348 Implementing Cooling Fan PWM Controller

disclaimer, I am no expert in this area and electronics give we worries, I hate working on them. So if someone sees a better way speak up, this just represents what I did, why and how. it is not the definitely and only way I am sure there are other ways.

I changed my thermostat and may car no longer runs at 180 it run at 192 or so. I also switched the fan switch to the newer 355 one so my car no linger swings 15 degree and the fans no longer run long periods. The issue now is the fan comes on for shorter periods more frequently keeping temps constant. I put in new SPAL fans and I noticed on the spec sheet that when the fan kicks on it drawn 30 amps and the smaller one drawn 20 amps but the 348 fans does drop less than half as they gets up to speed. With fans coming on an off frequently I now worry about the fuse box getting hot. 40 amps frequently is a big draw. While searching I found m.stojanovic posted about adding a PWM controller. That's a Power Width Modulator I found out. Its function is to modulate power up slowly to prevent a sudden spike in amp draw. This is how he explained it to me. Thanks for all the help btw.

So I bought a Toyota unit from Ebay from a 2017 Avalon shown below. m.stojanovic mentioned he used htem before with no problems. There is actually another model used in GS450 that has larger wires and presumably handles more power I since discovered. But I went with the 30060 unit shows and doubled it up on one fan I'll show.

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I found a power plug that came with additional pig tails. This is interesting the wires are reversed in polarity for the same plug. I decided to check polarity and sure enough the controller is reversed in terms of what the wire colors would lead you to believe. Notice the meter shows negative when wiring (+) and (-) according to color. Its reversed....
So check before installing. Note at the end with wiring looks reversed color-wise. If you had the other controller this would not be this way so check. Notice the thicker wires on one of the pig tails. This is because the plugs are compatible fit-wise for several controllers.
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m.stojanovic pointed out it would be a good idea to wire both fan controllers into one fan in the car. Both controller fans run off the same circuit he noted. This would allow for circuit fail-over, plus load sharing. Yey Toyota!
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There is very little space and anchor points in the car. I needed a way to splice all the 2 into 1 wires so I opted for an isolated bus mounted on the radiator wing.
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The controller can fit between the radiator struts but you need to snip a corner off a cooling fan. Doing so allows the fan when running to blow air onto the controller cooling fans. It will also fit without snipping the corner but you have to reverse the controller direction and I wanted the wires away from exhaust and more toward outside. The way it is shows the controller is snug fit, not wedged to cause stress but snug. It is worth noting that I bought the whole Toyota fan with the controller on it so I could get longer pig tails. The controller comes mounted to the fan similarly so the design can handle vibration etc.
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Now to mount it you can bend sheet metal with a vise and a hammer to make brackets. One will mount on top with a nut and one will hook the fan ribs.
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Then I got some hi-temp terminal rings. They are so hard you need a hydraulic press to crimp them. The hydraulic press basically fuses the material together.
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And here is it wired in, the wire shielding and zip ties and tidying up is not complete .
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So now I don't have to stress when fans come on and off, on and off, on and off in in heavy traffic.

BTW I checked the old thermostat and it worked fine in boiling water not sure the temp it opend but it was definitely NOT stuck open. The new OEM thermostat and seal I got from Ricambi cured the cool running temps even in the cold am temps.

Wow those radiators sure look to need a shroud huh, I would imagine the fan would be more effective with a shroud and he fan stood off a bit....

 

Not sure how the original post wound up double posting the picture sequence.

 

I see. I actually stuck it there since I could not find any place to mount it that did not involve drilling the sub-frame etc. Thought about perpendicular but ran into clearance issues with the inner fender liner. I'll have another look, thanks.

 

Alternative mount using the same top hole.
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It works great, tested it out, the wiring is correct. Eliminated 30 amp instant draw on the weak electronics and fuse panel.

Fuses stay cooler with fans going on and off and hence avoid some other related electrical problems in the future perhaps. Thanks for your help!



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I added a second PWM to the smaller passenger fan. When the fans come on the dash lights (when on) no longer dim momentarily like someone flipped a light switch off and on real quick. Fans come on and off and you would never know it if you were jamming with the stereo or something driving at night.
I am surprised more folks don't wire these in, the fuse box will thank you especially 355's with the monster fan and popping 30 amp fuses...
I am SUPER happy with this enhancements functionality.

Here is the first one completed new SPAL fan, I had to relocate the controller due to clearance with the custom shroud I added.

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Here is the second controller fitted with new SPAL fan and rough wiring just to validate functionality. It will be cleaned up (it looks messy currently) and re-crimped then covered with Silicone Jacketed Thermal Heat Sleeve Protector like the first one. Yeah... that radiator is getting a shroud too its only like 50% total surface area under fan control.

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I bought both of my Toyota on ebay or $60 or so and were essentially new they were not even dirty, here are 2 examples.
1 - https://www.ebay.com/itm/05-18-TOYOTA-AVALON-ES350-COOLING-FAN-COMPUTER-64K-89257-30060-OEM-WARRANTY/323957131212?_trkparms=aid=1110001&algo=SPLICE.SIM&ao=1&asc=20190920091355&meid=f7fb1d52a2e44fa5bab72e8ea30bcedb&pid=100036&rk=3&rkt=12&sd=352841294166&itm=323957131212&pmt=1&noa=1&pg=2047675&_trksid=p2047675.c100036.m2109

2- https://www.ebay.com/itm/02-12-TOYOTA-RADIATOR-COOLING-FAN-MODULE-OEM-89257-30060/193176683341?_trkparms=aid=1110001&algo=SPLICE.SIM&ao=1&asc=20190920091355&meid=f7fb1d52a2e44fa5bab72e8ea30bcedb&pid=100036&rk=5&rkt=12&sd=352841294166&itm=193176683341&pmt=0&noa=1&pg=2047675&_trksid=p2047675.c100036.m2109

The hurry and buy these 3 connectors as a set and your good.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/toyota-connector-89257-30070-8925730070-89257-30060-COMPUTER-COOLING-FAN-1b126/132270216333?fits=Make:Toyota&hash=item1ecbeb548d:g:qIYAAOSwF6dZc7sf

For my large radiator I bought the entire shroud with fan wiring so I had linger wires. Those are on ebay pretty cheap too, I cut off the controller wires I needed as long as possible then chucked the rest.

There is one on ebay now with the controller new for $190. New controller and new wires... slam dunk.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/16711-0P200-Cooling-Fan-Shroud-w-Motors-Blades-2012-16-Camry-12-16-Avalon-3-5L/333346402860?fits=Model:Avalon|Make:Toyota&hash=item4d9cfe722c:g:k6EAAOSwnGldkqL4:sc:FedExHomeDelivery!07730!US!-1

You can also got to pick and pull part yards and pull them yourself.


Edit, my last one was $29.

 

The one I used is for cars and has dual circuits I used both on one fan incase of failure, has a heat sink, case and other circuits.
This is a component used in a device like the one I used, in itself is not a device and the fan draws 30 amps. Those appear to small.
https://www.digikey.com/en/ptm/a/ametherm/dc-inrush-current-limiter

Feel free to try them however it may work great, I am not an electrician.

 

Just realized never put the video here, you can hear the fan power up slowly over 3 seconds.


Made custom radiator shroud with bypass flaps incase anyone wonders what that is the fan is mounted to.