Done! Electric fan speed control...I'm not an electrician in any way, shape, or form

[workingonit]

I finished the "fan speed controller project" this afternoon, and sealed the hole in the firewall with Loctite Fireblock Foam (I used Great Stuff Pestblock Foam last time, but couldn't find it at Home Depot). I sorta cleaned up the wiring mess from the original fan install, using silicon tape and spiral wrap, but I need to go back in, as I accidently disabled the underdash fan override switch (which I've never needed in 2.5 years).

I followed my "positively final revision" plan drawing (post #32), installed two terminal blocks (one positive, the other negative; necessary if I need to go back to the original set-up, quickly), used all 20-feet of 12Ga Silicone wire (red & black), and for a change, it worked first-time out.

The fan controller works great (in both directions, so I know that inadvertent direction-switching won't fry the fan). I turned off my A/C entirely, so the engine coolant would rise faster (a cool afternoon), and when the temperature passed 185F, I pushed the rocker to single bar, rotated the potentiometer to 100%, and the fan came to life. I got out, and found that the fan was running backwards, so I stopped it, and flipped it to the double-bar on the rocker, and tried it again. AOK now.

I tried setting the fan to different speeds, just to hear the difference in sound level inside, and decided that 75% is not too loud (100% is, that's the reason for this project), and 50% or less is unnoticeable. 75% immediately lowered the coolant temp, but it was a cool afternoon. Further testing, while driving, will yield a better idea where to set it for different situations.

Right now, I'm leaving it switched-on (double-bar, and at 75%), since it seems not to require being returned to a base setting first (I tested it set this way, a half-dozen times).

I really hate working under the dash on any vehicle nowadays, and I'll be feeling my sore back (and knees) tomorrow, when I get to replace the drive belt and sharpen the blade on our old Dixon 3304 (from 1998). No rest for the wicked, they say.

[wpoll]

Well done for gettin’ it done! Be interesting to see how it performs over the summer....

I’m heading into winter, so cooling isn’t a priority right now!

[X5chemist]

Let's see some!

[workingonit]

Originally Posted by X5chemist

Let's see some!

I thought I was posting too many pics/attachments/charts/drawings in all my posts; looks like I was wrong. In this thread, I've posted many:

• A.) Page 1 has 9 attachments,
• B.) Page 2 has 3,
• C.) Page 3 has 4,
• D.) Page 4 has 4,
• E.) Page 5 has 0...so far

I wasn't completely finished mounting the controller in the front ashtray, nor finished with the engine compartment (need to rewire another system override switch) quite yet, so I didn't take a photo of either area.

Do y'all need a photo of the controller display while functioning? to prove that it's actually working? Geez, no trust?

Ok. will do. I'll fire it up (of course, without the broken override switch replaced yet, it'll have to warm up to 185F before the controller & fan switch on).

[X5chemist]

Ya need a YouTube channel.

Nice work. I thought you would show off your final controller wiring and set up.

[workingonit]

Originally Posted by X5chemist

...Nice work. I thought you would show off your final controller wiring and set up.

I finished yesterday just in time to put away tools and feed my critters (the good kind. not pests). There's more to finish up, but at least it works. My body is too sore from working underdash (before I modified my routing plan) to do more today (I still need a replacement override switch to hook back up). I definitely wasn't going to work on the zero-turn mower today, either.

So, after you persuaded me to, I went outside and took pictures. I'll never be a YouTuber, nor an influencer (maybe a contra-influencer?), nor will I appear on OnlyFans.

[workingonit]

After a tiresome multi-store trip today, we unpacked, cooked, ate, and cleaned-up, so I never had the energy left to finish up my controller installation (I did find two candidates for the override switch, though). So, maybe tomorrow, I'll finish up. Meanwhile, while resting, I thought of this:

I'm sure that my installation of both the aftermarket electric fan, 2.5 years ago, and now the "brushed DC motor speed controller" to regulate the sound level & energy consumption that the fan uses (and perhaps will prolong the fan's lifespan), both are dismaying to the BMW purists among you, but I like to go my own way, automotive-wise.

