Yeah thats what Im talking about. The relay size depends on the current draw of the fans. If they work with the 30A fuse then a 30A relay is required.
This one is 20A so a bigger version is required, but it gives you an idea.
And for those that have limited electrical knowledge, terrans diagram shows the fans in parallel. Series would have the neg of the first fan attached to the positive of the second. Parallel would bring the speed of each fan up but also raise the total circuit current draw.
Yeah i forgot the fuse in there cause i'm cool like that, that's living on the wild side. Although in theory your fuse would be where the ING. On area is, and you'd have another one before the relay.
seems like a good plan, but i would probably just leave the toggle on at all times, unless it's not run off of the ignition on circuit, because if it's tapping power straight from the battery, or another terminal that is independant of the ignition, it would have to be turned on and off each time you start the car, but why would you not want to have a fan running? just when you're cruising at high speeds?
An electric fan in a car is not on all the time. It turns on when the coolant temperature goes up to a certain point and turns off when it has cooled down to a certain point (some turn on at 208* and off at around 180-ish*). Also, they turn on usually when the car is stationary or travelling at slow speed.
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"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist".
A friend of mine got some Stanza fans from a junkyard for 25 some odd dollars, so that's another option. He also got this relay from Autozone that you sitck in your radiator and it turns the fans on at whatever temperature he sets it at. He spent like $50 on the whole thing and it cools his redtop fine. Unfortunately, I don't know specifically what the relay was called.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zen31ZR
Kinda like speed-limit signs, it's merely a suggestion.
How bad of a safety issue is it with the way I'm running the fans? That's what I'd like answered from you wiring gurus.
How good's your memory? Seriously though, you don't really want to be overcooling or undercooling your engine, in the long run it's cheaper to wire them correctly and not have to worry about it. That highvoltages switch is fairly dangerous, i knew a kid who had some POS wal-fart fogs that were wireed like that, and the switch melted to his dash one night. Same reason they don't put Ammeters in cars anymore, too much voltage in one place. That and it's going ot be a real pain to have to think about those fans every single time you turn your car on.
Terran's right about overcooling and undercooling the engine, plus the constant high amp draw is whats dangerous. I'm going to hook you up though and show you a safer way. All you need is what you've used your old harness from your stock electric single fan, a 30amp relay, some wire connectors for the relay, and a test light.
1st unwire the fans
2nd cut the harness from the old fan and crimp or solder the wires to the battery side fan.
3rd connect the old harnesses back together and now that fan only turns on when the A/C is on.
4th Now to wire the relay. With your test light find a wire that is hot when the ignition is on and not on when it's not. I would look under the dash. Clip a wire on to that to run to the relay # 85
5th Disconnect the negative battery cable, we won't need anynore power till the end.
6th Find a good spot between the battery and the hot (ignition on) wire to mount your relay
7th Run a ground wire from #86 to ground.
8th You run your 30amp in line fuse wire to the relay from the battery to #30 on the relay
9th you run the power wire from the other fan to #87 on the relay
10th You ground that fans ground wire.
Now reconnect your battery and turn the ignition key on. You should hear and see only the driver side fan running. Then turn on your A/C and see if the other fan turns on as well. This is all you need and works great!
Keep it clean and keep it smart.
Last edited by ittamaticstatic : Dec 3rd, 2005 at 01:47 PM.
How good's your memory? Seriously though, you don't really want to be overcooling or undercooling your engine, in the long run it's cheaper to wire them correctly and not have to worry about it. That highvoltages switch is fairly dangerous, i knew a kid who had some POS wal-fart fogs that were wireed like that, and the switch melted to his dash one night. Same reason they don't put Ammeters in cars anymore, too much voltage in one place. That and it's going ot be a real pain to have to think about those fans every single time you turn your car on.
Thanks for your concern Terran. So far, I haven't forgotten to switch the fan on when deemed necessary. It's in the 20* F - 30* F temperature-range outside, which should more than keep the car around normal operating temperature. Right now, the only time I turn the fans on is when I'm sitting at a red light. Other than that, they stay off.
ittamaticstatic, therein lies the problem. The A/C doesn't work. If it did, I'd have gone that route already. I didn't do this without asking others around how they did it. And this is just a preliminary setup. During the spring, I'll be overhauling the whole engine bay. Instead of this kind of setup, I'll be going with a sensor (of sorts), that'll turn on the fans based on the temperature of the coolant. It'll turn on the fans at say 205*, and turn them off at around 180*. These sensors come with different sensitivities, depending on your needs. And I'll do the same thing as I did with the setup I already have, i.e., use a 30-amp fuse to keep it from burning the fan motors. So I'll be taking that route eventually.
