Amtrak Solar 12-Inch 50W Solar Attic Fan with Thermostat – Quiet, Powerful Gable Vent Fan for Attic, Garage, Shed, Greenhouse – Plug & Play Installation – Reduces Heat & Moisture

After reading the reviews, I decided to go with this model.The construction of the fan seems to be acceptable, I have no concerns of it falling apart. It is all metal unlike one reviewer who stated it was plastic.As far as the other reviews go, I cannot say what the circumstances were that led to the comments, but I do agree with some of them. One is the size of the fan blade, it does seem small compared to the housing, but this blade for its size does push a lot of air. I am not too concerned about cfm's since this is a shed or the size of the blade, I just cut the opening slightly smaller than the frame to improve the performance.Does it have some running noise, sure as most fans do, but no more than expected. If I had this installed in my attic over my bedroom and slept during the day, there may be some concerns. However, since it is solar it will not run at night eliminating any noise concerns.. It sounds like a regular fan on high. 12' away I can just barely hear it.I am using it to evacuate heat from a small garden shed, which this works perfectly.It does need full sun to operate as it will run slower when partly cloudy and not at all in full cloud cover, but it is cooler when cloudy anyway.Do I recommend this fan? Absolutely, it does exactly as described. As long as Amtrak stands behind the product warranty, I see no problems. It would be helpful to have a thermostat for the wintertime when I would like to keep the heat in the shed, but I can also wear a jacket as needed.Since posting this review I did install a self closing louver to keep rain out. The fan is powerful enough to push open the louvers, so I am still satisfied.

I have this setup in my 10x12 greenhouse. I emailed the seller and requested the thermostat that turns the fan on at 85F degrees. Seems to move air pretty well and keeps things ventilated and a bit cooler than without it. I've done some testing and it appears to keep things about 10 degrees cooler while running. Fairly easy to install. I put it on a piece of plywood and built some bracing to set onto a pole that I put into the ground.The unit does make some noise, but it is a fan. I can hear it from about 30 meters away in full sun. The neighbors haven't said anything so it must not be too annoying. It ramps up and down depending on the availability of the sun.Works well in my application because my greenhouse doesn't really heat up too much unless there is sun. This was the perfect addition to my greenhouse that didn't require me to run power or visit the greenhouse everyday to open vents.I don't know if I would use one for an attic as I would want it to run during the night to cool the solar mass of my attic. It would be better than nothing if you were concerned about attic heat though.

I built a frame with welded wire to make it look great and keep critters out. My house is noticeably cooler and my ac doesn't work as hard. Its been cranking away for the month and I'm anxious to see my reduced bill for this horribly hot Florida summer months.It would be 5 star but the motor shuts off with the slightest cloud. The panel puts out tons of power at this point which made me think it was an issue but I'm just assuming it's the capacity of the motor along with the type of panel (all speculation) but when it's going it's like a flame throwing jet engine taking all the heat from my attic.Unlike other comments, it's not noisy. I don't hear it in my house and it's right above my room.For the price I'm going to buy another for my work shed and my work trailer!

I needed to create air flow in my garage attic and went with this fan as the solution.It is performing better than expected. I'm guessing the temperature in that attic is at least 20 degrees cooler now if not more. Even though it is a relatively small fan (12") it seems to do the job needed.The solar panel itself seems pretty solid. This is my first solar project and I did notice that even with the shadow from my hand crossing the panel the fan would slow down. As long as there is enough sunlight hitting it, the flow of power is good.I did two modifications while installing:1: I created a 'rain shield' for the fan itself. Just in an effort to prevent any rain from coming in through the opening. Just took some sheet metal, bent it over the top of the unit and bent some tabs to connect it through the tabs on the fan itself.2: I shortened the length of the wire provided to connect the fan to the solar panel itself. I believe it was 15 feet in length but I only needed about 3 feet. The fan seems way stronger after shortening that line.Only real complaint I can offer is that the way the wire connects to the solar panel is less than ideal. The line attached to the panel is sturdy and has proper connectors. However, the line that you run from the panel to the fan is just very thin wire with crimp connectors at the ends. Those connectors could have been far more robust to connect to the panel and would seemingly be much better sealed against the weather.The one, somewhat related, item is that Amazon suggested the these louvers: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001E6DMEK?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_detailsDo *NOT* do that. The fan does not have the power to open those louvers.