Home > Consumer Reviews > Sunsei 70440 Solar Vent Stainless Steel Day/Night Solar Powered Vent

We bought two of these to replace Nicro Day & Night Solar vents in our liveaboard cruising sailboat, a Tayana 37. They move significantly more air and seem to be more sturdily built. I like that they have NiMH rechargeable batteries, instead of Ni-Cads -- they should provide much better service.

HOWEVER, the installation instructions are very poor, as is the installation system in general. Despite the fact that they are labeled as "marine" it seems that the engineers have never actually tried to install them in a boat. First, if your mounting surface is more than 1" thick, the supplied bolts are too short. Second, I dare anyone to drill six holes perfectly vertically so that the bolts will pass through a pre-drilled "backing plate" (more on this later), through the deck and line up with the tapped holes in the vent itself. Third, all that's keeping the vent against the waterproof gasket is the force supplied by a 1/16" edge of ABS plastic against the inside of your cabin (imagine if your housing breaks -- how much water could come in through the 4-3/4" hole if you took a wave?). Fourth, the instructions tell you to use 3M 5200 as a sealant (although they never say where to use it) -- the truth is that 5200 itself says that it is incompatible with ABS (use marine-grade silicone instead). Fifth, the hole size and screw drill size are both incorrect in the instructions -- the hole needs to be at least 4-3/4" (not 4-1/2") and the screws are 3/16" (not 3/8"). If you need to buy longer machine screws to go through a thicker deck, note that they are FINE-THREAD (something that can be impossible to find in stainless steel if you are outside the US).

Two issues with the batteries. The ones that were included (with both vents) refused to charge. One set would charge with a regular battery charger; one would not take a charge from any source. This wasn't a major problem for us as I have lots of AA NiMH batteries on hand for other things. But if you don't, the vents would only work during sunny times. Second, the batteries are in a little compartment that is secured with two TINY (eyeglass size) screws -- if you have to change the batteries once the vent is mounted, it's going to be lots of fun to get the screws in correctly -- upside down, overhead -- without stripping or losing them (even with the longer life of a NiMH, I know we'll have to replace them sometime).

The interior "trim ring" (which also serves as a backing plate -- but note that it is bowl-shaped so that only the edge of it goes against the ceiling) is 10-1/2" in diameter -- HUGE! However, you can do without it (use washers on the screws and make your own smaller trim plate).

We finally ended up mounting the vents on the coach house roof just with marine-grade silicone. For our coastal cruising, we think they'll be sufficiently waterproof. If we were heading offshore into potential large seas, I'd want them bolted in.

All that said, they move a lot more air than the previous solar vents we had and thus we're overall happy with them.

This is a very good product and far exceeded my expectations - however. The installation instructions are misleading in that if you cut a round hole, it needs to be at least 4 3/4" in diameter for the inside trim plate to be installed. The instructions call for a 4 1/2' hole that just won't work. Other than that - no problems.

This was a no-brainer to install and is so far working fine. The only gripe I have is that the motor and fan unit is a little more loose in the mounting tube then I'd like. If I accidently bash it with my head it tends to slip, which causes the blades to hit the sides of the mounting tube. The suck/blow/on/off switch is very accessible and the unit is built solid and is as attractive as an ugly aluminum fan housing can be.

I bought this Stainless steel solar vent for my dad's boat around August 2008. When it came, the internal fan motor was out of balance, so it was making noise unless you hold/mount it at a certain angle. Since I did not have time to send it back and wait for replacement, I decided to go with it and mounted it on my dad's boat by carefully adjusting the angle of it so it worked without making noise.
But after 4 months, it simply stopped working. For 120 something dollars, it should be much more sturdy.

Also the manual is horrible. For the battery installation/replacement, remove the led light and you will see a thin white foam sheet cover. Remove that, and you will see two tiny screws. You have to remove them and then you can remove the battery cover. Even though I am a very technical person, it took me a long while to figure that out since my manual only said to use a dime to open it through a small notch.

Anyway, if you really need a powered went, this is best looking one but build quality is not very good. Now I have to remove it from the boat and have to install a porthole window to cover the 10" opening.

I will update this comment once I contact and get further info about the warranty process, if there is any.

They must have listned because the instructions are now detailed as to where the batteries go. Unfortunatley I had bad batteries when it arrived and the trouble shooting details had instructed me to go and buy new ones. It didnt fit into my hatch so I sold it at a discount to a friend who could use it and go get new NiMh batteries. It's a pain to send stuff back!