Delta current e-fan controller owners chime in please

[adambant]

I will post tomorrow evening with a full follow up. I only have a second right now. I emailed back and forth with Todd from SPAL. He told me to of course double check all my wiring. And then I of course told him it is all correct. He then told me how to disable the diagnostics. All you have to do, is while the unit is on and powered up, hold down the enter button for about 15 seconds, until the red LED flashes, then turn it off for atleast 10 seconds. Should be good to go after that. Mine SEEMS to be working now, but it seems quirky still, I'm not 100% confident in it yet. Again I will follow up tomorrow evening, gotta run now. Hope this helps.

Adam.

 

[Xeek]

i abandoned mine. wired it up directly to the battery with a rocker switch inbetween.
so it runs 100% of the time, or if i get the temp going up, cut it on

 

[adambant]

Follow Up.

Ok. I now have a fully functioning SPAL fan controller. I had short series of emails back and forth with Todd, from engineering support for SPAL. Long story short, he asked me a bunch of questions to make sure i wired everything correctly and that I was not using a fan that was too AMP hungry for the controller. After assuring him everything was wired correctly, he told me how to Deactivate the built in safety diagnostics that kept shutting the unit down. Was incredibly easy. He told me that im not supposed to share this though becuase they dont want people that actually DO have it wired wrong to just disable the safety shut down and then fry their controller and expect warranty coverage. SO, make sure you don't do that, or your on your own.

If you are haveing issues with a NON spal fan, and are SURE you wired it correctly, proceed with the following AT YOUR OWN RISK:

remove the fan diagnostics by the
following sequence.
>
>Hold the enter button down for 12 to 15 seconds and then one of the LEDs will
flash indicating the change in command. Turn off the ignition (or disconnect
power from the orange lead) wait 10 seconds and reconnect ignition lead and
restart unit. This should eliminate the error codes.
>
>Caution: Since the fan diagnostics are disabled any problem with the fan will
result in damage to the controller.
>

This is where it got interesting. I then programmed my low temp to 197 and high to 205, and then exited the program mode. With truck running, my code reader hooked up and showing me the engine temp, i watched the temp rise...and rise and rise, up to 215 before the AMBER led turning on, indicating the LOW setting being reached and turning the fan on low. Uhmmmm, no, thats not what i set. I had to play around with it a few times. After about 5 reprograms and resets, I got it to work with 199 LOW, 210 high. I don't know if it has anything to do with the pulse width modulating or what, but this was a winning combination lol.

I have installed the LED indicator on my dash so I know when the fan runs, and have been keeping my code reader on with the engine temp displayed. I am very happy with it now, after driving much mixed city driving, as well as bumper to bumper traffic at the Holland tunnel. I swear it almost seems like it knows the difference of when im sitting in traffic or just pulling away from a light, as far as when to turn on the fan.

Let me explain what i mean. Cruising on the highway or even a somewhat slower speed, the engine temp is almost always 190, no fan on. If you go up a good hill, or stomp on it from a light, it will go up anywhere from 194 to 198, but it wont turn the fan on, as the temp comes back down as you get up to speed anyway. However, If im sitting at a long light, or in traffic, it turns the fan on around 194 or so. Like i said, its like it knows im in traffic, and it turns the fan on a few degrees earlier to help keep it under control. Im impressed.

I just want to thank everyone who has chimed in with their experiences, opinions and advice, but definately your help. Thank you.

Adam.

 

[Xeek]

thanks for continuing to email todd. i gave up on him when he said the problem is my truck.
i successfully wired the fan itself to the battery via a switch and fuse, on whenever the switch is on.
since i have not removed some wires and the controller, i may give this a go.

saves my from buying another controller and getting rid of this one(which isnt a problem). and from having to reach under my passenger headlight to turn the fan on/off cause i didnt have enough wire lol

 

[adambant]

I forgot to mention this in my last post. I don't know how to tell wich one you have but, he did ask me how old my controller was because apparently only the "newER" ones are able to be deactivated this way. I just bought mine 2 weeks ago so mine was clearly a newer one. Hope yours works!

