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Date:         Mon, 18 Nov 2002 21:03:34 -0500
Reply-To:     David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Subject:      Re: Flashing coolant LED was Re: Tweak yer heater output!
Comments: To: Jeff Palmer <jpalmer@MTS.NET>
In-Reply-To:  <00e801c28f66$8aafac00$361ca18e@oemcomputer>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

At 07:56 PM 11/18/2002, Jeff Palmer wrote: >I thought I had read that an improper mixture could also cause the light to >flash?

If the resistance between the sender pins is too high -- either no coolant, or not enough impurities i.e. antifreeze in the coolant, or dirty pins -- the sender circuit will believe that there is no coolant and will trigger the light. It might well be that pure ethylene glycol would also not conduct well enough to make the circuit work.

The circuit is quite sensitive -- as I recall something like 150 K-ohms is enough to stop the light from flashing. Electronically it works by applying a very weak (high-impedance) square wave to one of the sender pins, and grounding the other. If there is coolant between the two pins, it is sufficient to ground out the square wave [which causes the sender circuit after a few seconds to start sending a much more powerful signal to the gauge that triggers the blinker].

david

-- David Beierl - Providence RI USA -- http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/ '84 Westy "Dutiful Passage" '85 GL "Poor Relation"


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