Spal fan Controller Help

[simmadown]

Just fried the DC Control Unit, so I decided to try the Spal one instead. I always had problems with it not shutting off the fan when I turned off the ignition. Most of the times it works, but occasionally the fan would still turn. I atually had smoke comming out of the DC Control unit, so anyways I ordered the Spal, but didn't order their sensor. I have one from Painless, the Fan Thom II. Would I be able to use this sender. I was reading the instructions I downloaded & it has 2 wires for the sender. I only have one from the painless sender. They do say you can use aftermarket senders, but in the instructions they don't show you how to hook up the controller with an aftermarket. Just OEM & their own.

[ZZ430]

You'll need a 2 wire sender.

The Spal sender is OEM style. Their instructions are just for adding to a car that already has one, like an EFI car.

Everything is available aftermarket.

Napa is a good place to get the pigtail and a sender for a 88-95 GM car.

[simmadown]

You'll need a 2 wire sender.

The Spal sender is OEM style. Their instructions are just for adding to a car that already has one, like an EFI car.

Everything is available aftermarket.

Napa is a good place to get the pigtail and a sender for a 88-95 GM car.

So I need both? The pigtail, is that for the fan? I do have a dual 11" spal that I have never setup, maybe it's time. I previously was running the Taurus fan with the dccontrol. Will the 85-95 gm sender will work in my 67 Camaro with a 355 non efi?

[ZZ430]

You'll need the Coolant Temp Sensor that GM also uses as temp input to the ECM for EFI cars. The pigtail is just the harness that plugs into it. For your 67 you can place it in the intake manifold using a 1/2" NPT to 3/8" NPT reducer.

You didn't mention which Spal controller you had, is it the pwm or the regular programable unit? Is a relay included?

It will work with dual Spal 11" fans, I just did one.

[simmadown]

You'll need the Coolant Temp Sensor that GM also uses as temp input to the ECM for EFI cars. The pigtail is just the harness that plugs into it. For your 67 you can place it in the intake manifold using a 1/2" NPT to 3/8" NPT reducer.

You didn't mention which Spal controller you had, is it the pwm or the regular programable unit? Is a relay included?

It will work with dual Spal 11" fans, I just did one.

I ordered the PWM controller & I actually have a 30amp relay with 10 gauge tails so i was going to use that to hook up the 2nd fan. I would have thought the pwm would come with everything to wire up their own line of fans.
I'm going to go to napa tomorrow & hopefully the sender is a stocked item.

One other thing. How did you mount the dual 11"? I notice it has holes on the top & bottom, but the BeCool radiator does not have provisions for these. I suppose I have to make some type of bracket for it?

[gmachinz]

I would advise stepping up to a 40 amp or higher rated relay for use with the Taurus fan. If you want to use the secondary fan feature, you need to wire the relay according to:

#85 to grey wire from Spal pwm
#86 to ign. source
#87 to +12v battery source

#30 to fan +12v

I use HD 70 amp relays but you should be able to work with a 40 amp relay. Let me know if you need any help with wiring-we install these controllers now as well-very nice controller with weatherpak OEM style connections-nice and clean!. -Jabin

[simmadown]

I would advise stepping up to a 40 amp or higher rated relay for use with the Taurus fan. If you want to use the secondary fan feature, you need to wire the relay according to:

#85 to grey wire from Spal pwm
#86 to ign. source
#87 to +12v battery source

#30 to fan +12v

I use HD 70 amp relays but you should be able to work with a 40 amp relay. Let me know if you need any help with wiring-we install these controllers now as well-very nice controller with weatherpak OEM style connections-nice and clean!. -Jabin

I'm actually going to take out the Taurus fan & mount the Spal dual 11". I never cared for how I mounted it & there was just to big a gap on the sides. I tried weatherstripping, but it kept falling off preventing a good seal.

I do like how the PWM is sealed versus the dccontrol. I had a hard time keeping water off the lugs. I moved it 3 times trying to find a good place for it.

