Low Coolant Module Cards

[spectre6000]

Last night my friend and I were playing around with wiring schematics and poking at the electronics in my M1009. I made the only available 55-57 Karmann Ghia factory wiring diagrams, have rewired a number of cars, and really enjoy automotive electronics, and my buddy is a real life Big Bang Theory character (post-doc researcher at a major university making devices that use lasers for experiments with microorganisms). In a nutshell, I showed him the reproduction glow plug card I got as a PM item, and without knowing what it was (and without me being completely aware) he broke down all the functions just by looking at the board. Pretty bright dude. Anyway, I pulled my low coolant module this afternoon, and it's oxide city. We're either going to repair it or make a new one like with the glow plugs. If there's enough interest, we might see fit to do a small run. Any interest?

 

[KevinsM1009]

yes
Check out NutsandVolts magazine for lots of info on PIC/PLCs to be able to duplicate the functions of the circuit in question
Sorry for the brevity of the response, the one I did write did not get autosaved, that post was a lot more informative and would have been much more useful but the site did not connect my sign-in when I opened a new tab. However, I get maybe 2 or so hours a week to get onto a computer as I have a VERY off-grid life. I hope you and your intelligent friend are able to duplicate the glow plug cards with the PIC/PLCs in addition to the coolant idea.
Look forward to the results, will subscribe(for what it's worth, working all over NE in construction is a monstrous commute..)
Only reason for edit, nothing I ever post is ever negative, do not have enough time to be online to be negative. want to be helpful, never knew antennaclimber was doing glow cards, mayhap if I had more time & internet connectivity, I might not have seized my 6.2 & be doing a transplant with a 6.5 had I had time to read all the information I need to..I hate not being able to drive my real truck, having to buy a 94 ranger to get back & forth to job sites
all over NE sucks...so.. the info about the PIC/PLCs was meant as helpfulness for others who have time that I do not.. in between assignments right now so am able to actually be online a few days in a row..wish I'd made better choices but the transplant is 1/2 done..These glows will be on a manual set of 20 A breakers with 15's & 20-25's as needed for full manual control..
wish I had the time to be able to do all the cool things everyone else is doing & writing about...will be reading when I get more time,thanks for your efforts,

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

We already have a member who is making the glow plug cards. Why reinvent the wheel?

If you need one, contact antennaclimber.

 

[spectre6000]

There is already someone making the glow plug cards, that is correct. Please read carefully before posting negatively. ****, read the title of the thread... We're talking about the low coolant module cards. So much negativity on this forum sometimes...

There aren't a lot of electronics in these trucks, and so far as I've found to date without really digging, only two have any real practical function. There are two circuit boards in the diagnostic circuit, but neither have any affect on operation. One circuit board that is actually used is mission critical and is already being reproduced (no need to reinvent the wheel as has been astutely pointed out), and the other is less critical day to day, but pretty **** important when you need it. There is no source for the latter that I'm aware of, mine is pretty well hosed, I have a hard time imagining others aren't in the same boat (whether or not they realize it). It just so happens I have the resources to do something about it beyond just finding another 30 year old time bomb of a circuit board. If there's enough interest, I can make it happen. Three plus me gets the project started at a nominal cost for all involved. If they're happy with the results, maybe a limited run follows.

 

[Warthog]

While I do believe there is a need for a replacement low coolant card, the demand will not be that great.

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

I hope you and your intelligent friend are able to duplicate the glow plug cards with the PIC/PLCs in addition to the coolant idea.

There is already someone making the glow plug cards, that is correct. Please read carefully before posting negatively. ****, read the title of the thread... We're talking about the low coolant module cards. So much negativity on this forum sometimes...

Yes, there is. Please read carefully before posting negatively.

 

[spectre6000]

Apologies to MarcusOReallyus. Without a quote and with the intervening posts I didn't realize that was not directed at the OP.

