TSD Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 Alphatherm picked up the IPR of the defunct Micro-Heat. From their website "AlphaTherm acquired the assets of Micro-Heat Corporation in early 2009 and has dedicated itself to re-introducing heated wash systems to the automotive OEM and aftermarket industries on a worldwide basis." I found mine to be quite voltage sensitive, so keep the power wiring and grounding as fat and short as possible. I suppose I'd better check mine out before the winter... just as soon as I put the engine back together Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mo Murphy Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Nice job there Mav, not too much work either and quite cheap at only £6.50 for the donor washer. Looking forward to your test results. Thanks for putting the pictures up Mo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Removing the non-return valve is an interesting idea, I might try that. Where will I find it and what (if anything) do I need to replace it with? Phil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Here you go mo, unfotunatly I'd already extracted the heating element from the plastic jets, looks like this. I've removed the plug and will put some small blade connectors on so it will fit through the bulkhead hole A bit of dremil action to make a hole... and some slots for the wires... Araldited into place... and then "potting" the rest of it, bot cold in the garage so will finish it off tomorrow when its set - I intend on filling the hole thing to make it a suitable heat sink... hopefully. Will do some freezer testing when I've got the wires set in. Mav Mav, could you test the resistance of the resistor? It would be interesting to know the resistance as you could just buy a suitable resistor to do the job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wunntenn Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Phil - the non-return valve on my '89 110 was located under the passenger side wing slightly forward of the heater matrix, tucked underneath. The van has been re-winged and messed about with and it looked 'new' so it might have been cut/shifted/moved so I have no idea where it should normally have been. But somewhere between your washer fluid bottle and windscreen if you can see/feel the length of the fluid pipe you should be able to locate it, small plastic in-line slightly thicker than the pipe itself. Undiluted screen wash was on the limit of usefulness around here at -10 and I was out several times in -19 to -22 and it simply gave up. A garden centre spray bottle filled with the neat fluid kept in the cab was handy to fire on the screen when it all froze solid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverik Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 A garden centre spray bottle filled with the neat fluid kept in the cab was handy to fire on the screen when it all froze solid. Yup, thats the only thing I got to work, had to do that far too many times! The fun soon wore off! Mav, could you test the resistance of the resistor? It would be interesting to know the resistance as you could just buy a suitable resistor to do the job. Will have a look at it tonight for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Cheers for that Are you just planning on wiring them to come on with the ignition switch, or will the be seperately switched? Or maybe wiring them to switch on with the heated rear window ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverik Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Cheers for that Are you just planning on wiring them to come on with the ignition switch, or will the be seperately switched? Or maybe wiring them to switch on with the heated rear window ? Well I plan on hooking it up to a battery and seeing what it does, how long it takes to heat up, and how hot it gets etc. - I might put it on the ignition or I might put it on the side light circuit... I've got to make sure I get as much of the resitor element covered so I can get it to properly disapait the heat fully to the bits that matter. I've got high hopes! but it could still go all pear shaped! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 wunntenn, thanks, I'm a little south of you but had similar temperatures last year. I'll have a look under the bonnet tomorrow when it's light to see if I can find the valve. Presumably I'll need a connector to re-join the pipe. What's the diameter? Phil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eds Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 I\m using the factory original one on my 1993 200tdi 110. It spays everything but the windscreen. Is there a more up to date one I can fit as some have alluded to above? Maybe even a heated nozzle off a Range Rover or Disco? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex Member Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Funny how nobody in Canada, where -40 is a fun and normal wintertime temperature never has problems with frozen washer systems..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 (edited) Do they use lots of salt on their roads? If not they won't need the washers much so the problem would be less evident. Also it may be vehicles sold to colder climates have some form of winterizing done either by Land Rover or the importer. EDIT: Just noticed your location, I guess you can answer those questions May also be that you guys just have much better screenwash which is quite likely Edited November 9, 2011 by CwazyWabbit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 I brought a tub of this last winter it worked well for all of the cars as it is both screen wash and de-icer, didn't have any problems with nozzles freezing up... even though I added a Non return valve and 2x2 jet nozzles. Just ordered a new tub for this year, have a load of 5L bottles so just make them up and keep in the cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex Member Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 We use washer fluid that....does not freeze..... Costs around 50 cents a liter. No need for complicated bits on the vehicle. Every year we enjoy watching these same silly discussions from the UK about simple things that have been solved decades ago.... Someone could make a killing after they figure out how to mix methanol with water and sell it.