WARNING to those with E Fans!!
#21
07-12-2010, 06:17 PM
Grand Champion
At a place where I worked several years ago we had a running discussion/argument about soldered ("western union") versus crimped butt splice reliability on stranded wire joints. I was on the side of the soldered joint. Finally we put finis to it by putting the assembly in question to the test on the shake table. It turned out that properly applied and restrained butt splices were hands-down much more reliable.
Soldered "western union" joints with correctly sized heat shrink tubing held up better than taped or exposed joints, but still failed at a higher rate than crimped butt splices. The ugly aspect of the shrink tube covered joints is that when they fail you can't see the failure, and they tend to fail as intermittents and/or high resistance connections. When a (properly) crimped-on butt splice fails the failure is visible: there's a broken wire lying near the open end of the splice. Soldered western union joints also tend to fail at the junction where the flexible stranded wire meets the rigid tinning.
BTW: This was at a mil-spec electronics manufacturer, not an auto shop. We used good scientific method, MIL approved methods, calibrated crimpers, and so on, and had an equal mix of joints created by the usual assembly line folks and engineering staff (me, mostly), with all tested units inspected and passed by the best and pickiest visual inspectors in the place.
After that lab testing I spent about a decade as a field engineer (for the killer money) and my experience bore out what we'd seen in the engineering lab. Those damned western union joints failed more often and were often very hard to find.
Before we did that testing I was one to solder every splice. In the 20+ years since, I reserve western union joints for solid wire or suspended aerial runs only (both cases in which they're more reliable than any alternative short of replacing the entire run with a single unbroken conductor), and always use crimped connectors on (unsuspended) stranded wire.
All that said, I know that this is one of those issues that can cause heated arguments and I'm hoping I haven't started one. It's your truck so do what you like and live like you want to live. It all looks good from my house!
Soldered "western union" joints with correctly sized heat shrink tubing held up better than taped or exposed joints, but still failed at a higher rate than crimped butt splices. The ugly aspect of the shrink tube covered joints is that when they fail you can't see the failure, and they tend to fail as intermittents and/or high resistance connections. When a (properly) crimped-on butt splice fails the failure is visible: there's a broken wire lying near the open end of the splice. Soldered western union joints also tend to fail at the junction where the flexible stranded wire meets the rigid tinning.
BTW: This was at a mil-spec electronics manufacturer, not an auto shop. We used good scientific method, MIL approved methods, calibrated crimpers, and so on, and had an equal mix of joints created by the usual assembly line folks and engineering staff (me, mostly), with all tested units inspected and passed by the best and pickiest visual inspectors in the place.
After that lab testing I spent about a decade as a field engineer (for the killer money) and my experience bore out what we'd seen in the engineering lab. Those damned western union joints failed more often and were often very hard to find.
Before we did that testing I was one to solder every splice. In the 20+ years since, I reserve western union joints for solid wire or suspended aerial runs only (both cases in which they're more reliable than any alternative short of replacing the entire run with a single unbroken conductor), and always use crimped connectors on (unsuspended) stranded wire.
All that said, I know that this is one of those issues that can cause heated arguments and I'm hoping I haven't started one. It's your truck so do what you like and live like you want to live. It all looks good from my house!
#22
07-12-2010, 08:01 PM
At a place where I worked several years ago we had a running discussion/argument about soldered ("western union") versus crimped butt splice reliability on stranded wire joints. I was on the side of the soldered joint. Finally we put finis to it by putting the assembly in question to the test on the shake table. It turned out that properly applied and restrained butt splices were hands-down much more reliable.
Soldered "western union" joints with correctly sized heat shrink tubing held up better than taped or exposed joints, but still failed at a higher rate than crimped butt splices. The ugly aspect of the shrink tube covered joints is that when they fail you can't see the failure, and they tend to fail as intermittents and/or high resistance connections. When a (properly) crimped-on butt splice fails the failure is visible: there's a broken wire lying near the open end of the splice. Soldered western union joints also tend to fail at the junction where the flexible stranded wire meets the rigid tinning.
