About our FansAbout Our Fans
Don't be fooled by cheap wannabes! Our fans are by far the highest quality available. All fans are Brand New, made of high temperature resistant Thermoplastic, and use Brushless motors with locked rotor detection. I have personally tested many of these by cleaning them out with brake parts cleaner, stalling them with mud and snow (mud just dries up and with a flick of the finger, the fan re-starts), and just generally abusing them in nitro powered R/C models. The Small fans in particular have lasted the longest (I've never had of a single failure in my models). Our fans are Thrash Tested! All of our fans are basically the same except for their size, so they should all withstand similar abuse. The Small fans are our Top models. We regularly blast these fans with brake parts cleaner to clean them out! They have been totally immersed in a creek, packed full of mud in the bogs, packed with snow in rollovers, and generally BEAT ON! My buddy Dan has broken 4 fuel tanks, totalled 2 rollover bars, destroyed 2 diffs, dented and scratched the cylinder head on the engine beyond recognition twice. He even broke a Lifetime Guaranteed R/C Solutions Rollbar and blew an engine, and he has been using the same fan since DAY ONE! His savage is one mean machine and has been whipped HARD but the little fan just keeps on going, in spite of Dan's efforts to ruin it.
Features Brushless Motor Ball Bearings Won't wear out or lose performance over time Full Air Flow at only 5 volts Heat Resistant Very Lightweight Resistant to mud, snow, and slop Low current consumption
Dimensions TIP: If you aren't sure whether a particular fan will fit your model, try this. Cut out a piece of cardboard to the dimensions of the fan. Then, stack several pieces to get the correct thickness. Now you have a simple model of the fan to position on your model and check for good fit and examine mounting options.
Micro: 25mm square x 10mm thick, that's just under 1" square x just over 3/8" thick Small: 40mm square x 10mm thick, that's just under 1 5/8" square x just over 3/8" thick Medium: 50mm square x 15mm thick, that's just under 2" square x just under 5/8" thick BIG: 60mm square x 15mm thick, that's 2 3/8" square x just under 5/8" thick
What size should I use? Here's some tips for selecting the cooling fan that's right for your application. Micro This size is best suited for applications requiring 1 very small fan that is very lightweight. You can even modify the housing with a Dremel to shave off several more grams of weight. Weighing in at about 8g, they are perfect for 1/18 scale electric models and can be mounted on Novak's ESC's which have a cooling fan already to replace a broken original. Small These move ALOT more air than even 2 of the micro fans do! I recommend these for all sizes of models both electric and nitro. These weigh in at approx. 15 grams and usually have about 11 1/2 inches of wire. They're perfect for touring cars. On the Associated NTC3, this fan can be zip tied right to the pick-up handle to cool the engine under a full body. No need to cut cooling holes in it either! Medium This fan has the BEST airflow of all of my fans for their size. They weigh in at approx. 26 grams including 11 1/2 inches of wire! I recommend these for 1/10 scale trucks, nitro and electric, as well as 1/8 scale buggies, monster trucks, and any race application where you can afford the weight. This fan has probably the best airflow for it's size of any I offer. BIG This is the largest fan I offer. It weighs in at approx. 40 grams including 2 1/2 inches of wire. I recommend these for Big block truck engines, 1/5 models such as the HPI 5B, and any other large vehicle you can fit them into. These move ALOT of air! They can easily drop engine temps by 50 degrees or more.
Frequently Asked Questions Why do I need a cooling fan on my R/C Car or Truck? Well, the answer is simple. The power plant in any R/C model generates the most heat. On electrics, the ESC and motor are the components which benefit when running a fan. On Nitro models, these fans can help your power output ALOT! On nitro powered models, the engine generates alot of heat. This heat needs somewhere to escape to in order to prevent overheating of the engine. In touring cars, the body is often cut up to allow airflow through the windshield, side windows, and sometimes even the rear window too. This helps a little, but only when you're moving. With a cooling fan, no body modifications are needed to keep heat under control. The vehicle can sit there and idle indefinately without overheating. The real benefit of a cooling fan now becomes clear. It cools the engine enough to allow needle valve adjustments. You can expect at least a 20-40 degree reduction in running temps immediately when you install a cooling fan. To get the engine back up into proper operating temperatures (usually 260-290 degrees), you will need to lean the engine out a bit. This increases engine power output and fuel economy quite nicely. It usually requires about 1/4 to 1/2 turn on the high needle to bring the temps back into range. Of course this varies depending on your engine, fuel, and air density during tuning.