Good luck and let us know!

and from having to reach under my passenger headlight to turn the fan on/off cause i didnt have enough wire lol

bahaha

 

[albi1cnobi1]

Hey Adam,

I'm glad you got it worked out. It sounds like yours acts just like mine. I have the DCC unit and it seems to be very intuitive like yours. Love my e-fan, most times you don't even know its running, which is why I also installed an LED in the dash. Mine starts out green indicating power to the controller-fan off. Then as the fan comes on it slowly changes from green to orange to red depending on fan speed, red being hi or 100%. It's nice to know whats going on under the hood from the drivers seat.

 

[adambant]

Yes I am very impressed with it now that it is functioning. Thats one thing I am envious of however, is your LED setup with the DCC unit. For me, un-lit LED, fan is off. I only get a lit LED when the fan is on, whether it be 50% or 100%. But being able to get my controller in less than a week and haveing great customer support so far, I think it was a fair trade off. Im very happy now. I plan on installing a "real" temp gauge soon just becuase I want to know what's going on without haveing my big code reader plugged in and laying around lol.

Yes, I love my setup now, I too can no longer hear when the fan is running or not now, it is sooo quiet now. Before it was on or off, and no soft starting. HUGE step up now

On a side note, the A/C function of the SPAL controller is interesting. On most any other controller, when the A/C compressor kicks on, the fans kick on at 100%, and the fans will continue to cycle on and off with the A/C. Not so with the SPAL controller.

It has a 15 second delay from when the A/C first begins cycling. After 15 seconds from when the the A/C starts, it runs 100% fan speed, until 30 seconds AFTER the A/C compressor has stopped cycling. So basically, the fan is on full speed, the entire time the A/C is on. Not sure how I feel about that yet. Its great for having cold A/C, but that means the fan will pretty much be running 100% speed 100% of the summer, because i run the A/C allll summer long. Guess it will show me how durable the flex a lite fan is....

 

[CDW6212R]

Thanks to all for the opinions and details of the functioning.

Al, did that LED light come with the DCC unit, to change color in one light? I ask because I bought a second DCC controller for my other truck. I paid more to get the light feature, or it was a kit IIRC.

Brian always responded to me quickly, he's been a regular member of the Corral, and he's been here too. Both of mine took about ten days to get from when I ordered them, and I knew that beforehand.

I love the soft start feature, the fan comes on so slow you can be handling it at the time. The only thing it needs is stronger main electrical terminals. Those are very small fragile brass terminals, and can be easily twisted off by over tightening the nuts. Brian told me how tight they should be, and it's very little. Be very gentle and barely snug those nuts.

FYI, electric fans are great, but be very diligent about keeping the power source going and the wiring etc, protected. You don't want to overheat the engine from not having power reaching the fan. Be very sure that the power wires/fuse/breaker are suitable for the environment and do not accidentally get shut down etc. It's hard to fix that kind of stuff on the side of the road, away from home. Regards,

 

[albi1cnobi1]

Don,

I too love my DC Controller. The soft start feature is really nice, no start up spike. I actually e-mailed Brian when I ordered mine to see if I could get it quicker than the ten days because I was going on a trip, and the tenth day was the day I was leaving. He got it to me in eight days which gave me time to get it installed. He's always be great with me as well, getting right back to me any time I needed something. If I remember correctly I think I paid $10 for the LED kit. I really like that feature a lot. Those terminals are a bit delicate. I lost the ground on mine and Brian had it fixed and back to me in 5 days. Even though I think it was my fault(I think I tightened it too hard) Brian didn't charge me for the repair. He'd a great guy and builds a quality product. Can't say enough good about it.

 

[Xeek]

wow. before i try it again, i get an email from spal asking how it was coming and if i needed to try removing diaognostics lol

last i heard from him was tuesday. he mustve emaild me today since he got yours working. ill play dumb and ask howto disable it like you never told us

 

[adambant]

Hopefully it will work for you too. Keep us posted Xeek.

