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After finally getting the spark plugs changed successfully in my '06 F-150 XLT 5.4 3-valve, I'm starting on my FFDynamics dual electric fan conversion. It's one of the very few kits left for these trucks, and I found it on eBay. Back in the early 2000s, I had a 1999 F-150 that I upgraded to dual electric fans using a Troyer Performance kit, which was excellent, and better than the FFDynamics kit. The Troyer kits are no longer available. Better engineered for the application, and 10 years later I sold the truck to a coworker who was still driving it 4-5 years ago, and never a problem.
So, the first problem I have to figure out is fan mounting, since the radiator channel where the fans are supposed to be mounted to with the supplied bolts, washers and nuts, is not the same on these radiators, as the pics will show. The edge to which I have to bolt the top edge oof the fan has almost no material to drill the mounting into. More to follow on that.
The other problem is to figure out the easiest way to tap the A/C clutch wire so that when the A/C is switched on, the big fan runs. Then, I need to tap into a good source for switched power so that the fans only operate when the ignition switch is turned on (in order to avoid having the fans running with the truck off, and wearing down the battery). I have unplugged the connector on the A/C unit which to the best I can see has only a black and a white wire in the plug.
My Haynes manual doesn't show good diagrams for either the A/C wire or the switched power. Anyone out there got some good schematic pics to share? Appreciate any help in advance!
dkk This is how the radiator channel should look for easy mounting installation.
Got the dual electric fans installed, did a review of all the wiring, hooked the battery, truck will not start, and the gauges are shimmying like something is hooked up wrong, but can't figure it out. Still looking for a good close under hood switched power source. For now using the battery positive (no switch). Right now, it's a mockup job, plan to clean it up after I know it works well. As far as I can tell, everything's hooked up correctly, but after one attempt to start the truck, it doesn't star, and on a second try, its dead. I have concluded that this kit is not well laid out for this truck, although it's supposed to be. Not many options on where to mount control module and fan relay.
Put the kit wiring diagram pics on here . Then put one with how you tied it in and where.
These electric fans draw a huge amount of current, a weak battery is going to collapse. I studied this a long time ago it was too expensive to do it right with some redundancy .
You may have to add some heavy relays /diodes to protect system as well as some fuses ,you don't want any backfeed into monitoring systems .
Too me it was too much to add a larger alternator , add two controllers as I cant tolerate an overheat blowing my head gaskets . The main leads to fans have to be heavy enough for 40 to 50 amp continuous which would be number 8 or no 6 and fuses to hold that amount and not blow falsely . Too small of wire is going to get very hot and melt . Reliability is key here, a failure means you cant move the truck. New parts may be hard to find .
I live in hot florida and I tow some . I would love to clear that area the fan lives in for work on the front of the engine . Most of the time my ac is on so both fans will be going , I would have a temp device in the radiator hose going to the controller at least on the controllers I was considering for the winter driving when ac isnt on .
Thanks for the good reply. This installation is an ongoing project right now, and I believe I need a new battery. The truck won't start, on first attempt I get a little clicking, and after that nothing. Plus, I'm hearing a clicking back toward the fuel pump area even with the ignition switch off, until I disconnect the battery. I know that a weak battery can cause some strange symptoms, so I will get a new battery today or tomorrow and try again. I'm attaching the kit wiring diagrams and a couple of pics on how it's hooked up. Including a pic of the temp sensor probe mounted in the radiator fins and plugged to the controller. As you can see from the pic, both fan positive wires will be connected (fused) to the battery, and for the time being till I can locate a close switched power source, I'll run the wire to the battery as well in order to close all circuits and hopefully see my new fan setup run. It's a pretty heavy duty fan kit, and the wiring should be sufficient. However, I wish I could have found a Troyer Performance fan kit for this truck, but they are out of business now I guess. I installed their kit on my 1999 F-150, and it ran well for 10-11 years for me without a glitch, and was working well for the person I sold it to last I knew. Fan controller diagram. Fan relay diagram Temp probe hooked to controller. Fan leads to battery.
