Piwoslaw's Peugeot 307sw modding thread

[euromodder]

Haha, you're afraid I might catch up with ya


Though I'm doing a lot more kilometers and using a lot more liters than you are


Looks neat !

[Piwoslaw]

I've finally replaced my battery! Last winter the car would give a warning that voltage is getting low whenever I'd start in below freezing weather, but with a battery charger I somehow made it through the summer. Now I started getting warnings even when it was +10°C outside and the battery was trickle charging all night, so out it went. It turned out to be still be original, from May 2005, just as I suspected. 7.5 years isn't bad, especially if it survived 4 Polish winters (previously the car lived in southern France). I planned on getting a larger battery than the 64Ah original, I found a nice 72Ah model, but it turned out that a larger one just won't fit. So the new battery has the same parameters as the old:/

[Piwoslaw]

On a different note, I found out that my car has an electric cabin heater. After reading a bit it turns out that all diesel-engined Pugs have it installed, but only the ones for northern countries (Scandinavia) have it activated. It has three heating elements which total about 1000 watts and it is turned on automatically (if it is activated in the car's software) by the car's computer when defrosting the front windshield. The number of heating elements that get used depends on the temperature. I thought about getting it activated, but then decided that first I'll try to rig up a manual switch for it. That way it will turn on and (just as important) off when I want, not when some engineers thought it appropriate. The down side is that I'll need to find the relay box and correct wires to tap into, and it's a bit cold for hours spent working on the car outside. On the other hand, waiting till spring is beside the point.

OK, so I know that turning an electric heater on will put a load on the engine and increase my fuel consumption, but I drive the turbodiesel so efficiently that there isn't enough waste heat for heating when the temperature is below freezing. Also, now that we have a small child, Mrs P will be demanding more heat, so the engine be robbed of what it is barely holding on to. My logic is as follows: Turning on the electric heater will take less heat from the coolant, plus the extra load on the engine will maybe allow its temp to stay closer to optimal. Also, even though I try my best (I have a dash sock!), I still get frost on the inside of the windshield, so the electric heater will reduce idling on a few mornings. To keep the electric heater from being abused I'll have to tell Mrs P that it can only be used during very low temperatures, and only shortly, to reduce risk of overheating (not far from the truth, actually).

[seifrob]

a small child? Congratulation!
besides of more heat in a cabin don't forget sun shades, ton of little-rattle fluffy thingies and other stuff :-]

[AndrzejM]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

It has three heating elements which total about 1000 watts and it is turned on automatically (if it is activated in the car's software) by the car's computer when defrosting the front windshield. The number of heating elements that get used depends on the temperature.

1000W with 12V wiring? it's over 80 amps of current! Watch out your battery, especialy when it's new If you turn it on during P&G what is your usual way of driving it will drain your battery in a matter of minutes! As you've mentioned in previous post you have 64Ah battery so it will drain your battery in something about 45 minutes. So be careful, you may not be able to start your engine in winter if you try to use it when P&G.

[meelis11]

Originally Posted by AndrzejM

1000W with 12V wiring? it's over 80 amps of current! Watch out your battery, especialy when it's new If you turn it on during P&G what is your usual way of driving it will drain your battery in a matter of minutes! As you've mentioned in previous post you have 64Ah battery so it will drain your battery in something about 45 minutes. So be careful, you may not be able to start your engine in winter if you try to use it when P&G.

Piwoslaw - where are those electric heaters? Is it similar like VW/Audi 1.9TDi has 3 coolant heater plugs and they are heating coolant - one coolant heater plug draws 14Amps (14.5V*14Amps*3 is about 600W)

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by AndrzejM

1000W with 12V wiring? it's over 80 amps of current!

That's 80A for three, so ~27A per heating element, which isn't bad. Nice fat wires, mind you.

Originally Posted by AndrzejM

Watch out your battery, especialy when it's new If you turn it on during P&G what is your usual way of driving it will drain your battery in a matter of minutes!

No worry: My ventilation system turns off when the engine is killed, so the heaters will also have to be off or they will overheat and melt, long before the battery is drained. So the heaters will be on only when the alternator is spinning. Also, I don't plan on using all three at same time (I'll probably wire it so only 1 or 2 of the 3 can be turned on), or for longer than the first 5 maybe 10 minutes.

Originally Posted by meelis11

Piwoslaw - where are those electric heaters? Is it similar like VW/Audi 1.9TDi has 3 coolant heater plugs and they are heating coolant - one coolant heater plug draws 14Amps (14.5V*14Amps*3 is about 600W)

The heating element is located in the ventilation fan housing in the dashboard. It heats the air coming off the fan.
Coolant heaters may have been used in older Peugeot models. Their advantage is that any heat that isn't used in the cabin speeds up engine warmup. I once thought about getting a set, but then I found out that I already have ventilation heaters.

[renault_megane_dci]

I have not been lurking at your thread for a while and I am really impressed with the numbers you get !
I wish I could do this good but then my route to work is not very FE friendly and I tend to drive a fair bit faster (working on that too)

[Piwoslaw]

Before winter really hit I got the electric cabin heater working, or at least I think I did. When I flip the switch I can hear the relays click, and the fuel consumption goes up by ~0.1-0.15 liters per hour. I also checked the heating element itself - when taken out of the airflow it goes from 0 to 25°C after a few seconds, so it works. On the other hand, I can't feel any difference when I place my hand over the ventilation vents. Neither does the IR thermometer see a difference. After some thought I decided that a 400W or 600W heater doesn't really give that much heat, especially when the fan is blowing LOTS of freezing air over it. It's not like a 2000W heater warming up room-temperature air. So, I've used the heater a few times, but I still can't be sure it really helps warm up the cabin.

On a different note, I got to park in a heated (+5°C) garage for a week and used that chance to do a few things. One of them was to hook up my ScanGauge in a semi-permanent way:

It is now closer to my line of sight (compared to sitting in the ashtray or on the steering wheel column), so it is easier to focus on while still paying attention to the road. Also, the cable is now hidden inside the dashboard, I had to make a hole in the dash to make everything nice and purdy In fact, it is not the original cable, instead I cut an old ethernet cable and wired it the backside of the OBD socket, so the socket is now free to be used.
A big thanks to AndrzejM for help with the SG

I also added some insulation around the engine. The air filter box hangs on the rear side of the block, gaining lots of heat from it, so I glued some aluminium foil to it to reflect some heat. This should lower intake air temps, and help the engine keep its heat when parked or using the preheater. For the same reason I inserted a piece of bubblewrap (with alu foil on one side) to shield the intake ducts and battery from the engine and coolant lines. It's not much, but hopefully it's worth something.

[renault_megane_dci]

What about using the heater as a stationary device inside the cabin without flowing freezing air on it ?