Electric fans

George Blake

DONATING MEMBER
Welp crap. I've got the "ram chargers type" dual fans with shroud. They melted a temp controller. Replaced that with a 75 amp relay off of a Freightliner and ran a 10 gauge wire with a fuse holder in it. 30 amp fuse......Melted the housing off the fuse holder and the rubber that holds the fuse. But did NOT pop the fuse. Evidently, these things pull some serious ass amps. I'm gonna go to a stereo shop and get one of the big ass fuse setups like these crazy guys do on their stereos and then run a 50 amp fuse(the big blade fuses instead of the mini fuses). These things cool VERY well but really pull amps. I'm gonna have to do the alternator as well. The stock 105 amp alternator just won't do it anymore.
 

4C FED

Absolutum Dominium
Re: Electric fans

I remember when I installed dual SPAL 7" fans on the stock lower CCHE. They would each draw 30 amps on startup then drop to something like 12-15 amps steady state.
 

MRKING

New Parts for Old Trucks
Re: Electric fans

Did you upgrade your grounds when you upsized your power wires ?
 

autoaddictions

Active member
Re: Electric fans

George Blake said:
Welp crap. I've got the "ram chargers type" dual fans with shroud. They melted a temp controller. Replaced that with a 75 amp relay off of a Freightliner and ran a 10 gauge wire with a fuse holder in it. 30 amp fuse......Melted the housing off the fuse holder and the rubber that holds the fuse. But did NOT pop the fuse. Evidently, these things pull some serious ass amps. I'm gonna go to a stereo shop and get one of the big ass fuse setups like these crazy guys do on their stereos and then run a 50 amp fuse(the big blade fuses instead of the mini fuses). These things cool VERY well but really pull amps. I'm gonna have to do the alternator as well. The stock 105 amp alternator just won't do it anymore.
George use two 30/40 bosch relays wired in tandam with 8ga power feed in and out/ take the feed 8ga( there should be 2 now) as close to the motor as you can get and do the same 8ga for ground. use two separate fuse holders with 60 amp fuses directly to battery.
that shoud do it
Relays wire as follows
#87 12 volt (BATT)
#30 to the fan motor power
#85 Ground
#86 IGN. This way fans run when key is on all the time.
If your useing a temp sensor wire it between the #85of the relay and the ground point.
Using the temp sensor inline on the power to the fans will melt fast. Hope this helps!
I do own a stereo shop ya know!!!
 

George Blake

DONATING MEMBER
Re: Electric fans

Make sure I get this right. Run each fan with it's own 30/40 amp bosch relay, 8 gauge wire and 60 amp fuse. Right? Run the 8 gauge wire right up to the fan motor. I'm gonna do this while I put the trans in.
autoaddictions said:
George use two 30/40 bosch relays wired in tandam with 8ga power feed in and out/ take the feed 8ga( there should be 2 now) as close to the motor as you can get and do the same 8ga for ground. use two separate fuse holders with 60 amp fuses directly to battery.
that shoud do it
Relays wire as follows
#87 12 volt (BATT)
#30 to the fan motor power
#85 Ground
#86 IGN. This way fans run when key is on all the time.
If your useing a temp sensor wire it between the #85of the relay and the ground point.
Using the temp sensor inline on the power to the fans will melt fast. Hope this helps!
I do own a stereo shop ya know!!!
 

MAITAI1993

DON'T MAKE ME SLAP YOU.
Re: Electric fans

autoaddictions WTF do you do for a living i need in on that I wants me a ferrari
 

pinellas50

New Guy
Re: Electric fans

Or you could use a real fan controller and get away from melting everything. You will probably put more money into those big relays as you would on a quality controller. Things like your alternator will thank you for it.
 

George Blake

DONATING MEMBER
Re: Electric fans

Big fan controller melted. Those cannot handle the amps this pulls. Max rating of 45 amps and melted. And I'm not buying TWO fan controllers.
 

4C FED

Absolutum Dominium
Re: Electric fans

George Blake said:
Big fan controller melted. Those cannot handle the amps this pulls. Max rating of 45 amps and melted. And I'm not buying TWO fan controllers.

What brand was the fan controller George? I wanna make sure I don't buy that one.;)
 

autoaddictions

Active member
Re: Electric fans

George Blake said:
Big fan controller melted. Those cannot handle the amps this pulls. Max rating of 45 amps and melted. And I'm not buying TWO fan controllers.
George if your running two fans then you'll need 4 relays. 2 for each fan. Make sure to use good 10ga or 8ga wire. Run the feeds coming off of #30 (both of them) right to the motor power input as close as you can. Re ground the motor wires with one 8ga each.Eash relay can support 30a so by doubling the up you share the load 60 amp max each fan thats why you need to run power in and out of both relays fuse them separate in this case you'll need 4- 30 or 40 amp fuses. I can draw you a diagram for two fans if you need it!
 

