thermostat control unit question

[haze]

after installing my griffin pro series radiator today i found to my dismay my mechanical fan no longer fits and decided this would be a grand opportunity to go with an electric set up and my question is with those thermostat control kits such as the haydens found at Oreilly's for around 30-40 bucks. after a little bit of digging i found a few reviews that state these things will pull a small but steady amount of power from your battery when the car is off. has anybody had these issues and/or found a solution to this potential problem? i am not trying to jump my car every time i dont drive it for a few days. second does anybody want to weigh in the the adjustable thermostats vs. the set ones? i live in austin tx so most of the time its just really f-ing hot with too much traffic so a good cooling system that disperses alot of heat quickly is a must however occasionally it does get cold and i was thinking with an adjustable thermostat i could set the temp range higher on those cold days to get better heat in the cab.

[yello620]

I recently dealt with this same decision of purchasing a fan controler. I considered(and tried) a switch style sending unit with a fixed 200* temp setting. I found it to not work anywhere close to my satisfaction. But that it was due to its mounting locating being unacceptable.

 

So, in my search for an adjustable unit i found the common units with the capilary tube that you stuff into the radiator fins. I didnt try this option as i refuse to use that design. The capilary tube stuffed into the radiator fins is horribly tacky looking and then the adjustment unit itself is tacky also, it needs a designed "box" to make the finished product look decent. Purely asthetic at that point.

 

I settled on a product from Centech wiring. This Unit is fully adjustable, comes in a appealing "box" that looks finished, and it uses a sending unit that screws into a 1/4" pipe thread hole in the cooling system. Perfect.

http://www.centechwire.com/catalog/accessories/fc2p.shtml

 

There is three models of this unit, I used the one for a mechanical guage. The difference in the mechanical kit to the electric guage kit is the addition of a sending unit for the controler. The electric guage kit is designed to get its sending unit signal from your existing temp guage sending unit that goes to your guage. as i dont know how the Japanese(datsun) sending unit works for sure(grounding unit), i just got the kit that included a sending unit and was designed to work correctly with the controller. This controller also has a couple extra features that you can read about on the their website. Like manually switched override to turn the fan on.

 

 

This unit has been installed for about two months now and is working perfectly. One advantage of an adjustable controller is that you can adjust your fan ON points for different temperature thermostats. But once it is adjusted properly, you should not be needing to mess with it.

 

Highly recommended product.

 

Before my purchase i called Centech with a couple of questions and the company owner actually answered the phone in one ring and he was able to answer all of my questions without even putting me on hold. Thats customer service.

 

I am very aware that this kit cost more money, but i beleive it was money well spent.

[.sunlover]

You're only adjusting the temperature of the radiator. your (engine mt) thermostat controls the running temperature. I haven't got a thermostatic switch for my electric fan yet (just on when the truck is), but i'd say just wire it to your ignition switch so it doesn't have power when your truck is off. some will say that it's good to have the fan run until the radiator temperature is below the shutoff point, but when the engine's off, it's not circulating the coolant to the engine anyway, so how can that help anything? I upgraded to a 110 amp gm alternator to run mine full time, that's an option too, but my big alternator has been a pain in my ass since day 1. if you want to do that, i'd vote you get a direct fit like saturn or newer nissan, not a big dumb gm that hangs on an adapter bracket that allows a tiny bit of bolt breaking flex.

[haze]

sunlover correct me if i am wrong but when the thermostat valve is closed water isnt running through the system and a therm valve set at a higher temp would just leave the water boiling and not moving in the engine longer which means that hot water wouldnt be running through the little heater rad. i know that driving cools the engine without the fan i was only thinking that if the fan turned on at a higher temp hotter water would run through that little heater. i really like that idea of running power from the starter, i am pretty much retarded when it comes to running power but have been blessed with an electrical engineer friend that is going to help me wire up my little booger when i get done bolting stuff down

 

yellow 620, i am a bitch for beauty myself and really like what you just showed me however i may be forced to delve into the cheaper (and uglier) options for a little while because i really miss driving my truck and have enough setbacks as is but that web page is saved and in my "perfect world list"

[.sunlover]

maybe i'm not understanding what you're talking about. An electric fan just needs a thermostatic "switch" set to go on at 180 in your case and off at 170, no replacement of the factory thermostat, just another temperature gauge that turns the fan on and off. You can hook the switch up to any fuse that only has power when the ignition is on. If you hooked it to the starter or any always powered fuse, it would have power to the thermo switch as long as your battery had juice. That would let it run on after you shut your truck off, and it would shut itself off when the temp came down. If you want more heat in your cab, the best way is a higher powered fan. Meh, I put in an a/c mini dayton blower FTW :) plugged it in to a harbor freight power inverter. More heat by blowing more air through the heater core.

[DanielC]

If you go with an electric fan, you need to put the sensor that turns on the fan on the engine, ideally below the thermostat. There is a reason the engine coolant sender is located there.

 

The stock 521 fuse box does not really have the capacity to run an electric fan. You need to run an extra power wire for the fan fused, and through a relay.

[yello620]

Haze, keep in mind(And your electrical engineer friend should already know) that an electric fan MUST be wired via a relay. I am sure there are people that have done it without, but done properly it will have a relay and a fuse should be a no brainer.

 

You also might look into the cheaper kits too, most i looked at didnt come with the relay stuff. So the cheap kit and a relay kit was going to cost $40-50, and the nice kit was $80 and the relay is an internal part of the "box".

 

Good Luck

[Jester]

I vote for just wiring it to the ignition so it is on when the truck is running for now. Start saving for the controller that Yello posted the link for. $80 seems pretty cheap for a controller that is fully adjustable, comes with an actual sensor and has a built in relay for your wiring needs.

Just my $.02

[DanielC]

"I vote for just wiring it to the ignition so it is on when the truck is running for now. "

 

Do not do this without using a relay to control the current going to the fan motor. The stock 521 fuse box and the ignition switch cannot handle the electrical load. The stock 521 fusebox can barely handle stock headlights.

[haze]

well after this little discussion i have come to the conclusion that the most aesthetically appealing while simultaneously affordable and dependable solution is to just get a damn flex fan. so i bought this http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CN4Y7K/ref=oh_o00_s00_i00_details

33 bucks and it flattens out at high rpms to save gas and power and i am fairly confident the thing will fit (the original just barely rubs against the new radiator fins and these flex fans are considerably thinner).

 

i do want to go electric eventually but it just seems to me to do this thing right and have it look good i have to spend spend between one and two bills easy and in the mean time i have a truck that isnt moving so i guess its just going to be one more thing for my rainy day fund

[MikeRL411]

well after this little discussion i have come to the conclusion that the most aesthetically appealing while simultaneously affordable and dependable solution is to just get a damn flex fan. so i bought this http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CN4Y7K/ref=oh_o00_s00_i00_details

33 bucks and it flattens out at high rpms to save gas and power and i am fairly confident the thing will fit (the original just barely rubs against the new radiator fins and these flex fans are considerably thinner).

 

i do want to go electric eventually but it just seems to me to do this thing right and have it look good i have to spend spend between one and two bills easy and in the mean time i have a truck that isnt moving so i guess its just going to be one more thing for my rainy day fund

Good choice for now. After a year, start checking the flex vanes at the root. They will eventually develop fatigue cracks and the weakest vane will start to separate. Mother Nature and Murphey's Law dictate that it will separate just enough to shred a good portion of your new radiator.

[haze]

cracks in about a year that can potentially shred a radiator. well that is a little bit disheartening but thanx for the warning. i suppose its prolly not a bad thing to have a spare in the truck