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So I put dual 14 inch electric fans in and the thermal switch it came with is 185 on 160 off. I have a 180 thermostat so the fans aren't ever going to shut off. Just curious as to what others that gone electric fans have for thermal switches on and off. I'm thinking 205 on 190 off or 210 on 195 off. Any help would be great.
I'm running a 195 degree thermostat, so I set my fan to come on at 200 and go back off at 195, but I'm not using a thermal switch. I just entered the values I wanted in my PimpX ECU. Sorry... that probably doesn't help much other than to let you know what temperature range works well for me.
You don't want the fan to keep cycling on and off. The idea is that the fan will turn on as the thermostat opens, allowing you to cool the coolant continually as the thermostat cycles, but the coolant will never reach a temperature so low to trigger the thermal switch's "off" point. This keeps the motor at operating temperature without wild fluctuation.
A range so tight like Mikulh has above is also not ideal because the fan will have tendency to cycle on and off quickly. Having the fan off after the thermostat opens is also not ideal.
The fans turning on will also induce a noticeable electrical load, but this diminishes once they are running. Depending on how many amps your fans draw and your alternators output, this is likely enough to cause your lights to dim momentarily which is just annoying if it keeps happening every few minutes.
Here is the reasoning for the temperature range I chose...
I didn't want to let it get higher than 200 before turning the fan on, but I also didn't want to cool it below operating temperature (195).
I'm getting close to 16mpg with my 5.8L this way since it stays at operating temp.
I ordered 2 temp switches yesterday 1 is a 200 on 185 off and the other is a 210 on 195 off. I'm going to play around with it see which is going to work the best for what I do. Eventually I'm going to order a controller for it so I can just tell it to do what I want. I didn't realize that was an option until I did more research. I ordered my fan kit thru champion and used the the relay wire setup they sent with it.