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverik Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 We use washer fluid that....does not freeze..... Costs around 50 cents a liter. No need for complicated bits on the vehicle. Every year we enjoy watching these same silly discussions from the UK about simple things that have been solved decades ago.... Someone could make a killing after they figure out how to mix methanol with water and sell it.... LOL - "silly" - there's a reason for why it doesn't appear over here... at 50 cent a liter you'll find that people will start to 1) drink it, 2)put it in there cars (the big tank that makes it go brum brum), 3)buy it-distill it, sell it on as primium vodka... So the task is set for the more whitty, intelligent and slightly excentric brits to come up with a solution that gets around said problems... Just think how many cent you'd save if you had a genius product like mine!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wunntenn Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 Phil - cant recall the size but they were the standard diameter connectors you get in Halfords - you might find that the one way valve is serviceable and you can pull out the wee piston thing so it's non-return function doesn't work. Failing that a new connector is only pennies. However if you have an older vehicle it might be worth running a new length of pipe from dash to bottle - mine was filled with crud and had a restricted flow. Crystals of some sort from the washer fluid had gathered in the bore. Tip - use a hot air paint stripper gun to heat the pipe end so it will stretch over the connectors more easily. Red90 our fluid is rubbish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverik Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 Resistance on the element showed 48 Ohms, which is probably about right. I put it on a 12v battery last night and it was warming up over a few minuets, it was just a quick trial, when I've finished potting it I plan on filling it up with water and putting it in the freezer and hooking it up to the battery to see if it can defrost itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 That will be running at about 1/4 of an amp and 3 watts. The nearest preferred value to that would be a 47 ohm resistor, you can get them easily in 3 watt or 5 watt. I'd imagine 3 watt would be sufficient as moulding it into the nozzle will act as a heatsink. You can get 4 of them for 99p with £1.30 postage on our favorite auction site (proper electronics places will charge lots of postage) ...... so you can do the rear window nozzle to! In fact you have enough to put two in parallel in each nozzle for twice the defrosting power (and of course battery drain) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300358884799 So we just need you to finish your testing Mav ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 I'm sure I could find a few of them hanging around at work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverik Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 That will be running at about 1/4 of an amp and 3 watts. The nearest preferred value to that would be a 47 ohm resistor, you can get them easily in 3 watt or 5 watt. I'd imagine 3 watt would be sufficient as moulding it into the nozzle will act as a heatsink. You can get 4 of them for 99p with £1.30 postage on our favorite auction site (proper electronics places will charge lots of postage) ...... so you can do the rear window nozzle to! In fact you have enough to put two in parallel in each nozzle for twice the defrosting power (and of course battery drain) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300358884799 So we just need you to finish your testing Mav ;-) If I've got time this evening I'll wire it up and pop it in the freezer ans see what happens! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mo Murphy Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 Wabbit chap, would one simply wire a live to one side of the resistor and earth to the other to make it work ? Mo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 Wabbit chap, would one simply wire a live to one side of the resistor and earth to the other to make it work ? Mo Yep, I'd be inclined to wire it so that you wouldn't forget to turn it off. So either a switched live or maybe wire it like the heated rear window so it was only on while the engine was running. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PS_Bond Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 Is there a good reason for not running it off an additional relay connected to the washer motor switch - or am I being daft in expecting to only need to be live while squirting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverik Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 Ok some results are in... What I did was, suck water into the nozzle then tape it up so it didn't leak out... popped it in the freezer for 10 min. Said nozzle frozen, I hooked it up to the battery and put it back in the freezer. its been on there about 30 min and Its just managed do heat it up enough to free up one jet. I'm just checking the temp of the freezer now but I recon its at about -18 to -20. so thats actually not bad going me thinks. Got to say guys I'm rather chuffed with that. So my heated jets combine with some high ethanol (ish) based fluid and lack of non return valve I recon will keep me from iceing up for this winter! Mav Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eds Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 That was my thought, is this supposed to be on all the time and if so how much current is it drawing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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