I'll get a price sorted out in the short term for the prototypes. If I were to ballpark (and likely get myself in trouble when the total inevitably works out to be something more), I would say it'll probably work out to something like $25-$30 apiece; sound fair? I'm sure a modern mass-produced item like this would be less, but making things like this in small quantities means expensive boards and components (we'll have to pay a higher price since we're not buying by the ton or however they do it) and me sitting around for hours with a soldering iron and neglecting my family or something... They'll be identical in function to the originals (no extra LEDs or anything like that) unless there's a huge demand for some function I'm not aware of. My personal philosophy on these things is to keep things simple to minimize PPFs (potential points of failure). The boards will likely be a different color and the components will likely be slightly different, but these things hide up inside a box above the fuse block (or at least that's where mine was hanging loose). I will be one test subject, and I'll need two more people willing to take a chance on some jerk on an internet forum. That means putting up some cash up front and waiting a little longer than usual while we get the boards made, get them assembled, and perform a few tests. Once these testers are satisfied and we're satisfied, we'll put out a call for pre-orders. I really don't anticipate a huge demand, so there will likely be a limited run of some small multiple of the first round of orders. Anyone who comes along after that will be buying out of the first batch until it's gone, and then I'll have to gauge interest to see if it's worth the time to build additional cards.

All that said, who wants to play guinea pig with me?

 

[Warthog]

Anyone that wants to partake in this endeavor contact the OP directly via PM.

DO NOT POST HERE THAT YOU WANT ONE.

That will make it a classified ad and does not belong in the open forums.

 

[Warthog]

Any thought on product liability?

 

[TexAndy]

I will likely need to replace mine as it is lying on the floor of the cab still over at the auction yard. However, I was thinking more along the lines of just cleaning it up and replacing all the components with new ones from a parts house like mouser.

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

Any thought on product liability?

Yep. Gotta keep the lawyers happy. They rule the world, like it or not.

 

[TexAndy]

You know, you could just do a run of PCBs and sell those with a component pack. End user gets to solder it all together. Might mitigate some of the liability.

 

[spectre6000]

OK, so this is live again. Cool. I guess PM me to get on the list, and questions, comments, and concerns go here. I've been busy with work and family stuff the last few days (and personally needed to step away from this project), so I haven't made any real progress on the cards themselves.

Liability concerns: I'm not a business, just a guy. Making these comes out of my hobby budget, and anything I make goes right back into it. If, for some reason, things expand beyond that, cool. Otherwise it's just playing with my toy cars. That means no money lawyers or any of that. When I get into it (hopefully this evening), I'm going to run some tests. Hopefully GM designed it to fail in such a way that it illuminates the light as an alert that something is wrong (that would be the common sense thing to do). I'm going to be making these identical to the original schematics save that I will use modern components and better components where possible and reasonable (it make sense to use a high precision resistor in an application where it's only throwing the circuit on or off) to take advantage of the increased reliability that has come from the past 30 years worth of development.

Kits: I did think of that. It would certainly be a lot easier for me, that's for sure! I don't think the automotive enthusiast crowd is typically the sort to be packing the sort of setup or knowledge base to do that sort of thing though... I don't have any problem putting loose components in a bag though I guess... Be warned, however, I intend to use small surface mount type components where possible. The reason mine failed was that the wire leads all corroded; surface mount components eliminate that potential point of failure and tend to have better connections from losing the legs, and are generally more robust in settings with lots of vibration, and are less prone to electromagnetic interference (for those so disposed), are smaller (in case we're able to figure out any cool new features and decide to implement them, we'll have more space for them), and they're less expensive (less initial investment for me, lower cost for everyone else). Some of these components are seriously small though (just got my glasses prescription updated, so I shouldn't have any issues), and a magnifying glass and tweezers will almost assuredly prove absolutely necessary. If you're still interested in a DIY kit, let me know. I'll post photos and such when I get the components lined up, and you can gauge your interest at that point.

 

[spectre6000]

Here's what they look like:


In their housing:

Backside (you can see some of the corrosion on mine through the glare):

Business side:

They live up above the fuse block in the four connector block in the center of this shot to the left of the relay: