rad fans

[Aussie John]

Before I order a new spal fan has anyone tried the el-cheapo ebay fans for £20?

[Teamred]

Yeah I have just bought a fan off Amazon. Less than half the price of a SPAL or Revotec or whatever and works perfectly. The mounting kit was crap though. Eityer make up a bracket or buy a separate decent quality mounting kit.

[Aussie John]

Thanks Teamred, maybe I can use the original frame to mount the new one, cheers, John.

[Aussie John]

Have installed a cheap fan, it doesn't pull as much air but time will tell, cheers, John. PS My original fans were SPAL VA10-AP9/C-25A which seems to be different to other numbers that are noted.

[Andav469]

I have two original fans if you want them (from a Chimaera) full working order

[Aussie John]

A big thank you for Dave, gave me two fans today at Burghley House, there are a lot of kind helpful guys on Pistonheads.

[Penelope Stopit]

Aussie John said:

A big thank you for Dave, gave me two fans today at Burghley House, there are a lot of kind helpful guys on Pistonheads.

He could have had you over
Did he give you the relays?

[Aussie John]

Give me a hint as to what you mean.

[Penelope Stopit]

"He could have had you over" Meaning = Conned you

He gave you something but perhaps not everything (Relays)

= I was joking

[Aussie John]

Sorry mate, I guess I,m the "thick as two planks" guy; while you are there my fans were marked as 25a the new ones at 47a. My set-up has only one relay, I think I'll have to wire in a second relay or is there any other option, cheers, John.

[Penelope Stopit]

Aussie John said:

Sorry mate, I guess I,m the "thick as two planks" guy; while you are there my fans were marked as 25a the new ones at 47a. My set-up has only one relay, I think I'll have to wire in a second relay or is there any other option, cheers, John.

No problem, I thought I may have pissed you off with me joking in your topic

I have never witnessed a radiator fan drawing 47 Amps, do bear in mind that the initial start up current draw of a rad fan motor is higher than when it reaches its maximum speed

I would bet my house that the current draw is much less than 47 Amps, the 47a could be an ID number, 25 Amps is also high but possible and I wouldn't bet on it (25a could be an ID number)

It will be of much help to you if you are able to measure the current draw of each motor at start up and also when they have reached full speed (about 5 seconds after), if you haven't got an ammeter to measure the current draw ask an auto-electrician to carry out the tests for you (5 minute job at most) and do mention that the battery used for testing needs to be a good fully charged one

Once you have the max current draw at start up, use 2 relays (1 for each fan) and be sure those relays are rated higher than the max current draw (70 Amp heavy duty relays with the larger male contact terminals are very good)

Use 2 fuses (1 for each fan) and be sure those fuses are rated higher than the max current draw (5 Amps above is good or the next higher rated fuse on the market as long as it's 5Amps or more above)

[Aussie John]

Thanks for the advice, I will add another relay, cheers, John. PS it takes a lot to p*ss me off, an axe in the back of my head would do it though!

[Penelope Stopit]

As I thought, the 25a and 47a are part of the part number and nothing to do with current consumption, see below link for list

http://www.feredaycars.co.uk/everything%20else/spa...

[Penelope Stopit]

There is a good chance that standard 30 Amp rated relays will do the job, me having now looked at the SPAL current draw list as in the above link

[Aussie John]

Thank you for the link, very interesting, cheers, John.