Scorpio-N - 3rd Row Air Circulation Hack

Scorpio-N - 3rd Row Air Circulation Hack


The Air Conditioning on the Scorpio-N is one of the best out there. 

However, the 3rd row of the Scorpio-N lacks dedicated AC vents and this can sometimes cause discomfort for brief periods to the 3rd row occupants. Also, the 2nd row AC is extremely powerful and to add to this, the 2nd row AC vents are located in the center. This arrangement can cause the person sitting in the middle to have their legs (and their eggs!) freeze up. 

To overcome this minor discomfort, my initial thought was to install actual AC vents in the 3rd row. Many car owners have done this hack in their sedans for the 2nd row for vehicles that did not come with 2nd row AC vents. There are many videos out there explaining how to do this (they do this by connecting a tube from the 1st row AC vents near the foot, snake it through the gear/handbrake box and get it out of the 2nd row central console). 

After thinking through the possibility of doing the same hack for the 3rd row of the Scorpio-N, sense prevailed and I ended up with a reasonably easier solution with portable USB fans that ended up really well! 

The best part is, you can turn the fans to cool the 2nd row passengers too! 

Total expense: < 3K INR








Video:

https://youtu.be/QGtfOcyRuqE


Accessories:

  • Baseus Car Fan (USB) (official link, amazon link) :  This is one of the best car fans out there. Its super silent, super sleek and is powered via USB. Getting this in India is a bit tricky but there are plenty of websites that sell this at about 1k - 2k per piece. I chose this because it has a foldable hinge plate which opens 90 degrees. This foldable hinge plate came in very handy for installation and rotation as mentioned later in this blog. 
       
  • Velcro strips : Easily available on Amazon (link). These are needed to create friction that allows the fan to be rotated as per need but also prevents it from freely rotating. Note that Velcro is not used to fix the fan to the panel. 
  • Wall Hooks : These hooks are a crucial part of the installation. These hooks are easily available on Amazon (link) and we need just 2 of them. They allow for seamless rotation of the fan. They also stick to the plastic of the Scorpio-N with strong adhesion and no other adhesive is needed. 


  • USB Extension Cables: The Baseus Car Fans come with long cables, but they are not long enough to go till the rear 12V socket of the Scorpio-N. One can power these fans using Power Banks if needed as well, but I decided to power them via the 12V socket at the rear of the Scorpio-N
  • 12V Car Charger Extension Box: I already had this purchased from Amazon (link) previously. I just had to connect both the fans to this. 


Installation:

Step 1 : Cut the hinge plate of the Baseus fan using a hacksaw blade as shown in the image below. You will not need the part that gets detached from the fan after cutting the hinge plate. If you do not cut the length of the hinge plate as shown in the image below, the fan will protrude a bit from the window area into the seating area. 



Step 2: Install the Wall Hook on the Panel as shown in the image below. The adhesion is pretty strong and no other adhesive should be needed. Use your judgement on where to place this, its pretty easy to get the judgement if you temporarily place the fan on the hook while doing this and check how it rotates.  You may want to do Step 3 along with Step 2 to decide where to stick the Wall Hook.






Step 3 : Make a small hole at the bottom of the hinge plate of the fan as shown in the image below. This will allow the Wall Hook nut to hold the fan and also allow the fan to rotate on this axis. 




Step 4: Apply some Velcro to the top of the Wall Hook and apply the same Velcro to the bottom of the Fan hinge plate. Note that we do not want the Velcros to stick to each other! We just need the Velcros to introduce some friction to prevent free rotation. That means both the Velcro strips applied to the top of the Wall Hook and to the bottom of the fan hinge plate are of the same "type" (either use the 'Hook' sides or 'Loop' sides of the Velcro tape for sticking at both the places so that they don't stick to each other). 

Note : The Velcros also prevent unwanted rattling sound when the vehicles shakes, so don't miss this step. 



Step 5 : Fix the fan, add some washers and tighten the nut of the Wall Hook. Apply some Lock-Tight if you want to secure the nut, but this is not mandatory. Use a black marker pen to black out the nut and any other pieces. 




Step 6 : Push the USB cables along the lining of the 3rd row window and get it to the place from where you are planning to power them. You can power them with 2 small power banks if that's easier (you can keep those power banks in the 3rd row phone sockets). I decided to power them using my 3rd row 12 V socket and an extension box as mentioned earlier. 






Step 7 : That's it! Let your 3rd passengers or your 2nd row passengers enjoy the cool breeze without breaking a sweat! 




Is it worth it?

Absolutely! These fans from Baseus are very silent and have a strong throw as well. They have 3 speeds you can choose from. The best part is, you can turn the fans to cool the 2nd row passengers as well! 

For a total expense of <3K, this is a fantastic Jugaad. 















Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
Scorpio-N Tire Options & Experience with Yokohama Geolandar A/T With 35K kms done on the stock MRF tires of my Scorpio N, I was on the lookout for a worthy change. I have a first batch  Z8L, AT, D, 4XPLOR model from Aug 2022.  I put out a Survey to understand what tires ScorpioN owners chose, how much they paid and their experience with the new tires. You can take this survey here (you can take the survey even if you not changed your tired and just want to see the results) :  Survey Link As of March 2025, this survey has got about 45+ responses and 20+ of those responses were from owners who have changed their tires. Below is the split of what ScorpioN owners chose for their N's.  From the responses, these 3 brands had an almost equal split Apollo Apterra AT2 CEAT Crossdrive AT Yokohama Geolandar A/T With the Survey data in my pocket, I finalized on Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015 . I felt it was worth the risk based on online and offline reviews of these tires plus ...
Read more

Fraudulent practices by Servify for Samsung Corporate Purchases

Image
Fraudulent practices by Servify for Purchases done via the Samsung Corporate Program This blog highlights how Servify , the company that provides Warranty/Insurance for Samsung products resorts to malpractices and fraudulent tricks with customers to avoid registering warranties for legit purchases from Samsung Corporate website.  Context:  The Samsung Corporate program allows Corporate customers to purchase devices at competitive prices. The Samsung Corporate  website has a good number of deals which offer devices at discounted prices for Corporates.  https://www.samsung.com/in/multistore/corporate/ Recently, I purchased a Samsung S24 Ultra directly from the Samsung Corporate website.  During purchase, the website clearly mentioned that the AD & LD Warranty (Accidental Damage & Liquid Damage) is provided Complementary with all such purchases. The AD & LD Warranty provides coverage for 1 year against Accidental Screen Damage & Liquid Damage. ...
Read more