GN Fan Controller Question

[mnelson007]

Hello TurboBuick Guys,

I am a new member and came looking for some of your expertise. I have a '71 Buick GS 455 and I am installing an electric fan from a Grand National. I would like to have it controlled by temperature along with a manual switch to turn it on. I'm sure you have already figured this one out and I do not need to reinvent the wheel here.

What is the common setup for an aftermarket controller to run one of these fans?

 

[RegalT-type85]

A thread thermo fan switch will be best bet. If not A thermo switch that probs into the Radiator fins. Make sure it has a relay. Some switches are Set Temps( On 180" Off at 160temp) Others have ajustable switches. This is a good ex Derale Cooling Products 16738 - Derale Cooling Products Single Stage Fan Controllers with Radiator Probes - Overview - SummitRacing.com has fuse, relay built in already.



As for the Bypass On/off toggle switch, Get a Three way switch.
Most fans have low&high setting. switched up power goes to the thermo switch, Switch down power is on full time.

This will be best way, you can have the thermo swtich on the low setting and bypass it with the switch to send power to high setting on the fan.
If you have A/C, the relay should have a A/C (On) wire, most relay have that. If not get a kit that has it.

 

["Turbo-T"]

I've used one of these twice with good results:

Painless Wiring 30113 - Painless Performance Adjustable Electric Fan Thermostat Kits - Overview - SummitRacing.com

On my last two projects that utilized electric fans, I ran the fans from a relay and used this thermo switch to create the ground for the relay to close.

However if you also wanted the option of running the fans manually, you could tee off a wire between the relay and the thermo switch into one side of a toggle switch, and on the other side of the toggle switch you'd just connect a wire from it to a good ground.

Then when you flip the switch it would create the ground needed for the relay to close and turn on the fans; when you'd flip the switch it would break the ground for the relay, unless if the temp was too hot, and then the thermo switch would override the manual switch and turn on the fans anyways.

HTH