James
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| posted on 7/3/05 at 04:44 PM |
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Manual Fan Switch and Parking Lights
Spent 5 hours last night with my father (Chartered Electronics Engineer for 30 years) bullying him into helping me with my electrics.
I've got the lovely Premier Loom but at the moment we're just working it out on paper.
Starting with a couple of questions:
1) I believe some people have fitted a manual fan switch. What's the benefit of having this if it's in addition to the temperature switch?
Surely it's just a case of: if the water's too hot the switch will turn the fan on- when the temp drops it will be off. So what's to
be gained with a manual switch?
2) Has anybody fitted parking lights? Or waste of time/effort? I can see my car being left around exposed in the dark quite a lot (outside
girlfriend's) etc. etc. and I'm keen to stop someone hitting it.
On my Golf, when the ignition's off, if the indicator stalk is left in position if will turn on the corresponding parking lights but this
appears to be really hard to get working using the Sierra column switches/flasher unit.
Has anyone done anything like this and any idea how VW do it on the Golf as the Heynes wiring digrams are not up to explaining! 
Thanks,
James
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"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
- Muhammad Ali
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DarrenW
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| posted on 7/3/05 at 05:03 PM |
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James,
as far as i know the override switch is mainly a safety feature. Thermo switch will control fan on and off most of the time but at least if it fails
and you notice temp rising you have a switch (just in case). I saw a wiring diagram posted recently, might be worth doing a search.
A parking light switch should be fairly easy - use a seperate switch that sends feed to one sidelight or the other. If they both light up as they are
both electrically connected then either accept this as good or fit a diode. (use a 3 position switch, centre off). do you really need a parking light
- side lights would work if you have plenty of battery capacity.
On my old BMW the park light was controlled by the indicator stalk but i have no idea how they achieved that. Maybe had another feed to it that was
only live with ignition off (keys removed). Clever use of relays i guess.
Something different - i have seen an alarm custom fitted where by LEDs were fitted into the lights that flashed when alarm was on. Lower power
consuption than normal bulbs i guess. Do you have an alarm?
Whats it like being exposed in the dark???
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JoelP
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| posted on 7/3/05 at 06:15 PM |
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with a fan override you can turn it on before the engine gets too hot, if you get stuck in traffic - some radiator/engine combos will be ok, but if
you know you are pushing it with the sizes, its worth having. 
as for parking lights, id just use side lights. its only about 20w after all!
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rusty nuts
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| posted on 7/3/05 at 06:27 PM |
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For manual fan switch you can use extension wires direct from auto switch connections to your manual switch , or possibly from the fuse box.
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Hellfire
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| posted on 7/3/05 at 06:29 PM |
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We did our's as parking lights... ie came on with ignition off ala Sierra. Couldn't be bothered with the indicator thingy...
I thought about it at one point however, have you noticed that when you pull over to the left (indicating left) then switch all off the left bulb is
illuminated. Obviously you would have to put on the right indicator for the right to illuminate. Just seem ed like a lot of faffing for very little
gain. As mentioned you could always use led's for park and tail then use less than 2W - now thats what i call a low batery drain!
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helen & phill
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| posted on 7/3/05 at 10:50 PM |
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I am putting an overide switch in mine to prempt over heating in traffic, for track days or other motorsport.
http://www.velocityxt.co.uk/
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MkIndy7
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| posted on 8/3/05 at 08:37 PM |
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Just a thought, could the manual switch be like turbo timers, to stop them overheating when they've been parked up.
Our fan is permanantly live and when you park it in the garage after you have turned the ignition off the fan often comes on again as your walking
back to the house as the heat must build up again after the water pump stops.
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