( YES- I already searched and I couldnt find what I needed!)
I posted this in here cause I figured this is where all the people who know about wiring are. Alright, heres my problem: I used to have one fan on this switch and it was fine being on all day, but when I installed the other fan the switch I have them wired to gets really hot after like 10 minutes. I am not ashamed to say that I SUCK at wiring, not the actual running of the wires but the "technical" stuff. So I assume I just need a relay, this is what they're for right? I just dont know how to hook it up.
Or is that not the problem at all? Do I have to run thicker wire from the battery to the switch and from the switch to the fans, and get a higher amperage switch? (I think the wire its on now is like 14 or 16 guage)

Heres my great diagram that took me all of 5 minutes to do, can someone that knows what they're doing please copy and paste this into paint and show me how to install the relay? I dont know what kind of relay to get either. I tried to make it as easy as possible for you guys to help me, Ill just stick to helping people in the non-wiring aspects or cars. Thanks everybody

 

This is how you wire up a relay. The heavy current flows through the slots 87 & 30. The light current goes through the 85 & 86 slots. You want to shorten the heavy wire as much as possible and make the switched wire as long as you need (since it's light current). A regular relay can be found here at radio shack: http://www.radioshack.com/prod...earch

This only handles 30 amps so find out how much your 2 fans use before. This is the basic idea of how relays work. Now the heavy current wont flow directly through your switch. Hope this helps.

 

is that for amps to cool or the fans in the front of the car?

 

I forgot to mention its for my radiator fans , So where would the best place to put the relay be? Under the dash or hidden in the engine bay? That was exactly what I was looking for, thanks a lot How do I find out how much current the fans draw?

 

I got it, Ill put the relay behind the glovebox so its close to the battery, with thicker wire going to it and to the fans, and leave the switch in the same place and just wire it to the relay with the thinner wire it already has. Cool, thats a lot easier than I thought it would be. Thanks a lot for the help bro.

 

I'm curious as to why you would want to do this?

Did you remove the thermistor from you radiator? You know the thing located towards the bottom of your radiator with two wires sticking out. This is what turns the fans on and off based on the temperature of the water.

 

Getting back to what the above poster said about the relay being 30 amps... If your fans combined draw more than 30 amps, you can just run 2 relays...

 

For whatever reason you want to make your radiator fans come on at your beckon call.... Just put a switch in that activates the factory relays and tap into the appropriate wire. More than likely it will be a ground switch. This way you don't have to mess with the relay at all.

 

Im just gonna do it with one relay like I planned to, I shouldnt have any problems with it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Im just gonna do it with one relay like I planned to, I shouldnt have any problems with it. </TD></TR></TABLE>

No, you shouldn't. However, being the forward-thinker that I am, I'd hook both fans up directly to the battery and measure the current draw to ensure that it's not over the 30 amps...

 

i'm pretty sure that amps can be measured by the watts divided by the volts. I = P/V . I'm guessing the fans might have a wattage somewhere on them. The car is 12 volts. Maybe this can help you determine the amps. Basically the max each fan can be is 180W or the 2 fans combined max wattage is 360W.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Maybe this can help you determine the amps</TD></TR></TABLE>

Me? Why do I need to figure it out?

 

Damn this is the 2 things I hate the most-- math and wiring... What guage wire should I use to run to power the fans, like 10 or 12? Thanks for all the help though guys

 

It never hurts to use thicker wiring. People just try and use the smallest possible to save money. Thicker wire costs more and people dont wanna pay for overkill wire gauge. If you have 10 gauge use it over the 12 gauge.

 

Here you go http://sonolithics.com/files/bosch.pdf just about everything you can do with a relay. 94

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by kchungb17a &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">For whatever reason you want to make your radiator fans come on at your beckon call.... Just put a switch in that activates the factory relays and tap into the appropriate wire. More than likely it will be a ground switch. This way you don't have to mess with the relay at all.</TD></TR></TABLE> I agree, if that is all you want to do, [turn them on when you want] although not sure why you would want to, but all it requires is a low current, [about 250mA] of ground to the rad fan relay, that can be done with a small 1 amp SPST mini switch no relay needed, no heavy wiring no fuses or fuse holders, just a simple 18ga wire connected to the rad relay coil input, probably green, and the small switch to supply a ground. 94