Date:         Sat, 2 Mar 2002 14:05:08 -0500
Reply-To:     Ed McLean <email99@BELLSOUTH.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Ed McLean <email99@BELLSOUTH.NET>
Subject:      Re: WARNING- having A/C on high on 85' Westy or Vanagon = fire
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Tony Smola wrote:
 >I've noticed that if I have the A/C fan switch on high (position 3),
there
 >is a tendency to melt the fuse and fuse holder...

Brent Christensen wrote:
> Sounds like a good application for a relay that would be controlled by the
> fan switch.


Exactly.


On Thursday, 23 Apr 1998 I wrote the following letter:

http://gerry.vanagon.com/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind9804D&L=vanagon&P=R5092&D=1&H=0&O=D&T=1

describing the installation of a bank of three load reduction relays
installed in the Westy air conditioning cabinet to correct nearly the
same problem.  I was having overheating in the AC fan switch because of
the heavy current draw.  Soon after I wrote this letter I found the high
speed 50 amp relay was sticking so I replaced it with two 40 amp relays
wired in parallel to share the load.  I have had absolutely no problems
with the fan switch, the fan, or the relays since then.  This also
reduced the voltage drop caused by a marginal capacity fan switch and
small diameter wires running the length of the bus.  The fan speeds are
much higher now on all three speeds, as reported in the 1998 post, and
the AC will circulate cold air to the front of the bus with ease.

This relatively cheap modifications solves a several problems.

Ed McLean