I've been a mechanical tinkerer since my teens, for better or worse, sometimes improving the function of the device, sometimes destroying it, by making a simple error. When I had the means to try something that might not work out, I did so, but now, on a fixed income, I'm much more cautious...hence, I used a cheap test fan before I hooked my fan speed controller to the big aftermarket electric fan that cools my X5. This time, the testing wasn't needed, but was reassuring.

When I build something or adapt something that actually works!, I will often attach some signage or label to it, to "make it my own" (as-if the crudeness of the way I leave wiring harnesses out in plain sight doesn't scream "workingonit was here"). Well, anyway, I've done that for many years, on several vehicles, devices, and my home-built camping trailer.


I've made references to well-known nonsensical technobabble words, like:

• 1) flux capacitor (dual alternators, batteries, isolators in my '86 S-10...name origin is well-known),
• 2) turbo encabulator (water/ethanol injection in my wife's '85 Chrysler LeBaron Turbo...name origin dates back to the 40's, later on to the 70's when I learned of it),
• 3) retro encabulator (re-labeled the "top shot" nitrous oxide injection in my '66 Chevelle, with a 327ci/11:1 compression engine...name is an obvious tribute to the above),
• 4) thagomizer (label for a baseball bat with multiple long spikes driven thru it...for campground protection against Bigfoot; see Gary Larson cartoons for the name's origin), and
• 5) interocitor (a sign I hang on the onboard generator I use with my trailer, on a swivel/slide-out base...see the 1955 film "This Island Earth"...a favorite of mine...for the name's origin)
  gets the message across, but my friends didn't see the movie

Added later, just so you guys don't think I'm a whiz-bang genius, or otherwise,

• 1) the double alternator idea was just an experiment, and removed within days...the second battery and isolators remained for 10 years,
• 2) the water/ethanol injection kit was found at a big flea market/swap meet, the turbo was failing, so I wasted a few hours & a few bucks, and set it at a low-power setting to see what it could do for the low-compression engine with a failing turbo; the turbo failed almost immediately, and I returned the engine to stock with a rebuilt turbo...nothing ventured, nothing gained,
• 3) the "top shot" nitrous kit (mounted inside the air cleaner over the double-pumper 4-bbl carb) was bought so I could move up in my drag-racing classes, but after a few runs at the end of the season (after my class run was over, just for giggles), I found I liked the power increase and decided to go to a big-block 427, with a transbraked transmission, the next season, so I sold it,
• 4) the spiked mace thagomizer was highly illegal, as my wife pointed out, so I disassembled it without ever trying it on Bigfoot,
• 5) the interocitor sign still remains a part of my camping gear

Along with the Interocitor signage on my trailer, I also have several others, often in German (I call my trailer a little "Stug III",
with fake gun barrel (for fishing gear) on top, it looks like a tank

and made this sign to hang on the door when away from my campsite:
Germano-gibberish, hahaha

and I tag successful tamperings & projects with this:
on my trailer, and PC project as well


So, now, I was considering a label for the black "mystery box" in plainsight on my X5 console, just because. I thought of several other technobabble names, but instead, decided upon "Lüfter Geschwindigkeitsregler" (fan speed controller, in German). Why not ?

[EODguy]

What I have to get every time I mess with electricity

Sent from Embassy network using Tapatalk

[workingonit]

Originally Posted by EODguy

What I have to get every time I mess with electricity ...

Lucas, known as the "Prince of Darkness"; but Magneti Marelli also has a bad reputation. Then,too, I've worked on Saabs & Volvos that had all the insulation flake off, as well. Maybe it's the difference in climate?

I said I was done with my project, but "just when I thought I was out. they pull me back in" (borrowing a movie line). I wrapped the remaining wires, then decided to lower the start-up temperature on the adjustable thermostat, and when I sat waiting in the X5, the coolant temp passed 190F, and the fan didn't start (the Auxiliary fan did, though). Fortunately, there was no smoke let out.

I removed all the tape & wire wrap I had just finished, and checked whatever I could find (multimeter, jumpers, back probes, etc.) and never found out what went wrong.

