daten

I just bought a Flex-a-lite Black Magic 150 electric fan from SpeedUnlimited.

I spent the day making a custom mounting kit with various bolts and washers from the local hardware store. I got the fan installed and wired up exactly as the instructions say.

The problem is I can't get the fan to power on. I tried the thermostat control on the fan (probe is mounted in radiator as explained in instructions) and wired up a manual switch. Even when the +12v leads are run directly to the battery I get nothing from the fan.

I read the installation instructions countless times and double checked all the wires with a multimeter. I can't find what I'm missing, and it looks to me like the unit is D.O.A. from the store.

My question is for anyone in the forum who has installed one of these fans, is there something special I need to know about wiring it up? It would be nice if I'm just missing something but I've followed the instructions and everything looks perfect to me.

The store said they would replace it after I call Flex-a-lite and trouble shoot it with their techs. Unfortunately Flex-a-lite's hours are until 5pm and it's 7:30pm here now. I waited on hold for a while just in case but never got to a real person. So I can't go about getting it replaced until at least tomorrow evening after work (no idea how I'm going to troubleshoot anything when I'm at work during flex's open hours...).

J-Rat

iTrader: (2)

Try this:

Run the positive and negative as normal, but put an additinal 12 VDC on the manual blade. Fan should spin. Reason I post this is because the Temp probe is a 180 and up probe, and if your radiator is dead cold, the temp probe wont turn the fan on.

daten

Yeah, I tried that. After the thermostat control didn't make it kick in I wired it to the switch I used on my previous electric fan, got nothing. Then I ran a line directly from the battery + to the manual control lead and still nothing.

The blades and/or fan motor isn't "stuck" either. The blades will rotate if you push them.

In the case of my previous fan that died this weekend, a peice of the motor broke and locked up the whole thing, it wouldn't turn at all. I took it apart and found the destroyed contents of the motor, much of it melted together.

J-Rat

iTrader: (2)

Did you voltmeter everything? Sounds like you may have a bad ground.

daten

It's the same ground the previous one used, a bolt to the car frame right by the radiator. How can I verify that with the voltmeter? (I just bought the meter today to troubleshoot this)

J-Rat

iTrader: (2)

Whoo... This could be a tad difficult, but here goes:

you want to set your voltmeter to DC Volts. If it doesnt have the word DC, it will have a symbol that looks like this:

...
__

Or something like that. You need to put one lead on the 12 volt positive wire going to your fan (It can be hooked up), and the car needs to be powered up. Then you put the other lead on the ground, either at the fan, or at the ground bolt. You MUST see battery voltage there or you have a voltage issue. Be VERY careful, you are messing with LETHAL voltages! If you get a negative voltage reading, all you did was swap the leads around. Doesnt matter to the voltmeter.

daten

You might have it.. I tried that, when I touch the - probe to the lead on my ground wire that would hook the the fan, I get nothing. When I touched it to the bolt that ground wire is hooked to, I got nothing at first.. scraped it on top of the bolt some and it jumped to 12

Time to fix this ground and try the fan again!

J-Rat

iTrader: (2)

Good luck man.

daten

Thanks! It was just a bad ground. I tried to check that earlier too, when the meter didn't move I assumed I was doing it wrong. Turns out it was reading properly and trying to tell me my ground was bad.

Thanks for the help, you saved the day.

J-Rat

iTrader: (2)

damn, I am getting all kinds of internet cookies today!

BoostedRex

J-rat is the man!!!!

Daten, does your manual switch work?? I have the exact same fan. I decided that I would rather buy a generic manual switch instead of the $16 Flex-a-lite switch and it wouldn't work. I'm an electrician by trade so I know all of the wiring was correct. I finally broke down, bought the flex-a-lite switch and plugged it in where the other switch was. I didn't change any wiring, but it worked perfectly. Just wondering if you had any luck with your switch.

Zach

daten

I have an unknown brand switch from autozone, cost a few dollars, nothing close to $16.

Everything is hooked up right now and that switch works fine, the instructions say if it's not a flex-a-lite switch to not hook up the ground on the switch, making it non-illuminated. I didn't try it with the ground yet, so I don't know about that, but with just a +12 to the switch and a lead to the fan's "M" connection it works fine.

The fan also appears to have a short timeout, so if I switch it on manually and off, it continues to run for a short time, maybe 10 seconds.

BoostedRex

Mine doesn't do that. When I turn it off, it stops right then. Maybe I just bought a defective switch when I wired up the fan the first time. Oh well, it cost me $16 for the flex-a-lite fan. More than I wanted to pay, but still not too bad.

Zach

daten

You mean $16 for the switch? (you said fan)

If you got the FAN that cheap when I just paid >$200 ...

BoostedRex

Sorry, yeah $16 for the switch. I got the fan for $182 out the door though. Gotta love the military discount!!

Zach