The original thermal switches Jason used were prone to failure. The one on my bike failed closed and I didn't notice until I went out in the garage a couple hours after I shut the bike down and the fans were still running. It didn't even make a dent the the batteries ability to start the bike. He has since started using a different switch that for me has worked flawlessly. He replaced the switches for my bike and my wife's bike with the new ones at no charge. If your on the fence about getting these fans, all I can say is they work well! They also look good. In fact I have all black fans and people don't even notice them unless they are running.

 

+1....

But I am using the original thermo switch (2 yrs..ish) and it's working perfectly!

 

Just a shout out to the excellent service and support that Jason provides. I have had my fans for four years with the original thermal switch. I noticed that it would run for a long time before shutting off, sometimes for an hour or more. As previously stated by others, it did not drain the battery.

I sent Jason an email and asked about purchasing a new updated switch. At no cost to me he sent me a new switch. I installed it this weekend and it works great.

Thanks Jason for the excellent service and support!

 

I believe the new switch shut the fans off at 160 degrees and kicks it on at 220. I got to ride my bike this weekend and although it wasn't hot hot, it was warm enough that I would have gone into EITMS mode often, and I never did, the bike hovered around 230-244. I'm very pleased.

 

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Same here,Thats exactly the temp my wards fan turn off at too when i checked it.

BTW,if your battery ever goes low enough to not start the bike with the low drain Wards elec fans running approx 6-8 maybe 9-10mins tops post hot shutdown then you would either have battery thats on its way out and or issue with charging system not keeping battery fully charged too.

Our HD's have a farily lrg AGM battery with a decent AMP hour reserve power rating/capacity that should handle running those fans for much longer then 8-10 mins and still start the bike as long as the battery & or charging system are both is in good working cond.

Scott

 

To keep my 09 cooler i just installed Wards cooling fans along with a UltrCool oil cooler with dual elec cooling fans and in higher temp of 87 deg (RIDING @ UP)the oil temp with Spectro's std dino 20W-50 oil hit a max of 220deg in some typical stop go traffic hitting a few lighst in a row then back up the cruise speed (not heavy traffic sitting still not moving for 10mins) and motor oil was running 180-185 deg on flat road cruising 60mph and when hitting long uphill grades ran 190-200 deg & came back down 180-185 deg when back on flat road with less load on motor.

Before adding Wards cooling fans & UltraCool oil cooler with dual elec fans the oil temp ran anywhere from 25-30 deg hotter at cruise and going up long grades to as much as 40-45 (even 50 deg one time) hotter in traffic on a hot day.

A bit off topic but is related to engine temp & this thread is when i got my bike prior owner had HD SYN syn 20-50 in it and when motor was hot up to op temp even motor & oil running cooler with wards cooling fans and UltraCool oil cooler with dual elec fans the top end/lifters would still get a bit noisy clicky/ticky sounding with only 11k miles on the motor which i didnt care for because a stock valve train with hyd lifters should run quiet but wanst.

Well i dumped the HD syn3 syn oil and tried mobil 1 20-50 syn for v-twins i used in prior bike and it quieted the valve train a bit when motor was hot but was still a bit clicky ticky when hot.

I have over 4+ decades wrenching exp esp wrenching/building motors for 60's-70's classic muscle cars that i found when you use syn oil in those apps running hyd flat tappet or roller lifters like HD has they tend to get a bit noisy vs running a quality std dino of same visc that rad the hyd flat tappet or hyd roller lifters running quieter even when motor was hot.

So with that in mind i dumped the m1 syn 20-50 for v-twins and installed spectro's heavy duty std dino 20w-50 specifically formulated for HD's lrg air cooled v-twins and that " stopped all the moderate though still somewhat annoying clicky ticky valve train/top end noise " esp when motor & oil was running a bit hotter in temps of above 78-80 deg .

And another plus was that oil pressure with motor hot at idle was approx 3-5lbs higher and 6-8lbs higher at cruise with the std dino vs either of the syn oils too.

So since i have the motor & oil running cooler with Wards elec cooling fans and the UltraCool oil cooler with elec fans i am going to stick with spectro's high quality 20w-50 oil for now because the motor responded positively to it.

Heres a link to that oil for anyone's thats interested in trying it.

http://performanceoilstore.com/products.asp?cat=65&pg=3

I may try spectros semi blend 20-50 for air cooler v-twins next time around because it can provide a bit better protection at higher temp then std dinco can though my motors oil temp doesnt seem to run hot (since installing fans & oil cooler) like consistently at or above 250 deg that is an issue for std dino.

Scott

 

I am coming into my first summer with the fans and I like them a lot. The engine is running cooler and when I forget to turn them on, I can see the engine temp drop once they are on (monitoring via the Power Vision).

Which starts to bring up my concern now that we are coming up on 100+ days in Las Vegas.