-- All 5 volt fans run nicely on a 4 or 5 cell Receiver battery pack. Just connect the power wires for the fan between the On/Off switch and the Receiver. -- If you have an extra channel slot, just pick up a connector to fit your receiver, connect the fan to the + and - wires on the connector, and plug it into the extra slot. Most radio systems use Red and Black for the power wires, but these might vary depending on your setup, so make sure before you hook things up. -- When all else fails, you can splice into one of your servos for power. To do this, you connect the fan power wires to the Red and Black wires in a servo connector wire. You might want to install a connector to remove the fan from the servo wire so you can easily service your system. -- Of course you can always run your fan on an external battery pack. A 4-cell Ni-Mh, Ni-Cad, or other 5 volt battery will work fine. -- If you are running high voltage Li-Po cells (or any voltage up to 35v DC), you will need to hook up a 5-volt regulator to avoid damaging your fan. It is a pertty simple set-up, but requires a little soldering to make the connections. If you still need help hooking up of your fan, please contact me and I will help in any way I can.
How do I mount one on my model? I have only used them on certain models. Each application will be different, so you will need to mount your fan yourself. I have zip tied them to the silicone exhaust coupler on the exhaust, mounted to a handle or body mount, or they can be mounted on a custom made music wire or plate mounting system. I do not currently offer any mounting kits, but if you're a little creative they're worth the effort to install. Here are a few examples of how I mounted them on my own models: RC10GT: I simply zip tied the small (40mm) fan to the exhaust coupler. This allows it to move and roll around the exhaust in the event of a crash. On the RC10GT, I cut a round hole in the body to allow the fan to suck in fresh air. This is a very trick looking set-up that works perfectly! I run an O.S. .18 with no windshield cutouts in the body and have never had an overheating problem.
HPI Savage: This mount is very similar to the RC10GT except I made an aluminum bracket to hold the fan a little higher so it lined up with the cooling head better. I was careful to trim the bracket so none of it was in front of the fan blades. It is soft aluminum so I can adjust it by bending a little and the zip tie mounting allows it to move in the event of a crash. This set-up has been AWESOME! I have run this same fan since I bought the Savage and it has endured mod, snow, water, and everything else I throw at it.
Nitro TC3: For this car, I just zip tied a small (40mm) fan the handle (beside the driveshaft under the body). No holes in the body, and still this beauty can sit and idle as long as I like, and it doesn't overheat. Very nice. I didn't even cut out a glow plug hole. The top zip tie has the stub sticking into the top hole of the fan to tilt the fan back a little. This directs the airflow right on the head for maximum cooling. It also allows the fan to easily be pulled off the top mount so I can rock it back toward the engine during refueling if necessary.
Axial AX10 Crawler:Once again, the small fan is a perfect fit. I simply zip tied it to a cross bar and plugged it into an extra channel on the receiver for power. I angled it to blow on the ESC which is mounted upside-down under the battery shelf. The airflow actually hits the motor a little bit too. The ESC used to get pretty hot because of the very low speeds I run the truck when crawling, but now it remains cool and easy to touch.
HPI 5B: The BIG fan is the way to go on this Monster 1/5 scale buggy. It mounts using zip ties right to the roll cage. The wiring is the worst part because it is such a long run. But my 4.5HP engine really tunes up with the fan! (Sorry, no photos of this one yet)
If you do a good job mounting your fan on your model, Please let us know! Send a Photo and let us know your results! If we like it, you will receive a nice coupon and we may include your photo in this gallery! |