BTW: This was at a mil-spec electronics manufacturer, not an auto shop. We used good scientific method, MIL approved methods, calibrated crimpers, and so on, and had an equal mix of joints created by the usual assembly line folks and engineering staff (me, mostly), with all tested units inspected and passed by the best and pickiest visual inspectors in the place.
After that lab testing I spent about a decade as a field engineer (for the killer money) and my experience bore out what we'd seen in the engineering lab. Those damned western union joints failed more often and were often very hard to find.
Before we did that testing I was one to solder every splice. In the 20+ years since, I reserve western union joints for solid wire or suspended aerial runs only (both cases in which they're more reliable than any alternative short of replacing the entire run with a single unbroken conductor), and always use crimped connectors on (unsuspended) stranded wire.
All that said, I know that this is one of those issues that can cause heated arguments and I'm hoping I haven't started one. It's your truck so do what you like and live like you want to live. It all looks good from my house!
Soldered "western union" joints with correctly sized heat shrink tubing held up better than taped or exposed joints, but still failed at a higher rate than crimped butt splices. The ugly aspect of the shrink tube covered joints is that when they fail you can't see the failure, and they tend to fail as intermittents and/or high resistance connections. When a (properly) crimped-on butt splice fails the failure is visible: there's a broken wire lying near the open end of the splice. Soldered western union joints also tend to fail at the junction where the flexible stranded wire meets the rigid tinning.
BTW: This was at a mil-spec electronics manufacturer, not an auto shop. We used good scientific method, MIL approved methods, calibrated crimpers, and so on, and had an equal mix of joints created by the usual assembly line folks and engineering staff (me, mostly), with all tested units inspected and passed by the best and pickiest visual inspectors in the place.
After that lab testing I spent about a decade as a field engineer (for the killer money) and my experience bore out what we'd seen in the engineering lab. Those damned western union joints failed more often and were often very hard to find.
Before we did that testing I was one to solder every splice. In the 20+ years since, I reserve western union joints for solid wire or suspended aerial runs only (both cases in which they're more reliable than any alternative short of replacing the entire run with a single unbroken conductor), and always use crimped connectors on (unsuspended) stranded wire.
All that said, I know that this is one of those issues that can cause heated arguments and I'm hoping I haven't started one. It's your truck so do what you like and live like you want to live. It all looks good from my house!
Interesting results. Thanks for posting.
#23
07-12-2010, 08:21 PM
#24
07-30-2010, 12:30 AM
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I know its a while sense this was posted but Im searching stuff. Iv got a e-fan in but I didnt put in the a/c wire didnt think I needed it and didnt know were the heck to hook it to. Think u could save me a buck and show/tell me were u put yours. So I dont get the same problem u got that would be sweet.
#25
07-30-2010, 12:32 AM
#26
07-30-2010, 04:24 AM
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#27
07-30-2010, 05:26 AM
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Electric fan. Replaces your engine fan. By taking the fan off the front of the engine, the engine can spin easier (less resistance from the fan), thus freeing up some HP. But you still need to cool the radiator, so you install an electric fan to do the job. Does the same job as the fan you currently have, but it doesn't task the engine down to do it.
#28
07-30-2010, 05:30 AM
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#29
07-30-2010, 09:32 PM
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#30
07-30-2010, 10:08 PM
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Dodgeramit 10,
Probably the easiest thing to do is butt splice a signal wire from the A/C relay in the Power Center to another relay to power your fan.
If your using the Taurus fan with 3 wires this is a two speed fan. You need to make sure to only use one speed (high) or use a 3rd relay to disconnect your low speed (temp sensor) when the high speed (A/C) kicks on. If both speeds are active you'll burn your fan out pretty quickly. If you don't want waste your time switching from low to high, just connect everything to high, then you won't have to worry about it.
Flue.
Probably the easiest thing to do is butt splice a signal wire from the A/C relay in the Power Center to another relay to power your fan.
If your using the Taurus fan with 3 wires this is a two speed fan. You need to make sure to only use one speed (high) or use a 3rd relay to disconnect your low speed (temp sensor) when the high speed (A/C) kicks on. If both speeds are active you'll burn your fan out pretty quickly. If you don't want waste your time switching from low to high, just connect everything to high, then you won't have to worry about it.
Flue.