Spal Electrical Fan Install

[Ninz30]

Ok, now the Spal Electric Fan instal is pretty self explanatory. Ive done quite a bit of research and it seems as if the grey wire is better off grounded.

Now my real question is; where should I wire the Orange wire to? It states (Orange) Ignition, but the question is where do I locate the proper ignition wire. Ive seen them wired to the Diagnostics port and some have mentioned the glove box as having wires which would be beneficial.

Im still a noob and this ignition aspect has me a bit stumped. The rest of the instructions are pretty straight forward. Just need help with this section.

Thanks R3v community

-Sam

[devon.818]

i had to fuck with this, twice actually. couldn't get it to run right. would never turn off.

i eventually just wired it to a aux switch. easier. bimmerworld even sent me a whole new kit ater the first one died

[kalib0y]

Not sure what wire it is but you can wire the ignition source to the ignition itself by the steering column or even a ignition switched wire in the cruise control, ground the grey to the chassis and the red to a fused constant.

Sent from my ADR6425LVW

[Ninz30]

i had to fuck with this, twice actually. couldn't get it to run right. would never turn off.

i eventually just wired it to a aux switch. easier. bimmerworld even sent me a whole new kit ater the first one died

dude my first fan was lost by UPS! finally got a replacement a month later

[MaksV]

wire it to the ignition. You can find the info you need in my DIY. search my name.

Orange wire goes to ground, grey wire goes to ignition. Ignition voltage can be found next to fuse box.

You have to swithc the polarity on the relay, against the stock instructions to run of ignition, otherwise it will be ground activate.d

[Ninz30]

wire it to the ignition. You can find the info you need in my DIY. search my name.

Orange wire goes to ground, grey wire goes to ignition. Ignition voltage can be found next to fuse box.

You have to swithc the polarity on the relay, against the stock instructions to run of ignition, otherwise it will be ground activate.d

I ve gone over your DIY, but it seemed a bit confusing. So your basically saying to swap the orange to ground and the grey to ignition. How will this work itself out?

Because the grey wire will be wired to an ignition source it will run when the vehicle is in the ON position.

Oh and I'd like to say MaksV your 325i build is one of the motivating factors which got me started on my e30.

[MaksV]

I ve gone over your DIY, but it seemed a bit confusing. So your basically saying to swap the orange to ground and the grey to ignition. How will this work itself out?

Because the grey wire will be wired to an ignition source it will run when the vehicle is in the ON position.

Oh and I'd like to say MaksV your 325i build is one of the motivating factors which got me started on my e30.

Thanks. So I am at work so I will give you a brief lesson on EE.

A relay is basically a switch for now assume its 4 prongs.

All thats happening is a low current wire (the small ones) are the signal wires. When a voltage is applied they cause a magnetic field to be created in a relay causing the "click" you hear. what that is is a piece of metal closeing the connection between the two high current pins (with fat wires).

To be specific what we are doing is ground the orange wire (on fo the low current wires) and hooking up the gray wire (our other signal wire) to "switched 12" - ie a wire that becomes hot when you turn the ignition on. this way when you turn your key voltage get allowed onto the signal wires, flipping the relay.

When the relay connects all its doing is hooking your battery directly to the E fan giving it the power needed to spin.

I hope all that made sense. Yes the fan will run when the ignition is on. This is very useful for track days to let the engine cool. If you want to drill holes in your rad and weld in an extra temp sensor be my guest.

[Ninz30]

Thanks. So I am at work so I will give you a brief lesson on EE.

A relay is basically a switch for now assume its 4 prongs.

All thats happening is a low current wire (the small ones) are the signal wires. When a voltage is applied they cause a magnetic field to be created in a relay causing the "click" you hear. what that is is a piece of metal closeing the connection between the two high current pins (with fat wires).

To be specific what we are doing is ground the orange wire (on fo the low current wires) and hooking up the gray wire (our other signal wire) to "switched 12" - ie a wire that becomes hot when you turn the ignition on. this way when you turn your key voltage get allowed onto the signal wires, flipping the relay.

When the relay connects all its doing is hooking your battery directly to the E fan giving it the power needed to spin.

I hope all that made sense. Yes the fan will run when the ignition is on. This is very useful for track days to let the engine cool. If you want to drill holes in your rad and weld in an extra temp sensor be my guest.

Thanks a lot man, it makes a ton of sense with your explanation. I feel like I was spinning wheels here. Im installing this thing today.

[MaksV]

Thanks a lot man, it makes a ton of sense with your explanation. I feel like I was spinning wheels here. Im installing this thing today.

Dont overthink it. Its straight forward and should take an hour tops.

[Ninz30]

Will do. Heres my build thread if you get a chance to check it out.

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=227529

Also I was inspired by your MAF set up which you didn't complete due to your M50 swap. I went ahead and ordered the MAF set up from Miller. Your MAF was Volvo if I'm not mistaken.

[jlevie]

Wire the relay exactly as the diagram shows. The yellow wire and fuse should go the the main battery lead on the right side of the firewall. The orange lead should go to the switched wire on the aux fuse block or to the coil positive. The gray wire should go to an 82-84C thermo switch in the radiator. That thermo switch can be had from BavAuto and other sources. You can tie a manual override switch to the gray wire.

It this is a street car you really need the thermo switch. And even on a race car it is a darn good idea. I've seen more than one race engine damaged (or destroyed) by someone forgetting to flip the fan switch on. A thermo switch would have been much cheaper insurance.

[ZekeTheSneak]

Do you have A/c? If not you can wire it to the old ac fan and use the snow flake to turn it on

[immajackuup]

i got my set up to run with e36 temp switch so as my condenser.

also if u turn my a/c on condenser fan and radiator fan will kick on.

[immajackuup]

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1737779&highlight=electric+fan

last picture is the right diagram.

[Ninz30]

Wire the relay exactly as the diagram shows. The yellow wire and fuse should go the the main battery lead on the right side of the firewall. The orange lead should go to the switched wire on the aux fuse block or to the coil positive. The gray wire should go to an 82-84C thermo switch in the radiator. That thermo switch can be had from BavAuto and other sources. You can tie a manual override switch to the gray wire.

It this is a street car you really need the thermo switch. And even on a race car it is a darn good idea. I've seen more than one race engine damaged (or destroyed) by someone forgetting to flip the fan switch on. A thermo switch would have been much cheaper insurance.

Well if I ground the orange and have the grey to the coil positive. I can run the fan whenever the car is on. Therefore eliminating ever having to worry about a switch. Is it bad to have the fan running at all times when the car is on?