I finally decided to jump where the override switch would go (I thought I had two good switches, but they weren't), and the fan fired up. The new fan speed controller lit up, too, so it's OK, and I tested both the relay I was already using (and the spare), and they were good, as was the automatic circuit breaker. So, until I buy a good switch for the override circuit, I'm just going to hardwire it w/o switch, and use the fan speed controller to manually operate the fan.


I guess I either pulled a connection loose, that I haven't found yet, or the 2.5 year-old adjustable thermostat failed when I turned the knob, but since I'm the only driver, I have no problem using full manual control (of course, I'll closely monitor the coolant temp, as planned, and get another adustable thermostat and override switch to make it automatic again. But not today (I'm tired from working on the old Dixon mower this morning). I will have to re-secure any loose wires underhood, but I have hope that I'll make it right, as I thought it was yesterday. That's what I get for saying the job was "done"...I should know better.

The humorous (at least to me) project names that I talked about in the previous post must've jinxed me; I left out the P.O.S. tag I put on my '64 VW that had a badly rebuilt engine in it (not by me, but by a "pro" rebuilder). And the F.O.R.D. sticker (Fix Or Repair Daily, or Found On the Road Dead) that I put on my '81 Ford Courier pickup. It had three engines in 55K miles. I shouldn't press my luck, even today. I'm still tagging the controller, though...it's just my way.

[workingonit]

Originally Posted by workingonit

...decided to lower the start-up temperature on the adjustable thermostat, and when I sat waiting in the X5, the coolant temp passed 190F, and the fan didn't start (the Auxiliary fan did, though). Fortunately, there was no smoke let out.

I removed all the tape & wire wrap I had just finished, and checked whatever I could find (multimeter, jumpers, back probes, etc.) and never found out what went wrong.

I finally decided to jump where the override switch would go ..., and the fan fired up. The new fan speed controller lit up, too, so it's OK, and I tested both the relay I was already using (and the spare), and they were good, as was the automatic circuit breaker. So, until I buy a good switch for the override circuit, I'm just going to hardwire it w/o switch, and use the fan speed controller to manually operate the fan.

I guess I either pulled a connection loose, that I haven't found yet, or the 2.5 year-old adjustable thermostat failed when I turned the knob, but since I'm the only driver, I have no problem using full manual control (of course, I'll closely monitor the coolant temp, as planned, and get another adustable thermostat and override switch to make it automatic again....

Still tired, but I secured all loose wires...don't want to open the can of worms right now, but my plan has mutated, once again (as expected). Just because the new speed controller is working fine now, and my Torque Pro app is reporting the accurate coolant temperature now, there may come a time when either component fails me, and I may not be able regulate the fan in order to cool the engine (I don't expect that the Auxiliary fan alone, can carry the burden in Texas summer heat). As usual, I need a backup plan.

First, I think the adjustable Hayden 3653 thermostatic switch failed, because it was only rated for 16 amps, not the 18.75 amps the fan has been drawing for years (or more, I'm ordering a DC amp clamp to see), and during the install and prolonged testing I did using the new fan speed controller device (which may have drawn a lot of current, I don't know how much yet, but can draw as much as 40 amps continuous and 60 amps max), more amperage than it could take may have affected the T-switch, and burned it out ???

The Derale 16738 fan wiring kit (40/60 amp relay) I used, and the Fastronic 30 amp circuit breaker inline handled the possible voltage/amperage spikes that may have happened, but I am hesitant to order a replacement adjustable T-switch that may fail again (only ones I find are also 16 amps, and others are for indoor stoves and such). Therefore, I'm going to use the push-thru temp probe that came with the Derale kit.
also see the PDF file below

16738.pdf

Since it has a two-pin hookup (same as the Hayden T-switch) I won't have to run new wires, but will actually have to shorten them, and the probe should fit where the capillary tube from the Hayden switch is now (I hate poking holes thru radiators). And, the best part, is that the Derale probe/switch is preset to engage the fan at 180F and off at 165F (if I was to forget to monitor the Torque Pro display...if I had to step away from the vehicle before turning on the fan, manually). That would be if/when I returned the new wiring to the previous config, prior to the addition of the speed controller box. Remember, I always planned for that, because all devices fail eventually. But until then, I'll put in a waterproof on-off switch underhood (I'm done, going underdash!), and install the Derale part when in there.