Thanks for the wiring help. I should be getting it at the end of the week. If I had known I would have ordered from you. I thought you only delt with the dc units.

[baskin]

I do like how the pwm is sealed versus the dccontrol. I had a hard time keeping water off the lugs. I moved it 3 times trying to find a good place for it. .

I don't understand why you would move it, I have rockcrawler customers who submerge the entire controller without problems

Thanks for the wiring help. I should be getting it at the end of the week. If I had known I would have ordered from you. I thought you only delt with the dc units.

That's odd, given that you've only been on this forum a few weeks and that I quit selling Jabin controllers nearly six months ago http://forums.stangnet.com/showthrea...=649990&page=2

[simmadown]

I don't understand why you would move it, I have rockcrawler customers who submerge the entire controller without problems



That's odd, given that you've only been on this forum a few weeks and that I quit selling Jabin controllers nearly six months ago http://forums.stangnet.com/showthrea...=649990&page=2

Eveytime it got wet from washing the car or rain the lugs got wet. one time the fan was making weird noises after shutoff & the lugs were rusty from the water. I had to use a steel brush to get off the rust to get it to work

[baskin]

Hmm, that's a new one, I actually have mine mounted in front of the radiator specifically so that it will get regularly soaked, yet after five years, the brass screws haven't rusted yet. That’s why they use brass in marine applications, it leaches out zinc in order to keep it from rusting so the connections don’t degrade If they did, it wouldn't act in the way that you describe, when the controller is off it doesn't draw any current, so the connections wouldn't matter. Did you ever contact me regarding this?

[gmachinz]

Hmmm-I am not sure how prolonged water would affect (if at all) the DC unit-I still have one mounted on top of my radiator support in one of the shop Montes and it periodically gets wet from washing but it has never made any weird noises nor affected the fan in any way. The DC units have an epoxy seal that prevents water from damaging the controller itself. Let us know how you get the issue resolved. -Jabin

[baskin]

The real early ones, maybe 2001, had standard steel washers that might have surface rusted a little bit, but they were below the bottom locknut, so even in a high salt air environmentt, hey would have no effect on the connection, the rest of them used stainless washers, when did you buy it?; Also, how did it get fried?

[simmadown]

The real early ones, maybe 2001, had standard steel washers that might have surface rusted a little bit, but they were below the bottom locknut, so even in a high salt air environmentt, hey would have no effect on the connection, the rest of them used stainless washers, when did you buy it?; Also, how did it get fried?

Maybe it wasn't rust, but it looked corroded around the metal surrounding the lug.It was the input side. Maybe the wire connector was laying on the metal & with it siting it water with the voltage going through it thats why it corroded in that spot?
I bought it in June 05. I sent you a more detailed PM about what happened.

[Pro-Tour Heavy Chevy]

Strange, My Spal PMW has 2 seperate pigtails on it for different sensors.
A 2-wire for the Spal sensor and a single wire for OE or Aftermarket sensors, like Stewart Warner or Autometer...ETC. I hooked mine up using the Stewart Warner sender and I use a seperate Spal relay kit for my second fan. Once it's all hooked up, run the engine to program the PMW.
The PMW fan is variable speed and the second is on-off. The set up works great and keeps the car cool

[gmachinz]

The Spal unit really is a nice piece-I wish I knew about it earlier. I still favor the DC Controls theory behind cooling though-having the fan speed up/down after the coolant has passed through the radiator instead of it reading the temp. at the intake or head. But, here's a tip: If you are up for a little modifying of the water pump, give this a try. Weld a sensor bung into the lower inlet of the water pump (you just won't be able to slide your lower hose up as far, that's all...) and thread your Spal sensor into it. This way, the sensor will pick up a near perfect engine inlet temperature and will move the fan accordingly. This would be the ideal design imo. I've already done this with the Spal controller and I'm happy with the results. -Jabin