W124 Blower Motor Override?
 

First I did a search and was unable to locate anything on this. :D

Is there a way to convert the stupid fan control to low, medium, high as opposed to low, auto, High? The auto function is rarely below high and low is often too low. Anyone know of a simple fix?

Chris

I'd like to know that too
 

Excellent question. I just bought a '95 E420 and I have the same issue. Hopefully, someone here will have a helpful suggestion. :D

Electronic engineer here to save the day.
 

How bad do you want one?

I can custom engineer almost anything. The easiest mod would be to use the auto button as a mid speed. Could do more but would require additional control installed.

I can make it as simple send me your Climate control module and in 2 or 3 days I will send back modified version. Or I could send a schematic with a parts list and instructions.


What do ya think? How much is it worth to you.


Anthony Bridges

Anthony!! I dont know exactly whats it worth, ya got me there!! :P But I wasnt really sure what was involved, I was hoping itwas rather simple but maybe not. What you stated is exactly what Im loooking for though, to make the middle switch a medium fan setting and leaving the other two the way they are. Either way communicate with me here or at badbenz94@yahoo.com.
Thanks!!

Chris

I find this a bit frustrating as well... it seems like you have to play with the rheostat wheel to much just to get the right fan speed.

Climate Control
 

Yeah, climate control is nice when it works, but when the pushbuttons and thumb wheel get old and start to fail you are left with either no air or jumbo jet noise.

I had some luck resoldering on the pushbutton connections on one unit and getting it to work again but ended up replacing the controller for big $ on my other car.

You asked for it you got it.
 

I will work on this project next weekend or when time permits. I have been working 7 days a week lately and time is something I have little of. I will put together an instruction manual for doing this modification. It will have lots of pictures to make it easy. But be prepared to use that soldering iron!...

It will cost me some investment to do this as I am going to buy a couple of used Climate control units to experientment with.

Also I am working on a kit that will improve gas milage from 20% - 40% would you be interested in this kit?

The prelim cost is around 250.00 - 600.00 diy kit.

Kit will have a DC motor, controller and a custom bracket and 2 belts.

As we all know when you run your air conditioner you get lower gas milage, but did you also know that the water pump, power steering pump, polution control pump cause drag on your engine?

I am working on a kit that will power your Water pump, Air conditioning, Power steering and Polution devices from a dc variable speed motor that is controlled via Engine rpms. This way all pullys will turn the same speed as the motor. I can see 24mpg highway turn into 31.2mpg or more.
I have the motor and controller and I am installing on my car for testing.

It will probably take 2 - 3 months of development. Initial average cost savings estimate, 12,000 m/year driver is around $287.00 at 2.50/gal at 3.00/gal. it is $345.00 if you drive twice as much as I do you would save double.

Not only will you save gas but you will improve horse power, when you want to stomp on it.

Will keep you informed with regular postings.

Thanks

Anthony Bridges

One question. How will your idea actually save gas? Running the accessories with a DC motor is all well and good, but where does the electricity for the motor come from? Regardless of your power source, the accessories will still require the same energy to turn, whether this comes from the engine directly, or from the engine via electricity generated in the alternator.


I guess that was two questions.

Actually quite a few folks have already engineered setups like this for battery electric vehicles, since a lot of parts like brakes, air conditioning, vacuum pumps, and power steering require constant rotary power inputs which you don't have on an electric vehicle. The mechanical belt linkages are normally not preferred, since they take up space, vibrate, make noise and are generally troublesome. Mostly they go right to DC electric driven components for vacuum, water pump, etc. The exception is the compressor for A/C, usually that is driven by a closely coupled belt or a direct shaft coupling, but it eats a lot of power. Hope these links help!

See:
http://www.california.com/~eagle/figs/vacpump/vac.html
http://www.austinev.org/evalbum/
http://www.metricmind.com/water.htm
http://www.metricmind.com/pump.htm

After market products
 

There are a lot of after market products out there already such as dc motor powered waterpumps that claims to increase your horse power 18 -20%.

I am still in the design stage.

Without giving away the farm all I can say is that there is a way to do this. The problem is to find an inexpensive way to bring it to market that is cost effective.

The price of gas gives me the incentive to experiment and see what can be done.

I understand your question. Power is power in one form or another you can't take away from one (combustion engine). to feed the other (ALT and DC supply) and recieve an increase in power, but have you not heard of gear ratios and PWM controllers? You can lift a lot more weight if you have a bigger lever with the same horsepower.

Thanks for the link Jim!


Anthony Bridges
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls, and looks like work"
-Thomas Edison

Exactly, there is no free lunch here. The shaft power required to operate the larger alternator will likely be greater than the power you are saving by removing the other loads. There will be additional energy losses in each device that is added. Converting shaft power to electrical power (alternator) then back to shaft power (DC motor) is going to be less efficient than driving the device directly. There may be other good reasons to do this, but I would not expect any improvement in average mileage.

These types of modifications are useful if you are trying to increase peak horsepower. For example, air cooled Porsches sometimes convert the belt driven cooling fan to electric because it uses significant power at high rpm. This does not help the average mileage, but allows you to get maximum power for short periods of time.

And I understand that every time you convert from one form of energy to another, you suffer a loss based on the efficiency of the conversion. Chemical energy (gasoline or diesel fuel) converts to mechanical energy (pistons turning a crankshaft) and heat energy (dissipated through the exhaust and cooling system) converted to electrical energy (alternator) and back into mechanical energy and heat (DC motor). Even with 100% efficiency, there is no gain. To reach 100% efficiency, you would have to somehow capture all the heat energy currently being thrown out into the air, and overcome the friction losses in the engine, the DC motor, and each device being powered. That's just to break even.

Find a way to make an energy profit, and you'll be rich, famous, and win a Nobel Prize.

All IMHO, by the way. I would dearly like for you to prove me wrong, but I'll not be betting that way.

You guys don't see the picture here.
 

You dont see the picture here nor understand where I am going to get the energy savings from but I do!.

I will let you know how it is done after I have completed my tests and hopefully if it goes well apply for a pat.

I did take physics in college allong with calculus and electronics from 2 year tech school.


You are correct Moneypit and Craig "every time you convert from one form of energy to another, you suffer a loss based on the efficiency of the conversion" but there is a way to do this....

Think about it....... I have spent several days coming up with my solution and now its time to test it.


Thanks for the posts!

Anthony Bridges

OK, I tried. :rolleyes:

Good luck.

Regarding the original post (before we got off on a tangent by trying to repeal the First Law of Thermodynamics :) ), is this a common problem, or a known design issue, with W124 climate controls? My W123 control (rebuilt) seems to do a pretty good job of operating the fan at the appropriate speeds in auto mode. It seems to me that it would be easier to replace the control unit with a rebuilt unit if it's not functioning correctly. If the unit is acting up and causing the fan to run at the wrong speed, attemping to redesign it may just make things worse. Assuming this is not a design problem, it appears that changing the design of a semi-failed component without fixing the underlaying problem is a short term solution at best. Just my 0.002.