daver123 Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 Ok i have been dealing with this problem for about 2 weeks now and its driving me nuts and costing me to much money. I have a problem with the ford taurus electric fan that i installed and my quest alty. This system has been in my pathy for over a year no problems until 2 weeks ago my alternator would stop charging about 5 minutes after starting the truck so i got it rebuilt, it had a bad regulator, and the problem still persisted. I thought the alty could have had a cracked coil and when it warmed up it was losing conductivity. I went out and got a new alty and put it in same problem, so i traces through every wiring harness and disconnected everything not stock and couldn't find anything wrong, until i connected the fan and the draw from the fan caused the alty to quit, and it doesnt kick back on until i restart the truck. So i got a new fan thinking there might be some fault in the fan and its drawing too much power, new fan same problem. so im at a loss, i just put my mechanical fan back in to temporarily fix the problem, but i wanna figure out whats going on. The truck also has a beefy sound system that has a lot of draw and that doesn't cause the alty to turn off. If Anyone has any idea whats going on here i would love to hear any thoughts cuz i've exhausted mine. Also does the quest alty have an internal circuit breaker of sorts that would mean that this whole turning off thing is a normal safety function. Thanx guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88pathoffroad Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 Do you have the high-speed wire connected as your main fan speed when it turns on? High speed pulls +/- 30 amps to start but evens out after it starts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowTied Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 Just as a thought outloud, could there be a short in the harness for the fan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismojunky Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 try reving it past four grand and see if the alty kicks in simon has this problem where it doesnt charge untill he revs it up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY1PATH Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 don't know if this applies or not but some altys only charge above 18~20krpm untill then they just supply "enough" power to run vehicle and accesories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daver123 Posted December 15, 2008 Author Share Posted December 15, 2008 Well i know that there isn't a short in the wiring harness because i was testing it with the battery hooked up directly to the fan and i have tried this at all rpm ranges and nothing works. I do have the high speed wire set up only. Do you think its drawing just too much current on start up? I guess if that is the case i will have to rig up some fancy sequencing system to start on low and then change to high. I just find it odd that it work until now and even with a new alty its doing the same thing. I will have to try it on the low speed. thanx for your input guys, ill get back to you on this in a day or so, at least i still have my mechanical fan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY1PATH Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 maybe on the spendy side but I think there is "some fancy sequencing system" called Diff II fan controller that is designed for 2 speed fans and dual single speed fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 try reving it past four grand and see if the alty kicks in simon has this problem where it doesnt charge untill he revs it up I don't think his is the same issue. My e-fan works just fine, and my alternator doesn't charge at startup, until I hit 2700rpms once....then it charges just fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daver123 Posted December 15, 2008 Author Share Posted December 15, 2008 I don't think his is the same issue. My e-fan works just fine, and my alternator doesn't charge at startup, until I hit 2700rpms once....then it charges just fine. My alternator charges at start up, and will change at all rpms but just not when the fan is connected it seems to stop the alternator from charging. I put a voltmeter on the battery and as soon as i connect the fan it drops to 11.7ish and continues to fall from there and even when i unplug the fan the alternator wont charge until i restart the truck. Note battery reads 12.5ish when the vehicle is off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daver123 Posted January 12, 2009 Author Share Posted January 12, 2009 Well I think I may have finally resolved the issue. The swap to the higher amperage alternator and the high draw fan caused the fusible link at the battery to become heated and fatigued making it a poor conductor and a current bottle neck. The solution run a new 4 gauge cable from the alternator to the battery. So far this seems to be working. Thanx for the input though guys. Looks like this will be a new detail to mention in the fan swap pages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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