Bob - question on blower motor

[DanEC]

Bob - I'm kind of confused on the blower motor. As it is furnished, I belive it is simply an off/on affair handled by a two-pole toggle switch. But, there are various references in the manual about a 2-speed and even 3-speed heater unit being furnished and some discussion about wiring in a separate switch to control the additional speeds.

I assume with just the off/on switch it will run on high in the on position. Typically heater motor lower speeds are operated by a resister or resister bank. There is a discussion about wiring in a separate 3 pole switch but I'm unclear on the wiring. Is the idea to disassemble the heater and splice a switch to the internal wiring for the motor? There is just a single wire coming out of the motor as delivered. Seems strange the motor and wiring internal to the unit would be set up for multiple speed operation but there isn't any plug and play capability on the outside of the unit. Is there a further discussion or description of this process somewhere?

Maybe I'm missing something all to obvious again.

Thanks

Dan

[strictlypersonl]

When we prep the unit, we "hide" the low and medium speed wires inside the case. Just connect the remaining wire to the toggle switch to have a single-speed blower.

If you're obsessed with having the other speeds, you'll have to pull the heater out, disassemble it to access the other wires, and use a different switch mounted underneath the dash. I've got the old ones here somewhere.

[DanEC]

OK - that fits in with the instructions in the manual. I was looking for something that said you have to open up the heater. Guess I better do this before installing the dash and filling the cooling system.

Thanks

[kevins2]

Dan, thanks for asking that question. I was reading that in the manual and was confused as well but haven't gotten that far yet.

Bob, I also read that the blower doesn't put out a tremendous amount of air or heat. Based on that, are the multiple speeds worth the effort?

Thanks,

Kevin

[DanEC]

Originally Posted by kevins2

Dan, thanks for asking that question. I was reading that in the manual and was confused as well but haven't gotten that far yet.

Bob, I also read that the blower doesn't put out a tremendous amount of air or heat. Based on that, are the multiple speeds worth the effort?

Thanks,

Kevin

Kevin - a good question (I suspect the answer will be no). With me it's kind of - it's an modification that is there to perform - do I do so just for the sake and self-satisfaction of having done it or move on(?).

[kevins2]

Hi Dan,

I understand that completely - I'm the same way. I recently installed an in-dash navigation system in our family car. It had an optional wire that can be hooked up to the speedometer to track you while in tunnels/lost signal areas. Hooking up that wire meant removing the entire instrument panel - a lot of work. And who needs GPS in a tunnel? Well, I couldn't help myself and hooked it up anyway

In this case, I'd just like to know more before proceeding.

Keep us posted on your progress.

Kevin

[Jim Holden]

Believe me, if you need to turn on the heater, the only setting you need is "high." On a late October day/evening here in the NE, the high setting its equivilent to having an ol' hound dog pant on your ankles, the others you won't feel at all.

[kevins2]

Jim,

Great analogy, that's what I thought about the heater.

Kevin

[patrickt]

I have the heater in my car, but if I were to drive my car for any real distance, in cold weather, I would get one of those cigar-lighter-powered electric blankets and put it over me. That, along with the soft top, that now fits pretty darn well, and my side curtains, would make it quite snuggly. But, I have no desire to drive the Cobra in anything but nice weather....

[DanEC]

Another consideration besides just output is noise. If the fan is irritating noisy when running on high I may want to install the switch and accept a little less heat for less noise. Patrick/Jim - can you comment on noise?

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by DanEC

Another consideration besides just output is noise. If the fan is irritating noisy when running on high I may want to install the switch and accept a little less heat for less noise. Patrick/Jim - can you comment on noise?

No noise. That is a "non-issue."

[DanEC]

Originally Posted by patrickt

No noise. That is a "non-issue."

Thanks - having installed undercar exhaust on my car I tend to forgot the rest of you probably can't hear anything over your sidepipes anyway.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by DanEC

Thanks - having installed undercar exhaust on my car I tend to forgot the rest of you probably can't hear anything over your sidepipes anyway.

Just hook the leads to it up to a 12v battery there on your garage floor and you'll hear it. Seriously, the sound of either my puller fan, or my two pusher fans, is louder than the heater fan. But here's another idea -- mount a little variable resistor from Radio Shack on the side of the heater and you can then "dial in" the speed of the fan to exactly what you want, and you'd still have the on/off switch on the dash.

[DanEC]

Originally Posted by patrickt

Just hook the leads to it up to a 12v battery there on your garage floor and you'll hear it. Seriously, the sound of either my puller fan, or my two pusher fans, is louder than the heater fan. But here's another idea -- mount a little variable resistor from Radio Shack on the side of the heater and you can then "dial in" the speed of the fan to exactly what you want, and you'd still have the on/off switch on the dash.

That's actually a pretty good idea Patrick - wonder why ERA didn't look at that as an option.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by DanEC

That's actually a pretty good idea Patrick - wonder why ERA didn't look at that as an option.

Hmmm, that's a good question. They've had my résumé now for going on seven years, and they still haven't made a final decision on whether I can come to work there for free yet. Maybe this suggestion could tilt the scales in my favor.

[kevins2]

Originally Posted by DanEC

That's actually a pretty good idea Patrick

Hi Dan,

I wonder where everyone is today... I once said something similarly nice to Patrick and within 5 minutes I was flamed and instructed "Please do not feed the Patrick"

That said, it actually is a good idea...

Kevin

[DanEC]

Yeah, Patrick is kind of scary. The Government attorneys I work with on Contract law I suspect would have technical dificulty changing a light bulb. He is apparently a different breed.

[DanEC]

Kevin - tried out the heater fan today and it is loud - nearly as loud as the engine fan. I'm going to install a switch or something.

Dan

[DanEC]

Well - I removed the heater motor today and ended up completely disassemblying the motor. There isn't any multi-speed option on the motor. There are only two leads - ground and power. I took the entire thing apart thinking there was a second power terminal inside, but there isn't. Apparently ERA has changed heater sources since the last manual upadate on this.

The only way to come up with mulitiple speed is to wire in a big resister like most older cars use but most are mounted internal to the heater case so as to prevent an exposed, hot resistor that could be touched and there just isn't enough room for one. I checked into a variable resistor but most are for low watt or AC house current - couldn't find a 12 volt one.

Good news is that I put rubber washers top and bottom on the motor mounting screws to the case and now the fan and motor are a lot quieter - so I'm quitting while I'm ahead and haven't broken something.

[kevins2]

Hi Dan,

Thanks for posting the details. I think I'll do the rubber washer thing when I get back to working on my car. Pretty easy to do with the dash out and the heater not connected.

Regards,

Kevin