Flex a lite fuse keeps melting

[Kaisen]

Hi, I recently bought a 410 pair of electric fans with a variable speed controller. Every few days the fan would stop working and I find that the 30 amp fuse has melted. It's not broken though, just melted the plastic. The wires dont feel hot to the touch. Would installing relays help with this issue? Is anyone using the same setup and facing this problem too?

[anti tyler]

Hi, I recently bought a 410 pair of electric fans with a variable speed controller. Every few days the fan would stop working and I find that the 30 amp fuse has melted. It's not broken though, just melted the plastic. The wires dont feel hot to the touch. Would installing relays help with this issue? Is anyone using the same setup and facing this problem too?


Did you install the variable controller properly? Because the relay is in it.

I'm sure you have some sort of instructions with the fans, but if not, check this out and confirm everything is wired properly.

https://www.flex-a-lite.com/pdf_instructions/410-440-98410.pdf

[jedi03]

thanks to the fuses your wires don't get hot...I did have this issue...relay fixed it, I also did DCC fan controller, little pricey but took care of everything and could forget about the fans and temp!

[anti tyler]

thanks to the fuses your wires don't get hot...I did have this issue...relay fixed it, I also did DCC fan controller, little pricey but took care of everything and could forget about the fans and temp!


It comes with a fan controller with built in relay...

[Kaisen]

Yep, I followed the instructions provided. All my wires are connected properly. I'll check through the wires again to be sure

[anti tyler]

Yep, I followed the instructions provided. All my wires are connected properly. I'll check through the wires again to be sure


Yeah because tossing a relay where the FAL diag says to put a fuse, would mess with the input voltage to the fan controller.

Have you tried emailing FAL on this issue? I mean I know it's a bit far reach, but it is possible the controller you have has a bad relay winding in it.

[Ilya]

Also make sure you have some thick gauge wire. Small wire have more resistance and can have a pretty big voltage drop thus generating LOTS of heat due to the IR drop.

[jedi03]

It comes with a fan controller with built in relay...
lol I had no idea, something else is goin on then...probably grounded wire...

[anti tyler]

lol I had no idea, something else is goin on then...probably grounded wire...


Exactly, it CAN happen (the product getting damaged in shipping etc)

I haven't experienced a failure in a relay winding but it does happen. Also as mentioned above, using smaller gauge wire would be a problem HOWEVER....

Typically the wire would get hot and melt the sheath before it melted the plastic on the fuse housing.


When I wired up a few elec fans, I used the circuit sport controller paired with 2 stand alone relays (CS doesn't have a built in controller)

I suppose it could also be where you tapped into the harness at, if you did.

[tuzzio]

Fans draw a shit ton of voltage. I think we all know this. A few years back I had done some wiring for mine i'm not so proud of and melted a butt connector and the wire itself. I have since then re-wired it with 2 individual 10G wires.

[Kaisen]

Ok. I've changed my fuse to a slow heating one and it seems to be working fine, until today when I took a look at the wires and it is charred lol. Do I need to use thicker wires? Pardon my knowledge in electricity. Would changing them to a 10g wire help?

https://imgur.com/a/g61FB

[di-devol]

You're lucky you didn't catch fire. Put the fuse that's supposed to be in there.

[mr.nismo.]

Replace all the fan wiring you have. If you bought those fans second hand, the heat cycling on the wires directly in the fan output get brittle after x- amount of fan cycles. Ditch what relay you have. Get two 30A spdt relays. Use 14g wiring, and put each fan on it's own relay (20A fuse on each). Throw a 200/190 thermoswitch in your upper rad hose to activate the relays and call it a day. Never looked back after doing so. The fans will pull much harder and without risk of both melting a fuse on a single relay.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[anti tyler]

Replace all the fan wiring you have. If you bought those fans second hand, the heat cycling on the wires directly in the fan output get brittle after x- amount of fan cycles. Ditch what relay you have. Get two 30A spdt relays. Use 14g wiring, and put each fan on it's own relay (20A fuse on each). Throw a 200/190 thermoswitch in your upper rad hose to activate the relays and call it a day. Never looked back after doing so. The fans will pull much harder and without risk of both melting a fuse on a single relay.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk


on that kit the relay and switch are built into one piece. (if he actually has the one for that kit)

Something just doesn't add up here. Did this come exactly as the kit is advertised? Or did you in fact buy it second hand?

If you bought it second hand surely there was an exchange of pictures, it would be best to show us those pictures of what the item looked like before you installed it.