I'm trying to get this wiring done, can somebody tell me where I put my wire terminal strip? I've looked everywhere....lol...arghhhhh

 

if you want to keep it close to the fans, up under the fender lip, out of the way, close if you need it. put my relays there also, and made a plastic cover for everything, looks stock.

 

Does anyone know if it is possible to get it wired into the ammeter circuit? I haven't wired mine yet but have a friend who has and when his fans turn on it shows the 40+ amp current from the alternator but not the current draw from the fans. Rightly it should be somewhere near zero.

 

alt. doesnt draw amps. it delivers voltage at a set amount of amps. parts that use voltage require a set amount of those amps to operate. an alternator that puts out 13.7 volts and 120 amps when hooked to a fan that draws 40 amps, depending on how its wired will show a 40 amp. draw. with out seeing how your friend has things connected and the rated draw of the fan motor makes an accurate answer difficult but thats kind of a bucket description, hope it helps.

 

Thanks for trying to answer this, 'oldalaskaman'. Let me try to be a little more specific. I've traced out the shop manual stock wiring schematic and there appears to be a current divider from the alternator back to the battery. A current divider is typically two resistors in parallel. All the current to or from the battery doesn't go through the ammeter. It appears from the schematics that part of it goes through a 10 gauge wire and the rest of it is a 16 ga shunt that goes through the ammeter. That path also has a 20 OR wire and a 14G in series as part of the path (???). What confuses me is that one would expect some control of the resistances involved, but the schematic just shows wires. Maybe that is enough as the gauge isn't really deadly accurate.

Since my deWitts wiring diagram says to connect the fan directly to the battery, none of its current draw is seen by the ammeter. That's the way my friend's circuit is hooked up and when his fans turn on, the ammeter shows a 40 amp (or so) charging current. Well that's not really accurate, the ammeter should (I think) be showing the net current which is the +40 amps from the alternator to the battery plus the -40 amps from the battery to the fan (i.e. about zero). Just like the headlights or any other high current drain load. Maybe I'm just being picky here but it seems to me a better place to supply the fans is somewhere other than directly to the battery. But I'm not sure where.

I'm quite a ways off from rewiring the car but this looked like an opportunity to ask the combined brainpower here what they thought?

 

good luck

 

It's on the shelf over the work bench where you wouldn't lose it Right next to the tap handle I couldn't find till I bought a new one, now I have 2

Jim

 

thanks for clarifying that, I wasnt sure and didnt want him to think I was poking fun at his misery, been there and done that.

 

attatched mine to the battery via the starter cable. Easiest to get to and the battery takes the brunt and shock of the start up amperage. works well I just have a voltmeter not an amp mete,r it does show a voltage drop when fans are on. I figure better to let the charging system in the car take care of the battery rather than connecting fans directly to the alternator or something.

 

amen

 

If connected to the starter the ammeter will show a charge since the current is flowing thru the shunt in the pos direction. Doesn't matter if it's charging the battery or powering the fans.

If you connect it to the Bat+ of the alternator, the ammeter will read 0, because you are outside of the ammeter shunt. If the fans are running with the engine off, the ammeter should read -40 because you are flowing from the battery across the shunt to the alt bat+ connection.

 

good tech.

 

sounds right to me!

 

As usual Noonie is correct.....

been a while man.....

 

I installed my duals by feeding from the Bat side of the alt (constant 12 volt source) and then picked up a switched 12 volt signal, in this case, feed off the reverse light power lead. Fans are not on unless the ignition is on.

As for locating the relays, I mounted them to the upper fan shroud bracket (my car is a 427) and I did mount the switch in a after market thermostat housing however, it is DAMN close to the front carb..

I'll post pictures if needed....


Eric

 

some of the best 'how to's' , are from other folks pictures, many thanks, bob

 

Having issues with my photobucket account and cannot upload.

I can email them to someone who can post.

Eric