Hi, I recently installed the underdrive pulley and fan kit from Troyer Performance and when I'm driving with the heat on, radio, and lights on I notice the fan turning on. The lights flicker a little. What's more annoying is when I slow down to make a turn I notice my brake controller flash an error. "Trailer is connected and Pridigy loses connection to battery ground." This is a quick flash, but it worries me. What is going to happen when I'm actually towing. I used a chasis ground. Any thoughts.


Thanks,

Rick

 

I have fans and pulleys on my '98 and have had no problem. Just a thought -- are you absolutley sure that both fans are not coming on at the same time? I would think that the current draw from both fans coming on at the same time 'could' cause your trouble. I would recheck my installation and make for sure that this isn't happening. You could pull the fuse on the high temp fan and see if that makes a difference. The low temp fan should provide more than adequate cooling for that test.

Your low temp fan 'should' come on when the heat is on 'if' your panel control is calling for AC. Every position on the selector gives air conditioning except 'off', 'feet' only, and 'panel' only. If you are using heat in any other position, then A/C is required and low temp fan will always come on - if installed according to directions.

ENB

 

Thanks for the thoughts Peddler, I have checked the installation and everything works as advertised. I like the fans, and pulley combination. Only one fan comes on at a time, and actually I have only had the hi temp fan come on when I'm setting the temps. With the heat on automatic, the fan doesn't run continually. I sometimes notice it kick on then driving at night, the lights will flicker on startup. Just a slightly noticable flicker. That doesn't really bother me. It seems that everything works, except for the error on my brake controller. Just an FYI, it's a Tekonsha Prodigy brake controller. I paid a lot of attention to the install, and it works right, but I won't rule out the possibility of something being wrong. I think it's a grounding problem. That would be the only way it would affect the brake controller that I can think of. It seems to only happen when I'm at low RPM's and a lot of accessories on.


Thanks for your help and suggestions.

Rick

 

Rick,

Check out this bulliten.
http://www.tekonsha.com/files/Techni...2020020060.pdf

Regards

Jean Marc Chartier

 

Ahhhh, Many many thanks JMC
That sounds exactly like the problem. I will be contacting them Monday morning.

I think I will either replace the alternator pulley with a larger one, or get a bigger alternator.




Thanks again,

Rick

 

If you replace your alternator pulley with a larger one, you will further reduce it's output, because it will be turning even slower than it does with the stock pulley...

 

Thanks for correcting me B-man, that's what I meant, larger alternator, or smaller pulley. From doing some more research I don't think a smaller pulley is the correct answer though. While it would help at lower rpm's, there's not much, if any benefit at speed. Since I plan on adding a sub or two in the near future, I will get a higher output alternator.

Thanks,

Rick

 

Hi Rick,

Normally we do not see any problems at all when running both our electric fan kit (which uses some extremely heavy-duty motors) as well as our underdrive pulleys in these vehicles, even with the base alternator - we run that setup on all our vehicles except my Lightning, where I use an electric fan setup but no underdrive pulleys - though I will add the underdrives pretty soon.
Our pulley setup only raises the required rpms for full alternator output by a little bit - just 850 rpm gets you full normal output.

Now when running *both* and with other things on at night when the lights are also on (and maybe the A/C, too!), the lights will go just a tad dimmer when sitting still idling in gear at a stoplight - then just as soon as you touch the gas pedal, you're immediately well over 850 rpm and back up to full output.

Given everything you've got going on there with that brake controller and the additional stereo amps you plan to do, dropping in a 200 amp alternator is a good idea - your stock unit in your truck's configuration is 130 amps, which is normally *plenty* - but when you add our fans, pulleys, and then have other additional accessory load demand, you can see the lights get a tad dimmer when idling in gear - overall, with everything you have going on there and what you list as planning on adding, I think it wouldn't hurt to have some more alternator capacity overall, I do not feel that just going back to standard pulleys will do the trick for what you want to be able to do.

The last time I had any real power in a stereo (about 1500 total watts, I don't care about having a gonzo stereo, I just need a good AM radio & all the horsepower possible ), even with the 130 amp alternator and the *stock* fan & stock pulleys, it would pull so much from the alternator that my amp gauge would quickly peg, and then my amps would kick off from thermal overload. Of course, I don't think they were selected & installed very well, we didn't do the work, we just bought the vehicle, dropped it off a the stereo shop, and then learned the hard way we got some bad recommendations and a bad location for the amps & some other issues as well - and sometimes it really all depends on just whose amps are being used as well, as some of them are just pulling more power than advertised.

Throw a 200 amp alternator on there & be done with it, given your configuration and planned stereo amp additions, etc.

Good luck!