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Re: Spitfire Fan/Stereo Wiring Conflict

To: moag@ix.netcom.com
Subject: Re: Spitfire Fan/Stereo Wiring Conflict
From: Jochen.Saal@t-online.de (Jochen saal)
Date: Wed, 9 Jun 1999 08:13:48 +0200
Cc: triumphs@autox.team.net
References: <003a01beb153$1e8e5980$3950d8ce@moag.ix.netcom.com>
Hi David,

The problem you've faced is not a conflict between the radio or the fan. Either 
your cable to the fan is not strong (thick) enough or you have connected it to 
an already weak cable that supplies the current to the fuse box. Contact 
corrosions and old cables increase the electrical resistance of the wire. This 
is quite common for older cars (especially at British cars where Lucas was 
involved - sorry you guys in the UK, Lucas has improved now!)

I connected a cable to the hot terminal of the battery (or you can connect it 
to 
the alternator output as well), and I used a spare fuse and a separate relay. 
The relay is operated by a thermo switch, which closes at 90 degrees Celsius (I 
guess that's appr. 210 deg. F).
When the fan starts, it draws quite a lot current (6 to 10 Amps and twice in 
the 
first few msec). As a result, the voltage drops down and your radio behaves 
like 
someone disconnect it for a short period.

If your radio is one of the high output, big bass ones, you should also 
consider 
to upgrade your alternator. Otherwise, your battery will discharge when you use 
the headlamps as well. Before considering an upgrade, you may test this. Turn 
on 
ALL electrical units (headlamps, fan, flasher, wipers, etc.) with the engine 
running, and measure the voltage between the two battery terminals, it should 
read 12.8 to 13.5 Volts at least. If not, clean all connectors (don't forget 
the 
fuse box and the alternator) and try again.

There are several recommendations from the VTR page, I used a FORD Fiesta 
alternator with 70 Amps output. It fits directly to my TR6 engine, I just had 
to 
use different connectors. I do not know whether the Spitfire engine uses 
different alternators, maybe someone from the list may help. 

Hope that helps.

Good luck,

Jochen Saal
Munich/Germany
74 TR6 Carb



David Moag schrieb:
>
>
> Hello all,
>
> I've recently added an electric fan (as a booster with a switch) and a nice
> stereo to my Spit. I ran a new lead off of the top group of fuses so that it
> would be switched, to a little junction box sort of thing where I connected
> the hot leads for both of these. The problem comes when I am listening to
> the stereo and then turn on the fan (or turn off the fan for that matter) it
> interrupts the stereo long enough that it goes through some sort of reset
> before the music comes back.
>
> Does this imply I'm trying to draw more current through this circuit than it
> can handle? If I took the lead currently coming off of my top fuse and tied
> it to a switched lead off of the solenoid with an inline fuse would this
> help? I suppose I could separate the stereo off of this circuit so that the
> fan does not interfere, but wiring wise it's easy having them both share the
> load.
>
> Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dave Moag
> 77 Spitfire
> 62 TR3B (deep in it's own wiring quagmire)
>


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