Wiring a e-fan
 

I purchased a electric fan and a relay to run it with the ignition. I need to know what wire(s) to hook the relay up to. Any help would be great.

Car is a 88 TII.

bump, anyone

also go to kevins site. i hooked mine up yesterday and love it. also on the back of the relay it tells you what does what on the relay.

Yeah I seen that but I wanted to find out what wires to splice into.

Kevin's writeup is pretty simple.

http://rotaryresurrection.com/rotary...ectricfan.html

yeah with his you dont splice into any

save yourself a lot of problems and buy a universal electric fan control kit, comes with temp sensor, relay and wire w/ connectors for under 20 bucks with tax.

kragen and autozone have them.

then, to add a saftey feature, buy an inline fuse for 2.50, should come with a fuse in it, look for a 20 amp.

problem with these is they fail, they fail and you're motor goes POP!

Kevin's walkthrough gives simple instructions for wiring a low amp draw constant fan-on operation that should never fail. the weakest link in the circuit is the relay.

the fan could fail too...

edit: is this a fact that they fail? should i take mine off and have the fan run constantly???

i swear, there's never an easy way..

and kevins way isnt to hard... the hardest thing in the who install is getting the fan and shroud out with the battery box and radiator hoses still attatched. the wiring takes a who 5 min to do.

if you are just wiring a e-fan on all the time. you are better off just keeping the stock one... you are gaining no power, losing cooling and relibility.

um i didnt loose any cooling. my car actually runs slightly cooler now. and the reason i did it is it makes it easier to work on the engine.

Scott's right, it's pointless to run the fan all the time. The engine will run cooler than it's supposed to, the fan will be drawing more power from the engine than the stock clutch fan, you'll be putting a lot of extra strain on the charging system and you'll significantly shorten the lifespan of the fan (not good if it's already 5-10yo). Buy a quality temp switch and wire it up properly and you'll be fine. Buy cheap shit and you won't...

http://www.teamfc3s.org/forum/attach...chmentid=24850

The manual switch and run light are optional, but advisable.

if you have a haltech, you can use it as a thermostat. just hook the relay up and set you temp in the e6k :)

I told myself I was going to wire it nz's way. I Know there is a big debate on this issue but it just seems worse on a fan/charging system/cooling system to have a fan run constantly. Nz's diagram is easy to fallow and with the light and the manual switch how can you go wrong??

most people who use e-fans are strip or track drivers with higher output engines, this is the only reason you should need an e-fan, or if you absolutely need the extra room, i am going to need the space because of where i am going to mount my FMIC. my point is it is always a tradeoff, your alternator causes more drag on the engine losing power but the manual fan also causes drag so it is basically a cancel out. using a thermistor to set the temp for fan on can fail and blow your engine or you can leave it on full time both have repercussions.

and not everyone has an E6K...

try looking at it from all perspectives.

i prefer to post the more reliable methods though they may not be as performance minded they are less likely to fail, i think Kevin thinks the same way.

well the cool thing with the light and the manual switch is that if for some reason the temp switch fails and you notice your temps rising and your fan light is not on, all you have to do is flip the manual switch until you get another temp switch.

well either way i think you would see your temp guage rising if something went wrong. i liked kevins way because 1) its easy as cake 2) less things to buy 3) only 2 components that could fail 4) if the key is in the ON possision the fan is on if its not the fan is off. i dont know you but i dont keep my key in the ON possition unless its running and if i had to hit a switch im sure id forget to either turn it on or off sometimes. i know this because i did the driving light mod from aaron cakes site and forgot to turn it off one day when i went to work. knowing that i do that i rarely use it.

Jason's diagram is the best way.
I'd only add one optional change - maybe use a circuit breaker instead of a fuse.

"More" reliable is relative. I've installed several thermostatically controlled e-fans and never once had a problem. All were still running many years after I installed them. I'm sure there are plenty of others who've had experiences similar to mine. Have you used any yourself? How many failed? If you expect them to fail (and it sounds like you do) perhaps you need to spend a little more money on them.

And you wouldn't be the first. An electric fan on a street car should never be run from just a manual switch. The cooling system is too critical to be anything but completely automatic in operation, particularly on a rotary.

Did you not read the bit where Aaron recommended an ignition-switched relay to avoid this problem? Something like that is so simple to do, and can save you a lot of hassle.

It seems so many people around here look for the cheap and easy way to do things, instead of considering the bigger picture. Usually reliability is thrown in as an excuse, but that should only be an issue if you buy shitty products. Do it once, do it right.

there was something in there about a relay? when i read it, a year ago, i dont remember reading anything about a relay....

http://www.aaroncake.net/RX-7/lights.htm

"Method 2: Connect the wire though a relay. The wire will be connected to ground, with a relay in series with that connection. The relay can then be activated by a +12V signal. That signal can come from the accessory line, or ignition line. This provides automatic control of the lights..."