Greetings all,

Thanks for the many comments on my two questions: fog lights and efan. The fog lights are in and working, and I'm now ready to wire in the E-fan. I have a couple of questions about wiring the E-fan;

On the fog lights, I ran power directly from the battery to the relay via 12ga wire + 30amp inline fuse.

The power wire going into the efan relay is thick - I'm guessing 8/10ga? Anyway, should I wire that also directly from the battery, or is there another obvious source of power for the efan in the engine bay? Do I need a bigger fuse than 30amp? The NAPA relay for the foglights is rated at 40 amp, and a number of people have commented on the power-sucking nature of the e-fan...

So -
source for power to efan?
wire size for power to efan?
fuse rating for inline fuse?

also; I'd like to test the fan before I cut it up, and put it in. Can I make a jumper wire for power directly to the fan? rating for the in-line fuse of a test wire like this? Are there commercial versions of such a thing that I should buy, rather than goof around with home-made doohickeys...?

Thanks in advance for the assist - I'm a mess of ignorance when it comes to electricity, so no answer is too basic to enlighten me.

Best,

Lanval

Ken and SM have answered your questions about the final wiring with their experience, which is better than I can do. I'll address your question about testing. First of all, and this might sound too basic, but first - make sure the fan turns easily and smoothly. Test the bearing play. You could even take it a step further and connect your voltmeter to its wires and spin it good- you'll see it generating a little.

Next, connect your roadside-assistance jumper cables to the battery at one end and the black to the ground wire on the fan, touching the red to the power lead without holding it at the same time with your bare hands. There will be a fat spark, as the motor may draw upwards of 75 amps just for a few milliseconds as it gets off to spinning, and when you disconnect it, there's a voltage kick that can draw an arc. Be sure the fan's kick doesn't rip the wires out of your temporary connections.
--
-K (hope springs eternal)

Hi.

You wrote: "...should I wire that also directly from the battery, or is there another obvious source of power for the efan in the engine bay?..."

It may only be an oversight in your writing, but just in case, you should use a relay (just as you acknowledged you did for the foglights) to interface whatever control you're contemplating (sender, switch, etc.).

Always use the largest gauge wire you can, and if it's a new fan, there ought to be a label showing the max amps; if a used fan, then 30 amps should be sufficient -- if it blows, you can always step up. A good rule is to never use a larger fuse than necessary.

Good luck.

Lanval,

You referred to the fat wire going into the e-fan relay.
Did you get a 940/960 e-fan complete with it's relay? That's what I did and I know I've recommended that on this board in the past.

If that's your setup, I believe there's an in-line fusible link in the main power lead for that relay. Black-wrapped section at the end of the wire near the battery connector terminal lug. I took my fan + relay off a recently-disabled 960 so I could see that was how it was originally set up. Volvo saw no need for an additional fuse. That wire went straight to the battery.

I also noted the excellent seals at the relay. When I pulled the wire connectors off the relay (they will all remove), all metal contacts inside were still shiny roughly ten years after manufacture.

If yours is not what I described then I'd follow Ken C's suggestion for a 30 amp fuse with the fattest gauge wire you can manage to work with. If you don't have a good crimping tool now is the time to get one. I read somewhere that the 940/960 fan draws 27 amps on high speed. Never confirmed, but if so then a 30A fuse should be good. As has been suggested here often, you can get high grade waterproof fuse holders at marine suppliers. Or from '80's (or '90's??)GM cars in junkyards.

Another idea - if you don't yet have a good relay for the setup: Volvo 240 1986+ headlight relays have two output terminals, each rated 15A. Fully capable of total 30A if you wire the outputs in parallel to their destination. The fan itself has separate input leads for high + low speed, fed from the original relay. Both are fairly heavy and two different colors. You'd need one of those 5-blade relays for the hi-speed power delivery and another relay for the low speed line. I think low speed draws about 10A.

Good luck with it! I think you'll like the results. I know I do.

Water pump pulley needs to be anchored with the existing 4 studs, nuts and washers. I left my studs full length, I think there's really no harm in the extra 3/4 inch sticking out after you remove the fan + clutch setup.
--
Sven: '89 245 NA, 951 ECU, open-front airbox, E-fan, 205/65-15's, IPD sways, E-Codes, amber front corner reflectors, quad horns, tach, small clock. Wifemobile '89 245 NA stock. 90 244 NA spare, runs.

Ken and Sven,

Sorry not too clear there -

I did use an inline fuse to relay on the foglights, and will do the same for the e-fan.

Sven - I do have the relay from the 960, which you can see over here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Lanval.de.logres/RadiatorSwitchAndFan
and you'll not that I cut the wires. If I'd known there was a fusible link in the native wiring, I would have gone after the whole thing, but didn't.

The fan does spin freely, so I'll check it per suggestions here and then if it works, wire it in, and post pictures with conclusion.

Thanks for the help guys,

Lanval
--
92 240GL - Virgos, IPD 25/25 sways, 150,000 mi strong

Efan wiring update:

I spent yesterday and today working with wiring the efan; here are the results:

I tried wiring with original relay from the 940; at one point I thought I heard it start, but it did not work. Testing with it fully wired (power, ground, 12 v powered switch fused, relay) and could not get 12 volts to either of the 'out' connectors.

So I got a relay from NAPA, good for 40 volts. Here's the set up:

power to relay (12g. wire, inline 30 amp fuse)
40 amp relay
ground to body
12 v power switch from fuses in car
line out of relay to lines 1/2

I verified the switch worked 14 v to relay
I verified power worked 14 v to relay
I verified relay out to fan wire worked, 14 V
I verified the ground worked, 14 v to ground

The fan did not work on any permutation: 1/2 off; 1 on/2 off; 1 off/2 on; 1 on/2 on.

I figured at this point the fan is probably bad (did I kill it earlier?) and so I took the line from the battery (12g. wire, inline 30 amp fuse) and connected it directly to the fan, with the fan grounded; all permutations of 1/2 failed.

So I assume the fan is bad at this point; but I'd like to ask if there is something that I don't understand about how the fan and wiring works. Finally, I think I'll take the fan to a radiator shop just to verify the fan actually is bad.

Any thoughts would be appreciated - I reinstall the original fan for now.

Also: installed a flathood on the car courtesy of Jay over at Turbobricks, with matching trunk (car is now grey/silver). The trunk needs a group A spoiler though - heh, heh, hint.

Thanks for all the advice,

Best,

Lanval

Sorry to read that the fan is still not working.

Applying power directly to the fan should definitely run the fan if the motor and mechanics are OK. If fan spins by hand and 12V power and ground are in place then it should run. That is, with the relay completely out of the circuit.

The thin leads from the Volvo relay are grounded to activate either high speed or low speed ouput. The relay's design is such that it will provide power to the high speed or low speed output wire, but not both at the same time. With that information I think you should be able to test the relay indepently of the fan.

Re. the "not both at the same time" from above, the thin leads carry 12V from the relay which activate the relay's output when either lead is grounded. I'm pretty sure the relay's internal switching is such that 12V is always present in both leads EXCEPT when the high speed trip lead is grounded. This disables the 12V in the low speed lead and also in the low speed output wire. Thus the fan can get 12V on the high speed or low speed input wire but not both.

Good luck with it!
If the fan is indeed dead maybe the source will let you pick another or give your money back.
--
Sven: '89 245 NA, 951 ECU, open-front airbox, E-fan, 205/65-15's, IPD sways, E-Codes, amber front corner reflectors, quad horns, tach, small clock. Wifemobile '89 245 NA stock. 90 244 NA spare, runs.