Alternative Fan Wiring -- A Sanity Check, Please...

[RICK LAKE]

patrickt Pat First off the fuse holder you have is good for about 15-20A with low spikes of the curcuit. You get into the 30A spike and above or a 20A draw, you will melt that holder everytime. The problem is the spring in the holder gets hot and loses tension. Over time it cooks, just like yours. Fuseable links are what you need. You can get them pre made at more part stores. You are looking for a 12-14 gauge fuse link for the fans. The guys are right about the front fans. I like the look too but they don't do alot for the cooling. The splitter that came with the car does a better job of making the air spread out and go through the radiator better. The little fans block air flow also at low speeds. Once you get above 40 mph, you don't need coolant fans. A schroud around the primary cooling fan would work better. This will force more air through the radiator.
Steve has it right about curcuit breakers, they work great to protect a curcuit, but if shorted out to a ground, they just keep resetting until either wiring harness is burnt up, grounding spot is no longer in contact, or the component kills the breaker. I have burnt up harnesses running them. This was before I used relays on all large ampage draws.
One side note, You would need a heavyduty amp meter but it is possible that the primary fan is starting to go bad. The could be an worn brush internally and causes a higher amp than normal to engage the motor. I don't know how long these fans last??? My fans are still hooked direct from ERA and the gauge never pinned with all coming on or running. The most should be a quick 30-40 amp surge to the neg side and the Alt should pick this up and cover. I was running a 70a alt. I have gone to a 120a system and replaced the amp meter with a volt meter. I am not a fan of too much ampage being runned through too small studs with plastic insolators for the electrical system. Rick L.