Re: Mercedes fan upgrade
[Re: DaveRS23]
#838271
11/20/10 07:57 PM
11/20/10 07:57 PM
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Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 3,892 Oregon
hooziewhatsit
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Hooked the fan up to the car today and ran it for about 30 minutes before it got too cold and had to retreat. Even the car was having trouble keeping the voltage up when it was running The mercedes fan seemed to run just fine with a 90% pwm at 100Hz. It's not a 'true' test either, since the radiator it was strapped to was empty, and not dumping heat on the controller. So, at this point, I'll finish up the code and do some more testing, then ship it off to Andrew for more in car testing. One question though: with the 5 minute ignore button, what do you want to happen if the AC comes on 3 minutes later? 8 minutes later? I assume we'd turn the fan on in both cases, and let the AC override the other command?
If you ever find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.
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Re: Mercedes fan upgrade
[Re: Andrewh]
#838273
11/21/10 12:57 AM
11/21/10 12:57 AM
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Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 3,892 Oregon
hooziewhatsit
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Yes, I was thinking separate inputs for AC and the 5 minute ignore. This is still the prototype, so features are 'fluid'. I guess for now we just want to verify that the 90% pwm keeps the fan from dieing, so that's what we'll focus on. I'll see if I have time tomorrow to finish it up, then send it out early next week.
If you ever find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.
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Re: Mercedes fan upgrade
[Re: hooziewhatsit]
#838274
11/22/10 01:57 PM
11/22/10 01:57 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 28,067 Irving, TX
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Sorry about being out of this thread for so long. I took the week off work to concentrate on building the hot rod. Andrewh came over last night to finish up the wiring and help be drop the engine in. I won't have it running this week. There simply isn't time. Once it's up and alive, we can either test the fan controller on his car or the hot rod. Both of us have charging systems that can easily handle running the fans.
I'll dig around and see if I can come up with another old style fan.
What was the longest you were able to run the fan? If you still have the 30 or 40 amp alternator in your truck it will definately have a hard time. You will need to keep the RPM up.
We are brothers and sisters doing time on the planet for better or worse. I'll take the better, if you don't mind. - Stu Harmon
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Re: Mercedes fan upgrade
[Re: bonefish]
#838276
11/30/10 03:52 PM
11/30/10 03:52 PM
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Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 3,892 Oregon
hooziewhatsit
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Quiet? Me? I was hoping to send it off before thanksgiving, but then we got 1.5 feet of snow, and 10* temps since then I'm still waiting for the temperature sensor pigtail to show up. If Andrew just wants to ground the sensor input to turn the fan on, I can probably send it out tomorrow. Otherwise it'll take a little longer to get the temp sensor mapped out.
If you ever find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.
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Re: Mercedes fan upgrade
[Re: hooziewhatsit]
#838278
11/30/10 05:18 PM
11/30/10 05:18 PM
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It depends on how thoroughly you want it tested. Slap it on a fan and let it run all day or put it in the car and drive a few hundred miles?
Andrewh has a new style fan in his car. It's also a different shroud so the fans we use won't bolt up. We would have to test the controller on his existing fan. I can change to an old style on the hot rod but it's not running yet. Close, but not there.
My concern is powering the fan for a long time without burning it out. I think that if you can get it to run more than 5 or 6 hours straight then it's done.
If you can't supply that kind of amperage, I guess we can slap it on the hot rod and try to fire it up ASAP. If it'll run all day long we'll be set.
If your temp sensor lead is something common or easy to tap then we can do it now.
We are brothers and sisters doing time on the planet for better or worse. I'll take the better, if you don't mind. - Stu Harmon
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Re: Mercedes fan upgrade
[Re: feets]
#838280
12/01/10 05:04 AM
12/01/10 05:04 AM
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Posts: 3,892 Oregon
hooziewhatsit
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Doesn't Andrews fan work fine with a constant 12v? If so, ideally, we'd find a fan that needs the PWM. If the fan works fine with a constant 12v, it should still work fine with the PWM, so we haven't really proven that the PWM keeps the controller from dieing. I don't want to make you rush to finish the hotrod, but sometimes a kick in the rear is handy I'm about to go ahead and get a 175A tuff stuff alt. Then I could actually install this fan and test it. It also started snowing again tonight, soo...I really need a garage I did get the sensor tested and mapped out today, so about all I need to do now is add that to the code, then make the prototype more rugged, and send it to someone.
If you ever find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.
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Re: Mercedes fan upgrade
[Re: Andrewh]
#838282
12/01/10 03:06 PM
12/01/10 03:06 PM
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Posts: 28,067 Irving, TX
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I have an old style fan available for use.
Unless you're concerned with heat being a factor, I don't see the reason for shipping it to us.
Can you run it on your truck with a battery charger helping the alternator carry the load? If not, can you simply have the fan suck the air out of a space heater for a couple hours?
I still think that if the controller can run the fan for a few hours without either of them failing the job is done. The only concern left is making sure the controller will not fall off the car.
Since you're only using the controller as a trigger it can be mounted anywhere in the car. People could stuff it in the trunk under the package tray if they wanted to. It only needs a few small wires. All the big power will run straight to the fan.
We are brothers and sisters doing time on the planet for better or worse. I'll take the better, if you don't mind. - Stu Harmon
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Re: Mercedes fan upgrade
[Re: feets]
#838284
12/01/10 06:10 PM
12/01/10 06:10 PM
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Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 3,892 Oregon
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Once Tuff Stuff gets back to me, I'll probably just buy the high amp alternator. Then I can do a proper test here. My charger is only 10A, which still may not be enough with the truck to power it The heat I was wondering about was the heat on the fans controller from sitting on the hot radiator, not my board. The microcontroller I got is good to 300*F, so it should be just fine under the hood I was under the impression that the fan I have is a (damaged) OEM Mercedes one, and that it would work fine with a constant 12v? And if so, I'd prefer to test on a fan that requires the PWM.
If you ever find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.
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Re: Mercedes fan upgrade
[Re: hooziewhatsit]
#838287
12/01/10 07:35 PM
12/01/10 07:35 PM
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Posts: 28,067 Irving, TX
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The fan I sent you has a metal heat sink. That is the type of fan that will fail.
We are brothers and sisters doing time on the planet for better or worse. I'll take the better, if you don't mind. - Stu Harmon
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Re: Mercedes fan upgrade
[Re: feets]
#838288
12/01/10 09:08 PM
12/01/10 09:08 PM
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Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 3,892 Oregon
hooziewhatsit
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Quote:
The fan I sent you has a metal heat sink. That is the type of fan that will fail.
I guess I was mistaken then. I'll go ahead and get the alternator and do some testing here.
Now my only dilemma is on the temp sensor circuit. It looks like I can either detect a missing sensor, and fail-safe turn the fan on, OR, I can have the sensor grounded to turn the fan on.
If I just assUme the sensor isn't there, and it'll be grounded at some point, I would hate for an engine to overheat if the sensor got disconnected. Or, I just require a sensor, so grounding won't be an option
Or, grounding is an option, but you need to install a jumper or flip a switch, or some such thing.
Electronics design can be complicated
If you ever find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.
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