Hey guys - my Troyer electric fans are giving me problems. Basically the connections to the power source are starting to fail. The fans wont come on and I have to wiggle the connections to get them to come on. Does anyone know if these fans were completely custom built and if so any ideas on if I could replace the connection parts?

Thanks

2006 FX4 5.3L

 

Okay. This reply is way late.

I had an issue with my Troyer fans. That's when I turned to the internet, to see if anyone has written anything about them. This was the latest post. Nobody replied.

Here's my experience, from having these fans for over a dozen years. I went through several controller kits.

First, I got a few replacements from Troyer. An hour long phone call, because that's how things were done back then. People called. Troyer spent 58 minutes of the call explaining how the SPDT relays functioned, the flow of electricity, the load/draw/wattage/amperage, how a fuse works, selecting wire gauge as it relates to the load and the run length, what an expotentiometer is and how it works, fan flow rate, fan construction, the politics behind building The Hoover Dam, feats of engineering like The Pyramids in Egypt, how to reverse sear a 7 bone standing rib roast, the art of seduction............. I said hello, uh-huh, uh-huh, yes I am still listening, thank you, and goodbye.

Years go by. The fans don't work.

Then I called tech support at Derale. I told tech support that I had fans from Troyer, and that the parts look exactly like what Derale sells. Tech support says they can't confirm or deny if Troyer's parts are Derale kits. Tech support said that "if" my Troyer parts were in fact Derale, and that's only an "if"; the kits are pretty simple, there's wear and tear, there's heat, moisture, grease, dirt - and that there are component failures. Just get another controller kit.

Here is what I have learned. Two relays are plugged into a manufactured base. The base has all the connections for the relay pins and the wiring. Relays fail. I have exchanged relays, and everything works. The relay base can fail. After swapping out the base, out of curiosity, I installed the old relays and the fans worked. The fuses blow. Which is one of the first things that I check. I have also found the wiring melted, the fuse holder melted at the connections, and the fuse was fine. The expotentiometer fails. I have seen where turning the adjustment screw does nothing. I have found fans that just stay on. I have found fans that don't turn on. I would rather have the fan on all the time, than fans that don't come on. You can't overcool the engine. The radiator fluid gets cool enough, the thermostat will close until it's hot enough to open again.

I call Derale tech support a few years later. The fan kit design changed. The fuse holder was inline between the battery and the relay. The fuse holder was relocated to be inline between the relay and the fan. The relay now connects to the battery without a fuse in between. There is now a diode in the green wire. If you do not connect it to the air conditioning system, or run it into a toggle switch, cut the wire so that the diode is still attached.

Today, as I looked around online, I no longer see the kit with the built relay base that originally came from Troyer. I see 2 options from Derale. A much simpler design using relays, relay connectors, and a different type of temperature probe - which is sort of like 2 of the simple fan controllers sold as a "kit". And a nicer looking built unit using 1 probe, and a circuit breaker.

 

Here is the original Troyer Performance controller. It uses Beuler relays, with a Derale sticker, on a base with an expotentiometer. Part number 4003647-01. Derale no longer sells this part. Hayden sells part number 3647.