Wow what a lousy wiring diagram . I am working on creating a better diagram . First of all the yellow wire that goes to the battery positive is a heavy wire coming off the relay socket not off the controller. It needs that heavy fuse at the battery post then the yellow wire comes after that ,The red positive lead from controller is hooked to the same fused point as the yellow. Or you can add another fuse to connect to battery positive for the controller power .
The latter adding a fuse to separate the two feeds is best , the yellow is for the high power big fan and relay , the Red fuse is for the controller and the small fan . The ground circuits need a heavy wire going back to the battery negative instead of just a local steel ground . You can imagine the current being pulled by both the small fan and large fan . Using the steel grounds is often a poor problem area with heavy loads , you don't want low voltage trying to run motors
The yellow wire off the controller is to go to the run position of ignition smaller wire to sense key on -run . Not start ,you don't need fan to draw battery down while cranking .
From what I can see your harness is switching colors around . your yellow relay power is connected to a red wire going back to battery .
The yellow you had connected to battery ? If thats the one from the controller then the controller thinks its in the run position ignition and will run small fan all the time . I cant really tell . The orange on the controller goes to the red on the small fan . You may have the large fan connected to the orange controller wire ? Hard to tell on the pics .
I have all the wires connected according to the diagram, using piecemeal wiring because not enough wire length was available on all of the wires to reach where needed, based on where I had to mount the controller and the relay. Believe me, there's not a lot of choice where to mount those in a safe, cool place. Once I get the thing running, I will go back in with proper colored wiring cut to appropriate length and appropriate sized connectors. The main problem I have right now is finding a switched power source for the smaller yellow wire that allows the fans to be off when the ignition switch is off, and power when the truck is running. Not much luck yet finding out what color that wire is coming off of the ignition switch, and where it leads to under the hood where I can tap it with the yellow wire. I read on an older forum post where someone ran his to the battery unswitched, in order to close the loop and be able to fire it up. In the pic I posted, that was what I was trying to do, but that didn't work. I had to put the new battery on the charger already because it was showing less that 12V right from the store. I hope by the time I find a good switched power source for the yellow wire, that the battery will have the correct amount of juice for it to start up. Meanwhile, I'll go and pick up the wiring supplies I need to tidy up the installation. It's sure adding up to be an expensive conversion.
After a good charge on the battery (12.8V), it cranks right up, but the fans don't come on at all. Took it for a short drive and circulated the coolant and made sure there's no leaks. I'll tackle this after Christmas.
12vdc pos power in run /start going to pcv vent heater in driver side intake to keep it from freezing .You can hook yellow wire to pcv vent hose heat hot side its located on drivers side of intake red yellow wire . .
87-30 is the heavy relay contacts, 86 -85 is the relay coil ; The fans draw heavy current so use heavy wire to keep it cool . The total current will show on ground steel connections so I would add heavy black wire back to battery negative . I didn't see a hook up to ac to bring on big fan when ac running .There is a clutch relay on drivers fender so I would look at using the clutch relay command on signal to do that not the clutch power itself as it gets very spikey when it shuts off ,its a large coil that can damage your unit . I would use the right colors of wires to keep it simple if you need to trouble shoot it if you get a failure . You might want to test fans and measure running current . Low volts to motors will tend to burn them up or not give enough air flow .
The ignition wire is run and start so hopefully the controller will not try to start fans when in start drawing off needed battery power . Maybe it will have enough delay time . I show two fuses on these circuits for a couple of reasons when you test fans and measure allow enough current size for starting currents . Motors draw the most when they are stalled . Time delay fuses helps with that .
I attached the green wire to the compressor gray/white wire based on an internet search for where to hook it. I'm trying to get to the PCV red/yellow wire to attach the yellow wire, the only wire left to do at this point. Minded that this is all going to get cleaned up with properly cut correct gauge wire and connectors, once I get the fans running the way they're supposed to. I have checked and rechecked, and everything connected is correct so far. That PCV plug is being very difficult to disconnect so that I can tap into it. I pulled the little red out (and it came all the way out), but the plug just won't pull loose, even with a shot of WD-40. Argh. More to follow. Thanks again for your interest in this project.
