Fan blower (again)

[meeko]

My fan stopped working at Christmas. I found the TVR-made control unit under the dash. This has a ribbon cable into one end, and a big connector plug on the other. The unit acts as a variable resistor to alter the spead of the fan.

The two pins it applies resistance to (which carry full current load to fan) were brown, due to overheating. I dismantled the control box and resoldered the connector as the heat had made a dry joint, et voila - Fan working again.

The fan stopped working again this week, so I went straight for the control box, and noticed that the plastic connection plug was very badly melted. The connetor pins need to be replaced too. Any one else seen this where the connector over heats? I need to find an alternative connector, as the plug on the car's loom is useless.

[spend]

www.vehicle-wiring-products.co.uk/ is a good source for electrical connectors.

Dave

[parrot of doom]

Hmmm, if the tracks/wires are melted, it could be several things:

1. Poor design
2. Voltage across fan too high
3. Fan short-circuiting?
4. No fuse?

I suspect 1 tbh, but check the other 3 as a matter of course. It might be worth measuring the voltage at the fan, and working out (from the wattage) the current it should be drawing, and then installing a fuse a couple of amps lower than the cable used.

[meeko]

Many thanks for the advice. I too beleive that it's poor design. The Fan is rated at 15amps, and looking at the connector it shouldn't handle much more than 10 at best. I suspect continuous use in the winter caused it to get very hot and eventually fail. I might bodge some better wiring direct from the control board PCB to car loom.

Cheers,

Meeko

[parrot of doom]

You'd be better off soldering some large pins to the PCB, and connecting your cables to that. You don't want to risk lifting the tracks off the PCB.