Jump to content
HybridZ

Wiring dual electric fans with relay and toggle switch


the350z

Recommended Posts

Need some help wiring up my relay! Recently installed a 3 core aluminum radiator and dual electric fan I got from ebay. Wired it up and it worked with no problem, or so I thought. Burned out the fuse and switch. I read I should use a relay so that's what I'm going for. I can plug everything in to the relay and get power to both fans, but it's completely off the battery and pulling power whenever the battery line is plugged in to the relay. It's as if the toggle switch isn't there. All the fan wiring is completely separate from any other wiring on the car. What I'm trying to do is run the fan completely on a toggle switch, not hooked up to anything other than that and the relay. This is the relay, (40amp) post-52177-0-53089500-1465787660_thumb.jpeg and this is how my wires are run. Grounds terminating at the inner fender. post-52177-0-59944300-1465787744_thumb.jpeg any help is appreciated! Looking at getting my z on the road! post-52177-0-22979700-1465787946_thumb.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How do you have the connections setup on the relay? It sounds like you have an unswitched positive wire hooked up to the trigger terminal. They should be wired as follows:

 

30: Positive wire from battery. Fuse should be in this wire between the relay and power source.

85: Ground

86: Trigger. This will be the wire coming from your switch. This should only get voltage when your switch is on

87: Output. Positive lead that runs to what you're powering. In this case, it's the fans. Both of them should be hooked to this wire if you want to power them with only one relay.

87A: Unused in this case

 

The fans being grounded like you have them should be fine.

Edited by calZ
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also no luck the what you recommended cal. Maybe my switch is bad? How should the switch be hooked up? I previously had a single wire to the off switch while attempting and just now butt spliced 2 wires into 1 to the relay ( off and on on one side going in to 1 wire to the relay) also no luck

Link to comment
Share on other sites

post-52177-0-50166200-1465874280_thumb.png this what I was going for. Separated the 2 fans to see if itd make a difference (nope). Positive off of single fan to 30, battery to 87, ground to 85, and switch to 86 does nothing. Switching battery wire from 87 to 87a supply's power directly to fan, toggle switch useless. Any ideas?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

No dice cal, doesn't give me any power to the fans wired up like that. I'm pretty stumped. I know the fans themselves are wired fine it's just not going through the relay. Wired up how I mentioned, 87a to battery and 30 to fans passes power through and turns the fan on but that's it. No switch.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a direct connection from the battery to terminal 30. There is a switched connection from the battery to terminal 86. You can get battery power from the same wire and then split it before it gets to the relay and switch. Let me try to explain it again.

 

30: Positive wire to the battery.

85: Ground

86: Wire from 86 to one side of the switch. The other side of the switch should go to a power source. Some people use the ignition so the fans can only be turned on while the key is on. The simplest way is probably straight to the battery.

87: Wire to positive side of fan

Edited by calZ
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Good job guys,

 

Just as a refresher as this does give some people trouble.

 

Generic automotive relays usually have 4 pins.

 

30: Usually 12 volt power. Straight from the battery. This is going to power your accessories down the line, put a fuse that is slightly above the max operating amperage to protect the circuit from drawing too much power.

 

85: Ground. This is for the relay. This gives the differential for the relay so the relay can work. Sometimes it can be used as a switched setup by putting a switch inline if you have a constant 12 volt signal source. Usually I route this one straight to the mounting screw used to hold the relay. 

 

86: Signal. This is to signal the relay to turn on. Usually a 12 volt source. You can use a toggle switch between this terminal and the battery, but be careful that means that one side is going to be hot all the time. Ideally taken from ignition, fuse box any other triggered 12 volt source. Ideally you DO NOT want this to be constant as that means you can leave it on accidentally.

 

87: Output. This will be 12 volt power to the accessory. This will take power from terminal 30 when the switch signal is tripped. This will go to the +12v side of the accessory and the accessory.

 

Sometimes you will run into an 87A: this is usually on 5 pin or 4 pin relays that are AO, always open. That means that the power from 30 will always be going to 87A, until the relay is switched via 85/86 at which point the relay will stop providing power. 

 

Also there are a couple ways to run this setup. You can put an inline switch from the 12 volt source. You can put an inline switch to the ground. You can put a switch on the ground side of the accessory. 

 

Most diagrams I have seen are wired with the 12 volt signal wire being switched. The only time I have had to wire a relay with a switched ground was the fuel pump from megasquirt, which the signal wire controls the ground circuit instead of the signal circuit. I'll leave it to someone smarter then me to explain the difference.

 

You can use redundancy for the trigger signal which is usually a good idea. Using an ignition source on top of a trigger is a good idea. My friend's nitrous setup was wired to have a master toggle, a WOT switch and tied to the high beams. You had to have all three conditions met to run nitrous, that meant no one would kick it on accidentally.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...