[philwecksr]

The spiking problem could probably be solved with a capacitor set up. Just like in a car-subwoofer set up, the capacitors draw a steady amount of power to charge themselves, and then if there is a significant power draw they discharge so there is no spiked load on the system. I know this isn't a 100% accurate description of a capacitors function, but hey, I'm a Mechanical Engineer not an Electrical, I like things that spin not that shock me....

[squiggy]

Short Update 4/6/08:


I've finally figured out how to wire the oil cooler fans to the neutral switch so that when I put the tranny in neutral, like at a stop light where I will be idling for awhile, the neutral switch will trigger the relay for the fans automatically.

I was lurking over at Adventure Rider, which I do frequently, and found this thread: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...neutral+switch about someone using the neutral switch to turn off some heated gear.

For quite awhile I was perplexed about how the neutral switch works. When I use my multimeter on the neutral switch wires I was finding that I would get a 12v signal in every gear except neutral. What I was trying to do is wire the fan relay to a 12v switched signal, which I thought would be the neutral switch. But after reading about the one person on the Adventure Rider forum, I figured I'd try and wire the relay ground to the neutral switch and voila it works.

Now I have a new master switch that will shut off power to the relay even when in neutral, like during the winter season.

First version of the Master Switch:




Second version of the Master switch:





The new master switch I bought on ebay is the updated throttle switch gear and I used the hazzard flasher switch as the master switch for the oil coolers. The wiring harness is different on my 2001 so the hazzard switch does not work as 4 way flashers.

The neutral switch wiring harness is on the left side above the foot peg.






What I did was piggyback a wire off the single BLUE wire for the relay ground.


Now there is one negative issue I have found with moving the oil cooler forward a little and that is the left (clutch) side brake line is rubbing against the cooler. It wore away the clear plastic coating on the braided lines and put some marks on the cooler itself.









In those pics I've already straightened out the bent fins. What I did to the brake line is turn it upside down from the caliper to the T connection. Now the line bends outward more than backwards. I'll see if this does any good in the future.

[vha23]

have you noticed a difference with the fans?

[squiggy]

Nothing so far, it hasn't been hot enough.

[The CyberPoet]

Squiggy, you might be able to reroute the brake line in such a way that it becomes a non-issue (zip-tying it off to the fork outer or some such).

Just a thought.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[squiggy]

Squiggy, you might be able to reroute the brake line in such a way that it becomes a non-issue (zip-tying it off to the fork outer or some such).

Just a thought.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

I was looking at it again yesterday and was thinking of doing one single line from the reservoir to the right side caliper, then piggy-back a line from there to the left side up over the front fender like the modern bike lines are.

This way my Katana will look like a Gixxer...woooooo

[squiggy]

Small update.

Today when I came home from work the outside dial thermometer, patio type, said 106F (41C) The specific humidity is unknow, but we have dry heat in the Sacramento Valley.

So I let the Kat idle for 10 minutes with the fans on, on the side stand (if that matters).

The temp gauge needle was juuust over the 200F (95C) mark. Just a smiggen over. After idling for ten minutes the temp went down a little, maybe 5 degrees.

In the picture I started the count at 5:56 on the clock and when I took the picture it is 6:07.

So it is helping a little. And this is at idle, one of the worst running conditions for an oil cooled engine.




Another thing I noticed with the fans running at the stop lights is...how do you like your knees cooked, medium or well done?

Oww, these fans push out a lot of hot air right on the inner knee area.

And a side note, the two LEDs at the bottom of the spedo, the left one (red) is wired to the fans. This way it lights up when it is on and I know it's functioning. In the picture it is being washed out by the sunlight.

[The CyberPoet]

Thanks for the update! Would love to see you tell me that the fans kept it below 250 for 30 minutes at idle (well, one could hope).

I remember getting my ankles cooked to a mediterrain brown (literally cooked, literally brown) by my old Honda Shadow when the fans came on at stop lights.

Does make me wonder (kind of idly, not too seriously) if you could run the fans in reverse at stops, so the hot air pushes forward instead

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[squiggy]

Would love to see you tell me that the fans kept it below 250 for 30 minutes at idle (well, one could hope).

Alright Marc, just for you.

Temp: 92F (33.3C)

Start Time: 6:14 PM

Oil Temp: 300F (149C)

End Time: 6:44 PM

Oil Temp: around 175F (79.5)


This time because of the cooler weather the oil temp went down fairly quickly.










On a side achivement, the bike turned 63,000 miles today. Yaaaa.

[The CyberPoet]

Just to make sure I got this straight:
So you came in from a ride with the engine already hot (running at 300F), left it at idle in neutral and it knocked down to 175 in fairly short order?

That is a big-thumbs up in my book and justifies the fans (and turns me into a fan of the fan-mod as well)!

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[squiggy]

Yes.

I came home from work and the oil temp was at 300F. It went down to 175F quicker today, say 15 minutes, because it was cooler today. But since you wanted a 30 minute test, I left it idling for the full 30 minutes.

Again, it was only about 92F and low humidity. For you, being in Florida, the humidity may change things, temp wise.

[The CyberPoet]

Actually, the humidity ought to make it cool better (more heat-capacity in the wet air, better heat conduction to the air due to the moisture content). I guess I'm going to have to schedule this mod in the near future...

Thanks!
=-= The CyberPoet

[squiggy]

Weeell...this morning I found out what happends when I run two high current fans while idling for a half hour.

rrrrrrrr...rrrr...rr...r

Time for the charger.

[The CyberPoet]

Sorry about that!

What's the power-draw on the fans?

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[squiggy]

No big deal. I let it charge slowly overnight and all is well.


I had to go back to the first page to see what I wrote regarding current draw.

At start-up the two fans drew about 20 amps then settled down to 8 amps for the two fans. I used my multimeter to calculate the current draw.