autoaddictions

Active member
Re: Electric fans

MAITAI1993 said:
autoaddictions WTF do you do for a living i need in on that I wants me a ferrari
I see in your sig. That you are a car audio installer. Well thats how i started out when i was 16. At 21 i saved up enough money and found a silent partner(one of my customers) to open my own shop. I lived at home with mom & dad drove a piece of shit car and never spent any money, only cause i didnt have any to spare. I sunk all the money into the biz. At first i did mostly Car audio and Restyling prouducts. Then i relized That wasnt going to pay the bills forever because of the cars coming with everthing so i diversified into
Tinting, performance work, and basicly anything that i could . I figured out how to install it as i went. It took 6 years of living off of Pop tarts and water to pay my start up loans and buy out my silent partnert,at the tune of 7500 dollars a month. Since then my stores sales have increased at about 8% a year and im very much involved in running it like a well oiled machine. I still get dirty everyday at what ever needs too be done. I dont drink,smoke, do any drugs or invest in anything that isnt going to be a positive. I take my job very serouis and always lookin front for the next opportunity. I didnt go to collage and my parents didnt give me shit, other than a roof over my head and a push in the back.
The thing is being a car audio installer doesnt pay that much 20 to 40 thousand a year.
You have to be in biz for yourself to make any money. An you have to be willing to put all you have into it mentaly,$$$$$,and physicaly or you will fail. If you dont mind working at 10 pm on a friday while your boys are out Fuking and drinkin with some bitches, and are willing to sacrafice time now for your future later. Only then will you get your Ferrari. I dont care what feild your in. Its all the same. If your the kind of guy thats lazey and coast threw
life never being noticed for anything or never the type to take a chance on yourself then you more than welcome to come over my house and ill take you for a ride in my Ferrari. Anything for a SY/TYer. Thats ALL!!!
 

mmp142965

say it like you spell it!
Re: Electric fans

george, the dccontrol controller is 100% variable, which means there is never a huge start up amperage draw. they also have a controller rated up to 60 amps (for 2 fans) i have the 30A for my single fan and it works great. it keeps the engine at a constant temp, so nothing cycles, (gets hot, gets cool - on/off )etc.
 

George Blake

DONATING MEMBER
Re: Electric fans

http://www.flex-a-lite.com/auto/html/vsc.html
They don't even offer the "HD" model anymore. The one I had was rated 20 amps higher and melted. All the components just melted off the board where the connectors push on.
Did away with the controller and just use the fuse holder with the big relay. The fuse holder melted. Then I went with a full size regular fuse in a bigger fuse holder....it melted. NOT blowing fuses, just melting apart.
4C FED said:
What brand was the fan controller George? I wanna make sure I don't buy that one.;)
 

George Blake

DONATING MEMBER
Re: Electric fans

Absolutely. What I plan on doing is activating these relays with the stock CAC pump relay and just reprogram the stock ecm to command fan speed based on road speed and engine temp. Once I get your diagram, I'll redo everything and then show how I did it using your schematic and what I changed in the eprom.
autoaddictions said:
George if your running two fans then you'll need 4 relays. 2 for each fan. Make sure to use good 10ga or 8ga wire. Run the feeds coming off of #30 (both of them) right to the motor power input as close as you can. Re ground the motor wires with one 8ga each.Eash relay can support 30a so by doubling the up you share the load 60 amp max each fan thats why you need to run power in and out of both relays fuse them separate in this case you'll need 4- 30 or 40 amp fuses. I can draw you a diagram for two fans if you need it!
 

autoaddictions

Active member
Re: Electric fans

George Blake said:
Absolutely. What I plan on doing is activating these relays with the stock CAC pump relay and just reprogram the stock ecm to command fan speed based on road speed and engine temp. Once I get your diagram, I'll redo everything and then show how I did it using your schematic and what I changed in the eprom.
Be carfull i too tried to use the CAC pump wire since im running a ATA sert up it didnt wor k all the time . My guess is it didnt have enough umph to throw the relay. I used a pink black of the old egr harness (Its Ignition) Yes they run whenever the key is on. I almost over heated my truck using the CAC wire just check it several times before taking a long drive. Ill draw a diagram and scan it up here for ya !!
 

pinellas50

New Guy
Re: Electric fans

mmp142965 said:
george, the dccontrol controller is 100% variable, which means there is never a huge start up amperage draw. they also have a controller rated up to 60 amps (for 2 fans) i have the 30A for my single fan and it works great. it keeps the engine at a constant temp, so nothing cycles, (gets hot, gets cool - on/off )etc.
Yes. This is a real fan controller. You are getting your big amp draw when the fan powers up to speed. This controller ramps the voltage up to the fan slowly so nothing is melting.

Mustang guys have been using your same fan for years with this controller with no problems. And their alternators last more than 6 months too. I used one on my last vehicle with a Volvo fan and it worked flawlessly.

Just my .02
 
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George Blake

DONATING MEMBER
Re: Electric fans

Unfortunately, this isn't a single fan setup. The Flexalite controller didn't ramp up at startup either and melted shortly thereafter. I'm gonna do Frank's idea and see how I fare. I really appreciate the input though and I'll update this after a few months of using it.
 

James Thomas

"NO CLASS"
Re: Electric fans

Hey George, the DC Controls stuff really is good and I have never had a failure of the fans, controler or alternators. The Flex - A Crap, and 99.9% of the others, well you had one.

_________
James
 
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