railstop Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 I removed the mech fan to install an electric late last summer. I opted for a Hayden Electric fan contoller model 3647 to carry the duties. in Oct it stopped turning on. relay tested good, however, the lifetime warranty gave me a brand new one. The past few weeks it has started working only at random times. I know it all works and voltages are good. relay is good. Has anyone used this model with/without success? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 They're horrible. First one started acting funny one day when the fan got stuck on then a week later failed in bumper to bumper traffic on an extremely hot day, second one failed on the way up to the mountains, and when the third one started acting up I took it out. Usually if you smack the relay a few times it'll start working again but pretty soon they fail. I tried new relays in every one before exchanging, because that's the Schmucks policy so the unit it's self is going bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
railstop Posted April 26, 2012 Author Share Posted April 26, 2012 Glad I'm not the only one. Guess I'l go get an exchange and sell it or give it away. already hooking up manual switch until I find something reliable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 I wouldn't even give it away man, just passing along a crappy product that's gonna leave the next guy stranded. I bought a Derale unit from Jegs, MUCH better quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreus009 Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 Had similar issue with a SPAL dual fan controller. It didn't like the under hood heat in slow moving situations. Pulled it out and now just use manual switches now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tungsten Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 I'm planning on running a Dakota Digital fan controller which I already have. Going to report back on how that works out soon. http://www.dakotadigital.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=641/prd641.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nefarious Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 I'm running a Flex-a-lite 20 amp controller to run my altima dual fan setup, works great and has worked great for over a year now. no issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msavides Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 I have been running a Spal PCM Fan controller for the past 3 years with no issues. I heard the issues with the spal Pcm controller is when it is mounted in the engine compartment and with running them with fans that draw more than 30 amps. I mounted min in the cab under the Ac evap. Andreus009 was yours the PCM version. The one where you can set 2 temp settings Low and high. I know Spal has now discontinued this model. So Far I have had great experience with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreus009 Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 Yes, I believe it was the PCM version. I'm pretty sure the issue was the underhood temperatures affecting the electronics because when it cooled down it worked fine. It was too much work/rework to install it in the cab. My hats off to you on your diligence. BTW, in hind sight the controller was almost pointless in FL because the AC runs nearly all the time which means the controller defaults to both fans full on. LOL. Live and learn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msavides Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 Yep high humidity in Florida would warrant the A/C being on all the time. They had 3 different version try to waterproof/insulate the controller. Then I think they just gave up. I think even condensation was messing them up. I had previously bought a centech controller and it was not at all waterproof. It was extremely unreliable, so when I replaced it with the spal controller the wires were already run to the cab. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inyourface1650 Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 (edited) They seriously want to you to run the controller in the cab? Im not a big fan of extending a 40 amp run from ~3 feet (controller mounted next to the battery) to nearly 10 feet (fan to controller/cab back to battery). that will require some heavier guage wire. the OEMs can get full on engine and trans ECM's to work under the hood for hundreds of thousands of miles and these junk aftermarket guys cant even get a simple fan controller to work..... I've decided I'm going to use a Nissan Quest fan, but I thought that SPAL controller was going to work well. Wasnt even going to touch the Haydens. Guess I'll keep looking Edited May 14, 2012 by Inyourface1650 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msavides Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 (edited) They seriously want to you to run the controller in the cab? Im not a big fan of extending a 40 amp run from ~3 feet (controller mounted next to the battery) to nearly 10 feet (fan to controller/cab back to battery). that will require some heavier guage wire. the OEMs can get full on engine and trans ECM's to work under the hood for hundreds of thousands of miles and these junk aftermarket guys cant even get a simple fan controller to work..... I've decided I'm going to use a Nissan Quest fan, but I thought that SPAL controller was going to work well. Wasnt even going to touch the Haydens. Guess I'll keep looking Well let me clear some stuff up Spal Claims their PWM unit is suitable under the hood. People who have put them under the hood have had problems with either heat or water tightness. Spal discontinued the controller do to these warranty issues. I already had ran my wiring in the cab because my previous controller was not waterproof at all (Centech) This was the biggest POS controller. only lasted a month and I had to tap the controller for it to come on. I am using a 87 nissan maxima dual fan. The metal fan and shroud fits a body lifted pathfinder radiator perfectly. (non body lift has steering box clearance issue) I am using the small low speed fan as my PWM fan and the larger fan on a relay. The PWM fan variably turns on at the low temp setting and gradually spins faster as the temp rises. When/IF the temp rised to the high temp setting / or ac is turned on the second fan that is controlled via relay (mounted in engine compartment) turns on. Low temp and high temp can be set to anything you want. the smaller fan only takes about 14 amps max and sense it is a soft start controller it does not use the full 14 amps to start the fan, so really is only pulling about 11 amps. the 2nd fan is the 19 amp fan that is powered on via the relay in the engine compartment so it does not need a long heavy gauge wiring run. I have been running this setup for about 3 years now with no issues whatsoever. And i do not have that loud fan howling when I pull up to that stop light. since it is variable PWM fan speed. also spal does not recomend using the controller with PWM with fans that use more than 30 amps max Edited May 14, 2012 by msavides Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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