i want to create a fan switch... ideas?

4th July 2011, 10:53

i have fitted a unniversal fan on the car as i wasnt paying the £180 that euro car parts quoted me for a stock one...

but the thing is it isnt as powerful as the standard, when it kicks in, it does take a while to cool it back down, so i wanted to fit a switch so i can manually switch it on aswel.

i have bought a switch, and i need to go get some wire, but was unsure what wire to get?

also, this is how i was going to do it, correct me if i am wrong please guys!

i was going to create a splice where my new fan connects to the cars wiring, the run that either straight to a switch, or run cables from the battery, to the cars fan wiring, to the switch?

not got a clue with this shit to be honest! any help is appreciated as i really dont want to end up in a ball of flames!

4th July 2011, 13:16

ok, after a long think about it, i have devised this as a would work situation:

fan, 2 wires from fan, one from fan to the switch, other wire on the fan to the neg on battery, then one wire from the spare prong on the switch to the live, then when the switch is flicked it will complete the circuit.... right?

4th July 2011, 15:01

Yeah, for it to basically work, it need's to be connected to a switched live feed.

So aslong as you have a switch in the circuit somewhere between the fan and the power source, you'll be fine.

4th July 2011, 15:17

ive literally just done this lol, 2 wires from the fan, wired through to my centre console on a switch which was £5.90 from halfords, works a charm!

4th July 2011, 15:30

£5.90, including wiring and stuff?

if so thats ace!

4th July 2011, 15:32

£5.90 for just the switch, then all you need is 3 wires, one positive, negative and an earth. 3 of the same wires will be fine, you can probably even use speaker cable if you have some of that, if not, get a roll of it from halfords i think its £1.29 ish

4th July 2011, 15:39

Are you going to extend the existing wiring or run a new circuit, if it's a new one then i'd fuse it to prevent any mishaps or melted wires etc etc...

Just a thought

4th July 2011, 15:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delboy

£5.90 for just the switch, then all you need is 3 wires, one positive, negative and an earth. 3 of the same wires will be fine, you can probably even use speaker cable if you have some of that, if not, get a roll of it from halfords i think its £1.29 ish

speaker cable? isnt that gonna burn though?

dont know much about electrics really.. lol

so how did you do yours then mate?

3 cables... like this?

1 from fan pos to switch, one from the fan neg to the battery neg, and one from the switch to the positive on the battery?

4th July 2011, 15:45

If its the switch i used recently (which it sounds like) then you need a live wire from battery in, live from switch to fan motor, and the 3rd is to earth the switch so basically run it from the switch to an earthing point somewhere on car.

4th July 2011, 15:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Newtz07

speaker cable? isnt that gonna burn though?

dont know much about electrics really.. lol

so how did you do yours then mate?

3 cables... like this?

1 from fan pos to switch, one from the fan neg to the battery neg, and one from the switch to the positive on the battery?

i have used speaker cable before for something like this as it was all i had left, and it worked fine - but i'd recommend getting some better wiring.

my wiring issue's were a bit different, i didnt have an uprated rad, mine was a bit different but similar as in such i had to get a switch to turn the rad on and off

4th July 2011, 15:52

£5.90!
Just steal a standard heater/hazard switch from the scrappies and use that. Works fine in mine (Untill the fan motor broke lol).

4th July 2011, 16:03

but if i did this, would the fan not kick in off its own accord still?

4th July 2011, 16:07

no mate, thats the whole point of a switch - you choose when you want it on

4th July 2011, 16:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Newtz07

but if i did this, would the fan not kick in off its own accord still?

Going by this you need to stay as far away from any electrical work as possible.

5th July 2011, 09:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by rey

Going by this you need to stay as far away from any electrical work as possible.

ahahha, thanks for that vote of confidence!!

i am going to get some decent wire...

anyone know what wire would be best to use? i know a car battery is 35 ah's, but will have to find some wire thats suitable to be connected. was thinking the same grade as the wire for my live to my amp from battery...

6th July 2011, 17:53

You won't need to use anything too big to wire up, best thing to do would be to get hold of something that is roughly the same thickness as current wiring and extend what is there putting a switch in at same time.

6th July 2011, 19:46

think im gunna be doing this, switch it on when my cars warmed up to keep it nice and cool. would be nice to have a tiny power controller to operate fan speed actually.

can that be done?

6th July 2011, 20:12

Make sure its all run via relay and fuse.

6th July 2011, 20:22

+1 to this and the correct amp wire or your car will be on fire.

6th July 2011, 20:29

instead of a switch why don't you just run it to a wire that's live as soon as ignition is turned on, cos no doubt after a while you will forget to turn that switch on and over heat the engine. wire it to the ignition live wire for the sterrio but stick a fuse in the wire before its attached to the sterrio so its safe.

6th July 2011, 23:01

ill never understand why people do this, fitting a cheap universal fan and a switch because you were too tight to buy a proper fan will put most people off when you come to sell it. i wouldnt buy a car with that done

8th July 2011, 16:58

Or just buy the correct fan from a breakers??????

8th July 2011, 22:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by swampy

Make sure its all run via relay and fuse.

+1

The correct way to wire this is through a relay and with a fuse... Then the relay is controlled by the switch.
This way you dont run several ampere through the switch... A fan uses a fair amount of ampere, and could easyly burn the switch of!

And to be safe you would also need to wire it up so the fan still kicks in when the switch is off.