Dual Circuit Windstar Fan - Final Shroud Update 05/11/11

[nutt7]

Well it looks like you found a sensor similar to what I had. Both heads (or is it in the block??) should have a water port plug so maybe the other side is useable.

Otherwise, I have since fried two relays running one per fan. The big fan cooked the relays over a year or two. It also drew a crap ton of current being on high all the time.

Now, I changed things up. I went to the boneyard and grabbed the relay box (70a and 30a) from the windstar and also the drop down resistor. Now I run the fans like they were designed to and it works great. Haven’t needed high speed yet. It defaults on low (when needed by AC or temp switch) and I run high speed through the switch manually.

I also looked at PMWs but they were expensive and weren’t rated for the current required. I’m glad I redid it and so is my charging system.

 

[RootBreaker]

Well so my requirements are to pay attention. I decided to do tons of research instead of just diving in. Well ID10-T here...

So i took 5 minutes..all i had....

Junkyard cut wires about 2-3 ft long. I looked and saw1 back and 2 red... so i stripped them.
Hooked up neg to jumpbox then 1 red. My jumpbox has a power switch. I turned it on and both came on full power. Im like.. thats weird. So i unplug red and use other red. Guess what.? Both came on high.

So i have 2003 windstar fans. I sat back and took wire loom off. Seems they tied both black wires together and came out with 1.
They took both reds and tied them together and came out with 2..WTF is that shit?

So now what you say makes sense. Pull reds apart and use 1 relay to drive 1 fan on temp sensor. Either use switch or higher temp sensor to drive other fan.
Sheeze i overcomplicated the hell outta it.

 

[nutt7]

Well so my requirements are to pay attention. I decided to do tons of research instead of just diving in. Well ID10-T here...

So i took 5 minutes..all i had....

Junkyard cut wires about 2-3 ft long. I looked and saw1 back and 2 red... so i stripped them.
Hooked up neg to jumpbox then 1 red. My jumpbox has a power switch. I turned it on and both came on full power. Im like.. thats weird. So i unplug red and use other red. Guess what.? Both came on high.

So i have 2003 windstar fans. I sat back and took wire loom off. Seems they tied both black wires together and came out with 1.
They took both reds and tied them together and came out with 2..WTF is that shit?

So now what you say makes sense. Pull reds apart and use 1 relay to drive 1 fan on temp sensor. Either use switch or higher temp sensor to drive other fan.
Sheeze i overcomplicated the hell outta it.

View attachment 252678

Well if you replied to me, I have both on all the time. The 30a relay runs power through the drop resistor to both fans. The 70a relay applies power after the resistor. When high is on, both relays are active and share the load to some degree.

 

[RootBreaker]

Next, I mentioned having something else in the plans for my fan setup - It turns out this also provided part of the solution as well. I stumbled across a dual circuit temp switch a while back when I was on the BWD website, checking switches for temp ratings.

They run $30 a shot - I paid nothing for 2 at the Pick-N-Pull and even brought home the connector for one of them. The switch turns at 195* and 210*. And it actually belongs in a 1992 BMW 318.
Troy B
Ft Hood, TX

@Lunatic - did this screw straight in or did you need to do anything? I read through but may have overlooked it. I was planning on using the 195F temp I bought but I really am liking the dual idea now so I dont need to worry about switching on the 2nd fan. of course a switch to turn them both on will be nice as an addition.. but if I get one of these and pigtail from junkyard.. i just gotta figure out if it screws right in? ive got a 1991 caprice 350 thermostat neck shown above...

 

[brans87]

why not cut wire back to where there just 2 single wires for each plug and go from there?

 

[Blue85]

Yeah, when I saw it mentioned here, I remembered cutting apart the wires on my fans when I got them. Not only is it nice to have options for controlling them, but it lets you use a separate relays. That ensures a standard rated relay is OK and also provides a level of redundancy.