Installing A Room Temperature Controller

[Thanushka]

Hi All,

I'm thinking of installing a room temperature controller from my Mazda.

I would like to know what the concerns I have to worry abt installing a one and is it OK to install a one for a vehicle which originally doesn't came with a temperature controller.

Thanks.

[Watchman]

may i ask what do u hope to achieve by this?

[jdnet]

are you talking about installing a digital climate control module? If so in most cases you would need to replace the entire dash board harness or if you have an upper and lower harness you would need to replace the upper one. It requires the removal of the dash board and is time consuming. Unless you can take the dash apart and rewire it yourself you would be spending quite a bit to get it done. You do not gain anything from doing this, it only looks good.

Edited September 1, 2010 by jdnet

[Watchman]

Yep, ur better off using the normal AC blower speed to control the tempreature. That too has an internal switch which cuts off when it gets too cold.

[Thanushka]

may i ask what do u hope to achieve by this?

HI Mate.

Actually what I mean was installing a digital climate control device. Currently I manually switch on and off AC switch (not the blower) when it's too cold, and I feel like by installing a device I may able able to save some fuel too.

Any ideas?

[Thanushka]

are you talking about installing a digital climate control module? If so you in most cases you would need to replace the entire dash board harness or if you have an upper and lower harness you would need to replace the upper one. It requires the removal of the dash board and is time consuming. Unless you can take the dash apart and rewire it yourself you would be spending quite a bit to get it done. You gain anything from doing this, it only looks good.

No machan,

I'm not thinking of going for such a huge thing. All I'm thinking to do is bypass the AC switch, which turn on the compressor with a small circuit which contains some set of electronics like a thermistor and a PIC. (most probably home made by me , hopefully)

I want to know whether there is a damage caused in the long run due to frequent on and off of the compressor.

[Watchman]

HI Mate.

Actually what I mean was installing a digital climate control device. Currently I manually switch on and off AC switch (not the blower) when it's too cold, and I feel like by installing a device I may able able to save some fuel too.

Any ideas?

On the contrary, you probably wont.. If i'm not mistaken climate control units vary temp by controling the blower temp rather than turning on/off the compressor.

As it is, turning off the AC would save only an insignificant amount of your fuel consumption. And automating it would make a near zero difference. You'll end up spending more money on the conversion than you would due to the climate control.

Spend that money on proper maintenance on the car and you'll surely save more in the long run.

[Sifaan]

HI Mate.

Actually what I mean was installing a digital climate control device. Currently I manually switch on and off AC switch (not the blower) when it's too cold, and I feel like by installing a device I may able able to save some fuel too.

Any ideas?

I doubt if this would save fuel, and certainly would cost you more than it would save...

[Thanushka]

Yep, ur better off using the normal AC blower speed to control the tempreature. That too has an internal switch which cuts off when it gets too cold.

Yep mate. but I feel like bored doing that. And the internal switch you ment will work when the pressure in the condenser reaches a certain level. Nothing to do with the temperature AFAIK.

[Thanushka]

On the contrary, you probably wont.. If I'm not mistaken climate control units vary temp by controlling the blower temp rather than turning on/off the compressor.

As it is, turning off the AC would save only an insignificant amount of your fuel consumption. And automating it would make a near zero difference. You'll end up spending more money on the conversion than you would due to the climate control.

Spend that money on proper maintenance on the car and you'll surely save more in the long run.

But machan, AFAIK the compressor uses the engine power which results in increased fuel consumption.

And I heard that by setting the climate controller around 25-28'C you can save fuel. So I think there the controller cuts off the compressor when the cabin reaches the required temperature. And also I may change the blower speed. But machan what do you meant by blower temp?

[Watchman]

Yep mate. but I feel like bored doing that. And the internal switch you ment will work when the pressure in the condenser reaches a certain level. Nothing to do with the temperature AFAIK.

bored? Why dont you pay attention to the road than constantly regulating the AC when driving? I hardly doubt anyone would get bored driving in SL considering the number of thins you have to watch out for.

Well, isn't preasure related to temp to begin with?

[Watchman]

But machan, AFAIK the compressor uses the engine power which results in increased fuel consumption.

And I heard that by setting the climate controller around 25-28'C you can save fuel. So I think there the controller cuts off the compressor when the cabin reaches the required temperature. And also I may change the blower speed. But machan what do you meant by blower temp?

Sorry.. i meant blower speed, not temp.

25-28 in my opinion is still a bit on the warm side. So the AC isnt actually working (compressor isnt engaging) as often. So theoretically yes it would save you fuel. But once again, since saving fuel/money is your intention you're still better off not doing anything.

Edited September 1, 2010 by Dilesh

[Thanushka]

bored? Why dont you pay attention to the road than constantly regulating the AC when driving? I hardly doubt anyone would get bored driving in SL considering the number of thins you have to watch out for.

Well, isn't preasure related to temp to begin with?

Yap. " Why don't you pay attention to the road than constantly regulating the AC when driving?". Thats the most difficult ting to do.

[Sifaan]

But machan, AFAIK the compressor uses the engine power which results in increased fuel consumption.

And I heard that by setting the climate controller around 25-28'C you can save fuel.

Yes, maintaining temp at 25-28 would use less fuel than maintaining 22. But whether you do that manually (you can hang a thermometer in the car if you like!) or automatically with a control device shouldn't make a difference.

And if you are seriously happy to run at 25-28 degrees then you could just switch off the A/C and run with the shutters down and use some of the money you would spend on the conversion to do interior cleaning more often

[charitha19]

ok ok.. in his defense.... u can do this... but u need to wire it to the AC relay... there are units that can be attached to the dash i think.. i replaced my factory fixed temperature AC thermostat with a manually adjustable one.. most AC shops have this.. but again its the cooler temperature that reads and not the cabin temp..

but i think u can find these things on ebay. a digital controllable thermostat with a relay that works on DC 12V.. this will give u a display on the setting temp.. but if u are doing thing u need to take of the original thermostat that comes in the cooler.. and fix you output to that...