Thursday, March 5, 2009

Climate Control Unit Re-Installed

After putting the dash back in the car, I proceeded to mounting a rotary switch on the climate control unit and wired it to operate the two electric heaters. The switch was mounted in the temperature control slot and uses the original knob. This maintains the nice look of the stock equipment. There are three positions on the switch (Off, Low, High).



The orange wire for heater #1 and the grey wire for heater #2 are fastened to the plastic frame and will lead out to the motor compartment firewall where the heater relays will be mounted (one relay for each heater). These are low voltage (12V) 18 gauge wires that will trigger the relays sending the high voltage (120+ V) to power the heaters through 10 gauge wires. The second standalone orange wire which is also tie wrapped to the plastic frame breaks out to four wires each with a 50V 3A diode connected to it. Each one of the four wires will tap onto a 12V fan wire which terminate at the fan resistor located on the cooler unit.



Note: The striped end of the diode must be connected to the switch side and the other end of the diode (with no stripe) to the 12V supply coming from the fan.



The green, yellow, brown and white wires below are the ones that will tap onto the fan wires. The diodes are covered in shrink tubing in line with each wire which then connects to the orange wire delivering 12 volts to the heater switch whenever the fan is on.



When I finished mounting the climate control unit, I decided to see if my Westach voltmeter and ammeter gauges would fit in the slot between the climate control unit and radio. I already have a driver side pillar pod on which I originally planned to mount my gauges. Now, I'm reconsidering but the decision will be made after I determine how much space is also required for the PakTrakr module. This is an ideal location for the PakTrakr. If it fits in between the voltmeter and ammeter, I think it will be perfect.



I cut out a rectangular piece of plastic that Richard gave me when I visited Ottawa a while back. This will cover the slot nicely and serve as a mount for whichever gauges I decide to place there.

More pics will be posted shortly.


Jim

1 comment:

Nick Drouin said...

I've put mine under the dash -- about where you have them there -- but may consider moving them up.
There are not what you might call 'heads-up' gauges. To read anything with accuracy while driving is dangerous in any sort of traffic or at high speeds. Test yourself in your ICE car and you'll see what I mean.
The Mazda3 I saw in town had them on the pillar, it was much better.
Cheers,

-Nick
PS. Glad to see the dash back together, any screws left over?