I have noticed when my electric fan kicks on my idle drops. Is that normal, considering it can make my car die if I don't have the idle set just right.

Yes it's normal esp at night. What hapends is the elec cooling fans comming on puts an additional load on your battery & charging system (Alt). It takes power to run the alt while its loaded and at an idle actually will slow down the motor a little due to the power it takes to run the alt loaded down with high amp draw being cooling fans,light at night etc.

Scott

Extra load caused by the fan causes the field to be turned on in the alt,the armature cutting thru the magnetic field causes resistance ,drag on the accesory belts and drag on the crank,causing the idle to go down.