. The original propeller fits without any adapting. My repaired unit is as good as a new unit in my opinion.