Let's Beat this Dead Horse - SPAL fan re-wire

[Alkire193]

I bought a SPAL fan back when KDS was pushing them as a better cooling fan. To be honest, they do cover a larger area of the radiator, it is a waterproof brushless design, they do mount comfortably behind the radiator and provide a relatively OEM fit. However, at LS, LBL and other riding areas, the fan just did NOT work like an OEM. Lots of people have a problem with it "surging". The temp of the coolant causes the temp switch to enable the fan at a certain temperature. However, the additional power needed to turn the larger fan is not available and it starts to spool down. Up and down, up and down as you ride, not really cooling at all. Some have suggested a different wiring set up. Others have suggested wiring in a separate relay similar to how most of us did our HID kits a few years back. And even others have suggested a permanent ON switch to be toggled by the user. I ran across this yesterday, relay kits provided by SPAL  which include their own temp sensors.

 Below is a picture of my fan installed on an OEM radiator:





This link is for an alternate mount for the temp sensor that SPAL recommends (not necessary) it also includes, near the bottom, an example of the SPAL factory harness available on their website:
http://www.alumrad.com/fans.htm


I'm only posting this up because i'd like to see if a larger fan installation can be simplified and made functional on the Raptor. The stock fan does work, however it only pulls air through a small area of the stock radiator, i'd like to improve cooling of the Raptor and lower the operating temperatures of the engine by having the fan come on more often (by lowering the temp switch activation point) and take less time to cool.

[Peelz]

[Kamakazi]

did i miss the question?  if i did, the answer is yes!

[dragonz]

did i miss the question?  if i did, the answer is yes!

I think thats a definate possible maybe!

[Bert]

Could you weld Spal's temp sensor in the stock radiator?

[Alkire193]

Question is: Can we simplify it so that it operates like OEM? -or- integrates the SPAL temp sensor from their pre-wired harness which makes it operate at a lower temperature.

Bert - On the link in the original post their is a picture of a radiator with a bung welded in for the temp sensor. If you dont want to drill out and weld your radiator then you can always do the in-line temp sensor they have on that page also. The harnesses will allow 185 or 195 degree operating temp (when the fan will kick on) depending on which sensor you buy. All relays and wiring and fuses are included.

Im interested to see if it will work.

[Bert]

I was thinking about my post.... not sure welding a temp sensor into the stock rad is the best idea. Is there room to splice into the bottom rad hose with a short piece of tubing to mount the sensor? I don't have mine here to look at. I still have a stock fan, I would like it to kick in sooner though. If the stock fan kicked in sooner maybe the need for a Spal fan could be eliminated? Maybe not, a  lot of variables come into play. The weather, the riding area, & mods. What do you think?

[Kamakazi]

generally speaking, all temp sensor/switches work the same, the coolant warms them up, they make contact inside the sensor and it completes the circuit, which in turn starts the fan.  the spal fan when installed on the raptor needs its own relay harness to supply adequate power/amps for it to work properly.  You can get any temp sensor you would like from any other vehicle/quad and simply wire it up, some thread adapters may need to be made to make the sensor fit.  and it is as simple as that

[Alkire193]

I would never weld the sensor Bert. Simply weld a bung that the sensor threads in to. Just like the Autotune bung for the Power Commander 5 o2 sensor.

Kami hit the nail on the head. Sounds similar to the fix most of us used for the HID lighting issue.

[funyun]

from DL700


The Spal Fan overloads the 12v input to the relay (not the relay itself)

....to correct the problem a NEW 12V wire MUST be ran from the battery positive to the fan relay with a inline fuse used as well....

Below is a picture of the fan relay and the modification done to it....

the wire connector is easily removed with an ICE PICK...
once removed CUT the RED wire w WHITE stripe, CAP and tuck back into the harness.... SOLDER ON a new wire(black wire in picture) to the terminal and reinstall.... Run this new wire to your BATTERY POSITIVE.... REMEMBER to use a INLINE FUSE holder rated @ 15 amps

[funyun]

I actually ran a SPAL on my 1st raptor, guess I never really paid attention to it ran it for awhile When it did kick in though it was way more powerful than the stocker

[Alkire193]

The complaint was that no one could get that to work properly. I even tried it and it stopped the fan from working altogether.

[Bert]

I wouldn't weld the sensor either. I saw the bung that comes with the sensor & that's what I meant. 
I would like the fan to turn on sooner so if I swap sensors I need one with a lower set point than stock or a Spal temp sensor. Mounting a Spal sensor I wouldn't bother trying to weld into the rad. I would put it inline on the bottom of the rad providing there's room. I didn't look at mine today to see.  I'm wondering how well the stock fan would work if it turned on sooner?

[funyun]

Dl says with his fix it works flawless. You muat have done something wrong/different than he explained. I think ballance racing is actually a dealer for these maybe see if they know something.

[preddy08]

Dl says with his fix it works flawless. You muat have done something wrong/different than he explained. I think ballance racing is actually a dealer for these maybe see if they know something.

IMO if you have a properly built motor with a properly built cooling system (yes stock is good enough) you wont have a problem. With my 14.5+ motor I've towed YFZ's back to camp 10+ miles with out a problem.