 

[Xeek]

well i rewired it in. nicely too. and then it appears my controller is to old to disable. re-wiring for anything is not something i want to do...
so im gonna contact him again and ask if theres anything i can do if if the modification HAS to be done by them or not. wont know an answer until monday

 

[adambant]

Bummer Xeek. If they do do have to do it hopefully they can do it very quickly for you. Im sure you must be getting frustrated, wiring the same thing several times is definately not fun. But once you get it working you'll be happy. Mine is working great, i sit in about 30-40 minutes of Holland tunnel traffic every night with no issues.

 

[albi1cnobi1]

Hey adam,

I see you're in trenton area. I'm over on the east side by Hammonton and A.C..
Some of the other members are going to be getting a trail run together sometime soon as the weather gets nicer. Probably Wharton State Forest, off of Rt 206. Should be pretty tame and will be trail cleaning as well. I'm thinking about going, you interested? Look under clubs-East coast explorers-Who's in NJ, where. No dates set yet, just throwin it out there.

 

[adambant]

Thanks for the invite Al. I would really like to try and go. I have only had my X since thanksgiving and have never gone wheeling before. A couple things may prevent me though. my front shaft is laying on the garage floor waiting for me save up $400 to rebuild/replace it, that sucker vibrates with a vengeance 60+ mph. Also Im bone stock with factory running boards so that may creat clearance issues. I have a brand new set of kumho road ventures on the truck id love to try out tho. Hmmmm... Maybe i could just bring my front shaft with me and put it on when i get there lol. Never been wheeling, do you think it'd be foolish going stock height? I know wheeling usually brings scratches and an occasional dent, but i dont want to get stuck really bad or break anything, this is my daily driver....

 

[albi1cnobi1]

Yeah mine is a DD as well. Actually Wharton State Forest is pretty tame. It's mostly sandy trails and some mud holes. I've never been wheeling with any of the members here but I live near the WSF and have gone on my own before. My Mounty is pretty stock too, Just BFG all terrains, shackles and the front torsion twist and it does just fine. There are some pretty nasty mud holes but there are always ways around the bad ones. Like I said before they didn't set a date yet but I thought it would be fun to go wheeling with some other Explorer people. I don't think the running boards are a problem, and for the most part the trails are pretty open. I'm still in the process of swapping out my A4WD 4405 t-case with a part time 1354 and I'm hoping to have that done before this run happens, but we'll see how it goes. I actually took my running boards off, they're kind of useless any way. It actually makes the truck look higher than it really is. When my wife got home on the day I took them off she thought I put the body lift on that I'd been talking about.

 

[adambant]

The shackles are fairly inexpensive if i remeber correcdtly? And the torsion bars just need to be turned till you get the height you want? Are you tires larger than stock? I just got barand new tires, stock size though. Im just wondering if i did do a shackle and torsion bar twist lift, if it would look silly with the stock size tires still on it lol. Do u have a picture you send me of your truck? Isd like to see how it different it looks without running boards and the shackle/torsion lift. I apologize for my spelling and grammar, im using my android phone keybaord, my thumbs are the size of about 4keys lol.

 

[albi1cnobi1]

My tires are stock size. I got them right before doing the shackles and TT so I have to wait till I need them before going bigger. I'll take a pic when I get home so you can see what it looks like. i think it looks good like this. When I get bigger tires I'll probably do a small body lift. Maybe 1-1/2". I think the shackles were $60-70 maybe.

 

[albi1cnobi1]

I'll have to get the pics tomorrow, just got home and it's raining here.

 

[adambant]

My tires are stock size. I got them right before doing the shackles and TT so I have to wait till I need them before going bigger. I'll take a pic when I get home so you can see what it looks like. i think it looks good like this. When I get bigger tires I'll probably do a small body lift. Maybe 1-1/2". I think the shackles were $60-70 maybe.

I'll have to get the pics tomorrow, just got home and it's raining here.

Ok, thanks Al appreciate it. Heres 2 pics i took tuesday morning, after I washed it real good monday evening.