This would normally not bother me but it is the second FAL-270 VSC Controller that has done this in the past year....

I drove the substantial 2 miles this morning from the house to Starbucks on the way to the office as usual....went inside and came out with the usual overpriced steaming cup of coffee...only to find my fans running, smoke coming out of the corner of my hood and the smell of an electrical fire...

I opened the hood and saw the VSC controller starting to go up in smoke...Pulled out the fuse, thankfully I had installed it within easy reach, and the fans stopped as expected... The below pictures are the aftermath...

I now agree w/ many of you who question the quality of the FAL controller.

And yes everything was installed properly

(I removed some of the potting to reveal the melted solder on the lower connection )



My opinion of what I think of this VSC now..

 

Wire Closeup



Back of Controller



Another Front Shot

 

this is why i optied for the fan JDM put together, i have heard of more than one going up like that

 

These guys have very nice fan controllers with variable speed also.

http://www.dccontrol.com/

Jody

 

Happened to me in the middle of a $200+ an hour dyno session. These dumb *******ERS think they can sell us this stuff and we will buy from them again????
Needless to say I changed controller and fans.


Tony

 

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...hreadid=108957

I haven't had a problem with taht controller since installing it. It inexpensive and continually adjustable from ... Yeah I forgot the temperature adjustability range.

(only thing I updated was the breaker to a 40amp 14v)

 

sorry to hear that happened. Luckily you caught it before it got out of hand.

I would definetely say that their is too much power going through their. I'm surpriced the controler isn't wired to like a 40 amp relay to run the power

Preach on !!!!!

 

I am on my 4th VSC in a year an a half. All of them went out in the two summers. Two of them broke or melted apart on the negative connection in the VSC and one was fried from a short in the VSC. This will be my last one. The next time it goes out I am tossing the flex-a-lite and putting the stock fan back in. I moved the controller behind the passenger headlight. Being in AZ, where I think it is located it gets heat soaked so I decided to move it. I loved the fan but starting to hate it now for constant problems it creates.

 

Art-Man....
Holy crap. That is horrible. Seems alot of people are having the same issue with Flex-a-lite. Only problem I have had so far is the fuse. where did you locate your controller?

 

why don't you just try a different controller with the flex-a-lit fans. the fans stil work fine, right? it is just the controller keeps melting.

i know there are some out there that work with two fans. i think you can get the kit from mad enterprise to work with dual fans. i would call him to confirm. i have had no problems with that one in my L over the last year which is a DD, and it gets plenty hot down here too.

 

I think it had plenty of room for air flow around it... It should be manufactured to meet the current draw requirements... Now I'm looking everywhere to find a quality replacement unit. I'm running a temporary 40A relay.

It was mounted here :

 

http://www.madenterprise.com/fan_control.htm

 

You may have a bad fan motor. My power lead going towards the fan is what kept melting on mine, til I replaced the fan motor. Flex-a-lite next day aired me anything I needed.

 

I soldered every connection on my flexalite 270, and it's been working perfect for almost 2 years now, no issues at all.

 

Art-Man,
Sam said to solder them (as MisterGadget said) and that usually stops. The problem is those connectors wiggle loose. I just crimped the s*#t out of mine.