Has anyone done elec fans?

I am Trying to solve the Same problem

Now where I can see pics of your custom setup?

 

this is coming from my 240sx background and I am a recent Tacoma owner but the nissan Altima electric fans are easily wired to anything and have a good oem shroud on them and can be had on ebay for less than a hundred bucks brand new and really cheap used from a junkyard here is a comparison using them on with some decent home testing
http://www.drifttexas.com/showthread.php?851-SR20DET-Radiator-and-Fan-Comparison-Test
they pull a really good cfm and the shroud has a huge effect on efficiency. in my 240 however i did not have success on a fan controller so i hardwired them and put them on a switch and just remembered to use them but i had a water temp gauge too so....

 

Just a few notes and observations from my experience with the Flexalite fan kit:

• As I said, I've seen nothing from a performance or mpg perspective. My thought on this is simple, you're trading mech drag for alternator drag. The mech drag from the clutch fan is not sufficiently high, that any less alternator drag makes a difference. I.e., the mech drag and the alt drag are not sufficiently different to create any noticeable gains.
• For AC efficiency I have not noticed anything better or worse. With the electric fan, AC performance at idle, at 100 degrees or so, is still only adequate,,, not ice cold. The compressor rpm is just not sufficient to pump ice cold at idle at 100 degrees or higher. Bump the rpms to 14-1500 and AC temp drops a few degrees. My controller is wired such that the fan comes on whenever the compressor is engaged.
• I am not an off-roader, so I did not include the ability to manually turn the fan off/on as a benefit, but I can see where it would be.
• For low speed cooling, I can't see where the difference would be as both the mech and the elec fans will be on if the engine temp is high enough.
• and overall, like I said above, an electric fan is pretty hard to cost justifiy from a cooling efficiency perspective, there are some other benefits, but I wouldn't expect better/more efficient cooling

 

Don't really have any pics of my setup because the electric fan is fabbed into the stock shroud, thus you really can't see any of it unless it is removed from the truck. The only other thing is a controller that is mounted on the core support next to the radiator but that will be dependent on what fan you go with as to how it will look or mount.

 

^No clue. I was hoping someone could pull that explanation from their ass too.

 

True, its just when you crawling at low speed there is not enough RPMS and speed to help cool the truck. at idle your fan will spin at most 750 RPMS, so having electric motor to keep fan RPMS at atleast 2500 RPMS with out increasing heat output of engine itself would be ideal.
I keep my hood unlocked on those days to give extra air flow but would rather have electric fan. Some people cut ribs into the hood to help with air flow but in winter they are problem due to snow and ice collecting on engine parts.

here is the link on LC forum with how to for vented hood
http://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/386741-my-newly-vented-hood-20-photos.html

and final pic from their thread

 

While I understand that the alternator does not increase the load on the motor as actual electrical load increases, the fact remains that when at low rpms, the alt does not spin fast enough to supply the startup current without the ECU needing to increase idle throttle opening to maintain the idle speed.

So, you are correct, but there is still an increased load issue, it's just not at all rpms.

 

Ahhh, that's clear. See what happens when the on-roader is allowed to speak.....

 

Straight from my ass: There's no such thing as a free lunch. If you turn on one or two electric fans that pull 20-30 amps, the electrical draw will reduce the voltage in your system, causing the voltage regulator to excite the field coils in your alternator to generate sufficient current to replace what the fans are drawing. The higher the demand, the larger the field current and, subsequently, the stronger the magnetic field inside the alternator that the engine must work against to generate the current.

Your engine is still driving those fans -- just using the alternator and wires instead of a direct mechanical connection to the crankshaft. Actually, the losses inherent in the wiring systems to the fans probably make the electrics pull more HP for the same amount of air versus the stock mechanical fan.

The ability to control when and how fast the electric fans run is a plus, but I don't think you can save much, if any, HP/MPG.

 

Now I thought that our alts were more of a constant generation unit in that once the alt reaches a certain rpm (i.e., a specific alt output), the voltage regulator would shunt any unneeded power to ground. Or am I confusing my motorcycle alt function with the Tacoma??

 

I'm calling shenanigans. Where's Chris.

 

I hate you.

 

Don't discount the man, I just did some research and he appears to be correct. From a general alternator workings perspective anyway. Not sure if Toyota does it differently though.

Whoops, and I'm 1 minute late too.....

 

But I respect the decision of the judges. Well played gentlemen. Well played.



Enjoy.

 

http://www.toyotacatalog.net/M1WebG...UniqueID=D77E2B8D-E400-4221-AACA-AE550FFCEF30

This the same as the flex lite?

 

Interesting thread. I think I want a vented hood now.