This write-up was not really meant for someone to use as a permanent setup. My stock fan had taken a crap, and I needed a cooling solution ASAP, so this was the best available option for me at the moment. I'll sticky this just in case someone needs to have a primitive setup just to start with (but not use as a permanent option), and also to show credit to ittamaticstatic's post on one of the ways of doing in correctly.
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"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist".
-The Usual Suspects
Last edited by Harris : Jan 10th, 2006 at 08:17 PM.
Thanks for your concern Terran. So far, I haven't forgotten to switch the fan on when deemed necessary. It's in the 20* F - 30* F temperature-wise outside, which should more than keep the car around normal operating temperature. Right now, the only time I turn the fans on is when I'm sitting at a red light. Other than that, they stay off.
ittamaticstatic, therein lies the problem. The A/C doesn't work. If it did, I'd have gone that route already. I didn't do this without asking others around how they did it. And this is just a preliminary setup. During the spring, I'll be overhauling the whole engine bay. Instead of this kind of setup, I'll be going with a sensor (of sorts), that'll turn on the fans based on the temperature of the coolant. It'll turn on the fans at say 205*, and turn them off at around 180*. These sensors come with different sensitivities, depending on your needs. And I'll do the same thing as I did with the setup I already have, i.e., use a 30-amp fuse to keep it from burning the fan motors. So I'll be taking that route eventually.
This write-up was not really meant for someone to use as a permanent setup. My stock fan had taken a crap, and I needed a cooling solution ASAP, so this was the best available option for me at the moment. I'll sticky this just in case someone needs to have a primitive setup just to start with (but not use as a permanent option), and also to show credit to ittamaticstatic's post on one of the ways of doing in correctly.
As long as people are aware that it is not a perminant solution. The temp guages in the car arn't accuate enough to really tell you when to switch them on and off and it can do bad things to your motor in short order.
I've actually heard of people with the stock KA running no fan and they didn't have any problems with overheating unless they left the car just sitting there.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zen31ZR
Kinda like speed-limit signs, it's merely a suggestion.
I actually meant to PM you about a detailed parts list but it seems your system was flawed. So I replied with the hopes that someone would compile a definitive solution to the installation. Unfortunately, it seems from the dozen other electrical fan posts that this is a matter of preference. Great sticky though!
Parts ex.
1X 20 Amp #SWS-MAX20
3 ft. 18 gauge blue electrical wire
4X electrical butt connectors #SUM-890057
etc, etc.
A 30amp relay, 30amp fuse and 10 Gauge wire at least. A 40amp relay, 40amp fuse and 8 gauge wire would be ideal. I recommend soldering the wires and only using connectors on the relay.
Also if you get the chance stop by your local junkyard and grab some nissan relays. I did and it cleans it up even more.
I want to thank everyone for this sticky, it inspired me to try a electric fan set-up on Rusty. I did things a bit different though. I got some electric fans out of a 91 Sentra (GXE?) which came out in two separate fans/shrouds. They both fit the KA radiator with ease. The fan motors had 4 wires: blue, black, green, yellow. I used the blue for power and black as ground.
The fan (Main) nearest to the drivers side, had the power wire mushed into the fuel pump fuse and the ground wire bolted to the headlight ground.
The fan (Aux) nearest the passenger side was butt connected into what used to be my A/C?? fan plug. It was a plug that attached to my old secondary fan on the radiator. It had a brown/white wire and black wire. I spliced the black with the black and the brown/white with the blue. I assume that the black wire was ground and the brown/white was power.
After many hours and many snapped bolts, 2 total thats why its called Rusty, I turned the ignition on first. Bam! the main fan started right up. I let the car idle till it reached half way on the water temp. The aux fan hasn't come on yet so it makes me wonder if I wired it right. I turned on the A/C to see if it would but nada. I figure it the main fan is doing its job well for now.
I have yet to drive the car so we'll see how it holds up. Later this week I'm installing some gauges so we'll see what kind of temps the fans hold. I'll say this, removing that clutch fan actually lets you see your engine. Thanks for the write up guys.
Parts:
two 91 Sentra fans
long black zip ties 30 pack
8 meter 10ga wire (red)
1 assortment pack full of solderless connectors(8-22ga)
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