glow plug alarm, do it yerself

[cagosti]

After all the posts of sticking on or off glow plugs and the like, I am going to install
a GLOW PLUG ALERT. Buy (at Radio Shack) a 12 volt Piezo beeper, mount under hood,
and wire the positive, or red lead of the piezo beeper from the heavy glow plug wire output side of the glow plug relay and the negative or black lead of the piezo to the frame.

It will make a beeping sound whenever your Glow plugs have juice. if you hear a continuous beeping after engine warm up, shut down immediately, since the relay or controller is shorted and your glow plugs will soon be burnt up. If you hear no beeping on cold start, then you know that your glow plug relay or controller is 'open' and you will have poor cold start performance. You should notice a short series of beeps during cold start warm-up. This tells you that the cold engine glow plug cycler is working. No cycling chirps means bad temperature sensors or glow plug controller.

This beeping adds little to the cacophony of rattles and roars on a cold start engine and most people will just think it is part of the deal.

 

[mangus580]

You will fry the beeper quite quickly I presume, as the glow plugs get 18+ volts initially.

 

[bottleworks]

Just install a 12v regulator inline and you will have no issues with any potentially high voltage to the buzzer. $2.60 at Radio Shack.

 

[CCATLETT1984]

that or you could just give the beeper a 12v ignition hot power source and run the ground to the ground wire on the glowplug relay, that way it will still be activated when the plugs are on but will have a seperate power source.

 

[cagosti]

I think that most pizo's will take the higher voltages and if you do the Resistor bypass
A VERY GOOD IDEA no trouble, also I like to monitor the Hi current output side of the relay as if it sticks closed or you have a loss of feed voltage to the relay you will know it.

Charles
WD8AXA radio Guy
Portage Mi
M1008A1
M151A2
Pinz
G183 VW illtis
M274
Honda ACTY attack 4wd
.

 

[STRAGLER]

Has anyone tried this mod? I would like to put it on my m1008 but wanted to see if it had been applied and tested. Great idea!!
What exactly is meant by a resistor bypass as mentioned in post#5?
Can this be wired to the orange w/o damage to the beeper to monitor the Hi current output side of the relay as if it sticks closed or you have a loss of feed voltage to the relay you will know it or, wiring it as in post#4 deliver same feedback if my ground for my relay is bypassed w/ switch (my GP module crapped out on me)?

 

[mezc]

Try to check how much current is that beeper sucking, you do not want to overload the glow plug card. If is just a few hundread miliamp should be ok,

 

[kc8oye]

Why not just use a bright LED mounted in the dash? Problaby less annoying then a beeper and definately less current!

you need to check the specs on the LED to make sure it's ok for 18v.. then check it's max forward current.. the pick a resistor based on ohms law... R = V / I to limit current thru the led.
if the LED is 100ma max forward current, we'll use about 80 to stay away from 'max' and we'll assume 18v as mentioned above
R = 18 / .1 (current is in AMPS 1ma = .001A) = 180 ohms

 

[rsh4364]

Interesting enough idea to bring back up.Has anyone done this? Especially since a lot of guys are running 12v to glows now.

 

[tbearatkin]

I typically just look at my volt meter on the dash. When it moves from yellow to green my Glow plugs have turned off.

 

[rsh4364]

Good point,what about the guys who have a non-functioning volt meter or the ones who have done 12v roscommon,might be helpful.

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

You will fry the beeper quite quickly I presume, as the glow plugs get 18+ volts initially.

That's not correct.

Interesting enough idea to bring back up.Has anyone done this? Especially since a lot of guys are running 12v to glows now.

The GPs get 12v, unless you have the resistor in place and you burn out a GP. Then the voltage will be slightly higher. As you fry more GPs, the voltage will get higher with each one, thus making the remaining GPs fail more quickly.


In a properly working stock system, the GPs get 12v. If the resistor is bypassed, they get 12v.

 

[gimpyrobb]

That's not correct.

I don't think you have to worry much about him coming back to post incorrect info, just sayin...

 

[MakersTeleMark]

I typically just look at my volt meter on the dash. When it moves from yellow to green my Glow plugs have turned off.

I'll come out and say the original idea is stupid.

Your VM and the clicks will tell all you you need to know.

Why complicate a stupid system?

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

I don't think you have to worry much about him coming back to post incorrect info, just sayin...

I think we ALL have to worry about people reading the forum and seeing bad information that is not corrected. That's why, when I saw this ancient thread float up from the depths, I decided to post correct information.


I guess I'm weird. I think about more than the immediately obvious.

 

[tbearatkin]

My Glow plugs are 12v the CUCV GP were always 12volt. The resistor behind your air cleaner took 24 volts and reduced it down to 12 volts IF all of the glow plugs were good. If one GP is bad that changes the resistance and voltage is increased some. I bypassed the resistor so I did not have to worry about GP going bad quickly if one burnt out.

Now if you meant the whole vehicle has been changed to 12volts you may be right and the light may help those who do not have a working volt meter.

My method is look at the volt meter and sometimes I hear the click off. I do hear it click on because the vehicle is quiet at that time.

 

[rsh4364]

Thankyou all for the above info.I have 2 1009s both with resistors bypassed and push button only GPs.I do have an understanding of GP system,just thought a light letting you know GP setup was working properly was kind of neat idea.I realize I should not have brought up such an old thread.

 

[tbearatkin]

Nope good idea to think outside the box sometimes. I just mentioned what I do to determine if my GP are working and when they shut off. Some may like an additional light to let them know. Surprised the military did not do this as we are all about redundant systems and back ups to the back ups.

 

[tim292stro]

I have fear this is cross-posting, but in Warthog's How-To Pushbutton Glow Plug System, I posted from a PM I had with jpg (that conversation is probably due to this being dug up). The that post I have a suggested solution and schematic... I figure anyone reading this thread has read that one, but in the off chance this one gets dug up again

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

...just thought a light letting you know GP setup was working properly was kind of neat idea.

Hmmm. Maybe not a bad idea at all. It would not tell you your GPs are working, but it could tell you at least that the relay is engaging. For those who don't hear well, that might not be a bad thing.

I realize I should not have brought up such an old thread.

Nah, not a problem. You had a reason for it. It's not like you dragged up an old thread and responded to it as if it were a current discussion.


Not that that is always a bad thing. It gives people something to laugh at.