Electric heater tap and servo controls

[stephen low]

From a previous post I indicated I'd manage to find an electrically operated heater tap as part of my hunt to run electric controls for my heater.

Thought I'd throw up pictures, partly at Mando's request, but for general information for anyone else contemplating electric controls.

The kit shown is a product from Vintage Air and each kit cost me about $135 from CoolDrive as one of the local distributers. I bought two kits, one for the tap the other simply to use the servo to drive the airflow direction operation on the heater system.

The following picture shows the general kit and wiring and the various bits of the second kit on the left.



The tap is a variant of the simple lever actuation taps available here. I've now one spare lever tap if anyone wants it. The VA tap of course mounts atop a servo motor to drive it via switching instead of using a choke cable pull as I was going to do.



The seperated servo and tap are shown next and I will just use the servo to drive the air direction control.



I was driven to looking for such gear after seeing the VA anodised 4 switch set used in their climate control systems. I plan to make up backing plates etched with the various controls to use behind the rotary switches.

Jaycar sell the black anodised knob seen on the dismantled switch (for $3 each) which allows me to pretty up the look of the switches and create a common look on the dash.



It is all plug and play if you just want to mount the gear as supplied, with plugs into the switch and servo, an ECU to control the servo motor and fusing at the connection teminals.

Hope this helps someone down the track if they are looking for the same sort of system.

Cheers

Steve

[Mando]

Thanks Stephen, that's been a great help.

Regards.

[stephen low]

No problems Mando.

If you are chasing a set I'd be sure a CoolDrive distributer in SA would have or could get these. There may be other appointed distributers so you could play prices off one against the other to an extent.

Vic Cooldrive list these at $30 more than I paid for them because of the other distributer's pricing!

Need to catch up too as to am over for the next three weeks!! Any club meetings happening in the next three weeks?

Cheers

Steve

[sambo]

Slowy (or others) in doing your research here did you come across any cable operated 4 way heater taps? I'm told that a 2 way tap cannot be used on the LS engines as it blocks the flow which is necessary for the thermostat to operate properly.

Alternatively, there are plenty of VN Commodore 4 way taps around but they're vacuum operated. Anyone know what's involved in converting vacuum to mechanical?

I had a look at Vintage Air and spoke to Cool Drive here in Melbourne, no luck.

[Rob. Smith]

Stephen, your photobucket pics have been moved or deleted !

[stephen low]

Paul

I didn't indicate in this thread but I'd previously talked about my fabrication of an "H" connection into my plumbing to overcome what you are describing.

The system on the AU engine, and I suspect any comparable system, requires continous flow over a water temperature sensor providing feedback to the ECU.

The "H" allows return flow whether the heater tap is open or closed, essentially what your four leg tap is for.

I have seen these in the past on ebay so they are out there.

Rob

I realised I'd moved the photos in my bucket account so you'll see they are reattached now.

Thanks & Cheers

[VintageUpgrades]

We have used these with great results on LS setups.
Old Air Products - Home of the HURRICANE Heat, Cool, & Defrost A/C System - Heater Valve
It is the same servo, switch and harness as SPF uses on their heater boxes to control air flow.

[stephen low]

Now you show us this!!

How does the valve system work and what is the flow direction?

What I've fabricated does take up some space so it might still be worth my while aquiring this proprietary servo valve kit.

Cheers