Water level indicator

[leman_opc]

Richard, would appreciate your comment on one additional issue: sometimes when starting the car in the dark (i.e. lights turned on before the engine cranking) I get the gauge gleaming (brightness going up and down unsystematically). If I turn the lights off the gauge turns normal (steady bright), then turning the lights off results in gleaming once again. But turning the system off and on (with a button on a gauge) makes everything fine (i.e. steady dimmed light on the gauge with lights on).

The trimmer circuit is wired from my stereo dimming circuit, which is in turn based on a CAN-bus adapter. My dimmer trimming wheel on HFS-3 controller is turned almost all the way counter-clockwise. I note that the manual says to hook the dimmer wire to the headlamp and not the illumination circuits, may this be the reason? Is there any significant current in the dimmer circuit on HFS-3 so that it would make sense to rewire it to constant +12v via a relay triggered by ILL signal?

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EDIT: I stand corrected on above - gauge gleaming occurs when starting the car on cold (after it spent some time in the cold air and cooled down completely, +2 or +5 degrees C currently in Moscow), turning the HFS-3 on and off or turning lights on and off does not help. However, after some minutes the car gets warmer and the gleaming disappears - steady dimmed light with the lights on. The systems works otherwise perfectly. I will check if my battery is maybe low today but the car starts normally.

[Richard L]

The H3's dimming circuit is not that hi-tech. It is activated by a steady 12V signal. Most cars controls the lighting via canbus but these signal is not suitable for the HFS3.

Wire the H3's dimmer wire directly to the headlamp makes it simple.

Thank for helping out with failsafe on the other thread.

[leman_opc]

When I mentioned that I hooked my HFS-3 dimmer input to the CAN-bus I meant that I used an ILL out on a CAN bus adapter for Alpine stereos. This CAN bus adapter should exactly produce a +12v on its ILL out (I'm not sure whether it does, however).

Do I read it correctly that oscillating voltage on dimmer wire of HFS-3 controller may result in my dimmer issues?

PS. always happy to help - basically just conveyed the info you provided to me earlier, you should keep an eye on what I'm posting there however as I'm not much into electronics at all )))

[leman_opc]

Richard I would really appreciate your help on the gauge flickering issue above. I made a short video just to show how it looks like: http://youtu.be/lEWS4KTjCog

I also had a strange issue today: each time the system activates and start spraying (I get just "B" appearing or maybe also one bar on the gauge) the "water level" led lights on and then the "w.injection" led lights and the failsafe activates. On no throttle then both lights disappear. If you accelerate lightly (so that the IDC is somewhere around the trigger) you see the "B" led flickering just as normal.

I noted that on the go the problem above occurs but if the car stands still for a while with the engine running it sprays OK for some time, you may get a few bars on the gauge etc. But then after a short run the problem appears once again.

It's -5 in Moscow now and I first thought it could be due to ice particles in the 4mm tube blocking the FAV turbine or something. But I have vodka in the tank, so doubt it could freeze at -5C, anyway it's not an explanation to "water level" led turning on.

[Richard L]

Can you answer the following:
1. Where are you connecting the red wire of the molex connector. Fluctuation of the 12V supply?
2. The serial number of the unit.
3. Are you using the purple wire of the molex connector?
4. Is your circuit board exposed? Condensation?
5. Check the gauge cable is secure.
6. Open up the gauge and check the soldering of the RJ connector
7. Blockage will not cause the gauge to flicker.
8. We have not tested the system with vodka

One remote possibility:
As the water/vodka mixture depressurises at the nozzle tip, it will reduce the temperature further. This may cause the partial freezing at the orifice of the jet and reduce flow. This happens quite often in Canada at this time of the year. This problem can normally be solved by upping the concentration of the methanol ratio. In your case, putting more vodka into the tank. Let me know if it works.

[leman_opc]

Can you answer the following:
1. Where are you connecting the red wire of the molex connector. Fluctuation of the 12V supply?
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I have a dedicated power distributor for all aftermarket gauges as well as HFS-3 (based on a solid state relay) the feed to relay is from the battery (0.7m length AWG 4 wire). I did not test but doubt there is major fluctutaion - all the gauges on the A-pillar in the video use this feed as well and no flickering.
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2. The serial number of the unit.
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SN: 100626
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3. Are you using the purple wire of the molex connector?
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Yes, and the flickering is only when the hedlights are one (dimmed mode). When the headlights are off the gauge is lit with steady bright light (i.e. works perfectly fine).
The purple wire is connected to ILL output of the CAN-bus adapter for Alpine stereos (+12v out when lights on). I didn't check if there is any fluctuation on this output however and do not know which charge it is designed for. On the other hand I have a bunch of electronics hooked to this ILL out (incl. other gauges on the A-pillar) and it works perfectly for them.
Is there any significant current in HFS-3 dimming circuit (purple wire)?
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4. Is your circuit board exposed? Condensation?
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Nope, it's in the standard casing, located in the cabin (due to temp fluctuations some condensation si possible but not much I believe).
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5. Check the gauge cable is secure.
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Will do (but as mentined above all semms to work OK except the dimmer).
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6. Open up the gauge and check the soldering of the RJ connector
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Will do (as a last resort )
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7. Blockage will not cause the gauge to flicker.
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Understood, 2 completely different issues.
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8. We have not tested the system with vodka
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Vodka is basically 40% ethanol, 60% water. I double-checked there were no additives in what I used.
I will check though if increasing methanol ratio would help (today after a night in a warm garage the system worked perfectly normal). What I fail to understand is why the "water level" indicator lights up if the whole issue is due to vodka freezing.
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[Richard L]

Aquamist dimmer circuit:

The circuit PWM's the gauge led, enabled by a solid 12V signal from the purple wire. The dim trimmer on board just attenuates the incoming signal. This controls the duty cycle of the PWM driver to the gauge leds.

If the incoming 12V signal is modulated, it will have unpredictable results. If this is the case, connect the purpose wire directly to the head lamp bulb.

I think the flow problem is possibly associated with semi-freezing transition at the nozzle tip. We have measured the tip temperature of the jet at 20C room temperature, we recorded a 5-degrees drop.

[leman_opc]

Richard, many thanks, understood re. dimmer problem. Will double-check.

But why the "water level" led lighting when the w/m gets frosen on the nozzle? I would assume that I would only get no injection, no bars on the gauge and eventually "w.injection" led on when the failsafe is triggered - but no "water level" as the water level sensor should no be affected...

[Richard L]

The water level led doubles up as a flow problem as well as low level indicator. Do you have a v12 gauge with two yellow leds?

Forgot to ask.. is vodka more readily available than methanol in Russia?

[Richard L]

Originally Posted by leman_opc

I also had a strange issue today: each time the system activates and start spraying (I get just "B" appearing or maybe also one bar on the gauge) the "water level" led lights on and then the "w.injection" led lights and the failsafe activates. On no throttle then both lights disappear. If you accelerate lightly (so that the IDC is somewhere around the trigger) you see the "B" led flickering just as normal.

I noted that on the go the problem above occurs but if the car stands still for a while with the engine running it sprays OK for some time, you may get a few bars on the gauge etc. But then after a short run the problem appears once again.

This strange phenomenon is quite common on DI engines. Once a while, the ECU injects a small amount of fuel into the engine to clear the trapped nitrous in the cat. The aquamist picks up this signal when it happens. You can put the jumper link to FDC and watch the workings of the fuel injectors.

Here is a link to make this clearer. Manufacturers use a fancy name "LNT" regeneration or we call it "fuel dumping".