I pulled into the garage yesterday and left the fans running. I was 2.5 hrs later and the fans were still running. I eventually shut them off manually and checked them before I went to bed, I guess by then the engine was cool enough to trigger the switch to Open.

At the 2.5 hour mark when I shut the fans down manually I grabbed my infrared temp gun and was consistently measuring 104 to 106 degrees all over the engine including where the temp switch was located at.

If this is the temp set point for this specific switch, the fans will come on by themselves just parking in the sun.

just wondering if I got a faulty switch or something.

 

More than likely. My first switch was bad and was replaced asap with the newer version. I haven't installed it yet as I find it's just as easy to flip them on when needed.....and I'm too lazy.

Give the man a call, he'll take care of you. I love these fans.

Rick

 

I don't have a database system to look up your Forum ID, so If you email me I can help you correct your problem, I can't even date your purchase to determine which switch you have, in the interim I will address the concerns you posted;

To answer your question, no your fans will not likely come on just because your bike is parked in the sun, unless of course the conditions are extreme enough to allow the engine to heat up to about 210F while parked in the sun.

First the mechanics of the thermal switch must be understood. The simple mechanism is basically two metal contact strips positioned parallel to each other, when they heat up they expand, bend, and make contact. When they cool they contract, straighten out, and break contact.

Two basic types of thermal switches that I've used are creep action, and snap action. Creep action contacts move slowly, snap action contacts move quickly.

A key functional difference between the two is the value of hysteresis, or the temperature differential between make contact and break contact, or the difference between on and off. The switch makes contact at one temperature, and breaks contact at another temperature. The creep switch has a generally narrow "reset" temperature, and the snap switch has a generally wide "reset" temperature. I.e., the Snap switch will close at circa 210F turning the fans on, then when the engine is off and cooling, it will open at circa 150F, turning the fans off. The creep switch will come on about the same 210F, but it will go off only 10-15 degrees lower. This narrow hysteresis is the reason behind the fans "cycling" on and off several times after shut down with the creep switch; the fans cool the engine a little and shut off, then the engine "heat sinks" the temp rises and trips the switch back on again, repeating the cycle until the heat sink effect no longer raises the temp enough to close the switch.

These switches are all very simple devices with limitations, they are not precise digital switching devices. Regardless of the details they perform a very simple task of turning the fans on and off based on temperature, they remove the need for operator interface to manually turn them on and off. The fundamental task they perform does not justify pursuing a digital control unit that will add a significant cost to the system.

There is obviously an issue with your switch, material defect or install, they should not run for 2 1/2 hours until the engine is 105F. Email me so we can get this fixed.

 

"On demand" and "when needed users"
You are voluntarily reducing the life of your system. Just a point of clarification; the post operation runtime is primarily for the benefit of the fans themselves, not the engine, even though there is a side benefit for the engine of reducing the effect of "hot starts".

Heat kills electronics, so for the benefit of those who insist on not running the system as recommended on the thermal switch to allow the post operation cool down, this is the issue; you shut your bike off at say 240-250F and the fans go off, either manually or because they are hooked to an ignition switched power source, then the engine heat sinks and the temp rises another 20F+ before it begins the very slow decent to ambient temp. ( I accidentally left the data logger on overnight once, but what I captured was it took the engine over 7 hours to cool back to ambient temp) During this time the fan motors are also heat sinking because the are absorbing radiant heat from the engine, for a very long time. This is not simple common motor, with a rotor, stator, and windings, these motors have an electronic circuit board inside with hundreds of components. Exposure to this extreme heat over time can kill the circuit board components.

When the fans are used "full time" on the thermal switch as recommended, they continue running after shut down and the moving air helps to cool the fan motor itself and blows the engine heat away preventing the heat soak issue.

When the thermal switch is used and functioning properly, the user won't "forget" to turn them on, they should be in standby mode all the time with the toggle switch in the "on" position, waiting for the thermal switch to get hot enough to close and complete the circuit. When controlled by the thermal switch the fans are not subjected to damaging thermal stress during or after operation.

Again when the fans are used "on demand" they are absorbing electronic killing extreme heat, even when in motion. Very few people have ability see the rear head temp, but under non-extreme cruising conditions the rear cylinder can easily go over 300F, while traveling. Yes, without a cooling fan, the rear head can actually get hotter in motion at highway speed, than it can at idle with EITMS; for those who subscribe to the "if your moving your cooling" school of thought and refuse to believe it, I invite you to install a good contact type measuring device on both cylinders, monitor it for a while under normal conditions, and you will see first hand.

Folks install fans on their bike for cooling the engine, these particular fans are proven to continue to provide cooling and reduce engine temp even at highway speed. I simply don't understand why people install them and don't use them. Why not get the maximum cooling benefit out of them and run them full time? More cooling across a wider range of operating conditions means more total cooling and an overall lower average operating temperature. You don't manually turn your car's radiator fan on and off on demand in slow and stopped traffic, you let the thermal switch do the job, and the motorcycle cooling fan is fundamentally no different.