Anyone running a grill block read this one

[slurp812]

Originally Posted by WD40

hey benfrogg could you show me where you wired into for the LED, I tried this same thing with 3 different LEDs and they all died within a day.
So I don't know if its my wiring or just bad LEDS
Thanks in advance Dennis

I used a resistor in series with the LED. on a 12 volt system, you have to. I cant even remember what I used. I believe it was a 1k (1000 ohm). That would be ~ 10 ma. Most "standard" LED's are rated @ 20 ma.

[GasSavers_WD40]

Thanks for the info

Originally Posted by slurp812

I used a resistor in series with the LED. on a 12 volt system, you have to. I cant even remember what I used. I believe it was a 1k (1000 ohm). That would be ~ 10 ma. Most "standard" LED's are rated @ 20 ma.

[benfrogg]

The led I bought is 12v rated for specific use in auto's. I'm hoping with the relay I installed, all will be happy. If not, I'll throw a resistor in there.

I noticed something today as ambient temps are around 45df. In town driving, with the 100% grill block in place, the light never comes on. I need to drive more than 15-20mins before it will come on once.
Longer trips I'll swing the panel out (it's installed with one rivet as of now) and all will be well with the world. If I get to it this year, I'll put a long choke type cable on the door and be able to control it from the cab for all drives.
All good info everyone, thanks.
B

[JanGeo]

Yup that 1000ohm resistor should do the trick at 14 volts less the 1.8 volt LED drop you should end up with about 12ma which is good for a typical LED.

Running the car heater can cool the engine a bit with a grill blocked and keep teh radiator fan off. I am wide open and when I drive up the very long steep driveway (1400 feet) my friend has in Vermont mostly in first gear at 1500 RPM or less my engine gets up to 200+ degrees by the time I reach the top and the fan comes on at 205 degrees. I would think you should be able to hear the radiator fan running inside the car if your engine is quiet enough.

[guest001]

Originally Posted by bobc455

I would think that if the fan is coming on, your grill block is counter-productive.

I have an old '69 Buick (as opposed to a new '69 Buick, I guess) with electric fans. I would drive the whole way to work (45+ miles each way) and the fans would never have to come on. And that 455 would generate a lot of heat!

-BC

This is a great point. very very very good point. I work on a lot of cooling systems being a tech, and have data-logging and a chipped computer in my car and have been able to watch ECT's.

A lot of fans turn on by a thermoswitch, which has x rating. If your fan is coming on you've obviously reached that temp. I know that my honda likes to run in the around 200 F . You could acheve the same thing as a grill block by putting in a higher rated thermoswitch.

I'm kinda all over the place with ideas. A better idea might be to run a water temp gauge, and disconnect the fan thermoswitch. and see what happens. cause really the radiator doesn't even come into play until you reach the temp of the t-stat. in which why aren't people just running higher t-stats???? because there's that thermoswitch, that's not going to really allow you to run that hot based on it's rating.

The led is interesting.

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by guest001

You could acheve the same thing as a grill block by putting in a higher rated thermoswitch.

...well, you'd accomplish the heat issue, but not the aerodynamic effect.

[GasSavers_WD40]

More important then the areo is keeping the engine bay at the optimal temp for the best mpg.
The balance between the optimal engine bay temp and not having the fan coming on too often is the best.
I believe that car manufacturers only make the grill openings to suit worst case scenario for cooling ie: biggest opening for max cooling. which is valid, but thats 100% of the time.
My goal is to automate a grill block to open and close as needed in graduated amounts, but its mostly going to be based on engine bay temp, with automated safety overrides as needed.
Thanks for the read
Dennis