Overheating Empegs

Hey there - I recently made a temp sensor to control a fan for my empeg.

I'm thinking I would get boards made if enough people wanted them... If anyone would be interested, please reply letting me know... if there's enough interest, I'll get the boards made....

-Ben

Keep in mind that you've got competition.

This one will be (hopefully soon) added into the Empeg firmware and will control the fan over a user supplied range - Full On/Off - the variable voltage thing can be brutal on some fans...

Also, in my jeep, I need that puppy running full blast in the summertime.

So, preference will be a factor here... the user at least has a choice.

Ben-O-Rama

...in my jeep, I need that puppy running full blast in the summertime.

I'm encountering a similar problem in my Civic, in reverse. I need a cooling fan to keep my empeg cool in the winter. Running the heat in the car for extended periods of time (30+ minutes) just pushes the empeg's temp too high. The vents run directly behind and above it in the dash.

In the summer, if I either have the windows open or the A/C running, the empeg is happy as a clam. So on/off would be all I'd need.

I've already purchased my fan, and just haven't gotten around to installing it. My recent trip into NH (2 hours total driving time) reminded me that I should hop to it.

ive noticed that in my civic as well, at least the part about running the ac. Tthe only difference is that here in southern California I dont really need to use the heater so ive never noticed that it also heats up.

I have the winter issue too, although I get an hour or more before it triggers.

I'm wondering how much effect a fan might have in those circumstancest though... can you let us know.

Once I've assembled the materials and found some extra time, that fan is going in there. But as of late I haven't had driving sessions that long, so it hasn't been a worry.

And seeing as the empeg stays quite cool in the summer, an on/off control for the fan would be ideal.

Mine used to overheat when driving for more than an hour with the heating on. With the fan installed, it has never gone over 46°C (on a 2 hour drive with the heating on as it was freezing cold). When I had the fan installed, I set the alarm at 40°C and raised it 1° each time the alarm went off. It stopped triggering at 45°C. Only during that 2 hour drive did it reach 46°. It hasn't triggered since. I do have to add that the heating ducts don't blow hot air directly on the empeg. The radio is in between. FWIW.

Frank

You doing PWM on the fan or is it just full speed? No idea what the effects of PWM are on a fan though. I've got a fan here which has a controller chip on it to do the phases properly and I'm sure that wouldn't appreciate PWM.

- Trevor

no PWM, Switch-On, Switch-Off. Paint-da-fence! Sand-sa-Floor...

Oh wait... I'm feeling a bit Miagi. (grin)

I actually have that problem a little in the winter too....

Well, some control firmware has been added Courtesy of Mark Lord... so in conf.ini one can put the fan-enable:1 or 0 and then high and low temp settings. I'd assume it can be enabled/disabled between ;@HOME and ;@WORK and such.

He's going to see about making it a menu at some point since right now depending on where the temp sensor is located, it might track differently then th onboard. I know mine does.. I have mine mounted (hotmelt glue - just a dab'll do ya) to the top of the Ethernet Transformer. I can't tell what it's reading since there's no display yet. Anyway....

I have the unit set at H=36 L=35 and it does track differently.

Also, I noticed I need holes in my sled! The holes in the side are great except they aren't also in the sled!! Hmmm... Need to think about that one.

Anyway - I can make the project even smaller if I get boards made. right now I'm using surf-boards and while they're ok - they're not ideal. If anyone's interested... send me an email.. I'd be happy to sell these to others.

P.S. The fan DOES stay active when in the sled and the car is off. So if you don't want it drawing 100mA when on - pull the player!!

Hi.

Looked at your site and while I could see the pictures of your controller and there is Hijack-support for it, it doesn't help us much since a) there's no schematic/pcb-layout there and b) there's no code there. So are you planning to make these things available for us or are you planning to only sell kits/pre-mades (and if so, for how much)?

Stig

>P.S. The fan DOES stay active when in the sled and the car is off. So if you >don't want it drawing 100mA when on - pull the player!!

This could be "fixed" in Hijack if desired..

If you take the power from Amp-Remote, then it will only be active when the screen is on.

I wonder whether anyone would have heat issues when the unit is in standby? I don't know how much less heat would be generated by the empeg in standby, but I believe that most of peoples' heat issues are mainly caused by external factors anyway - eg, heating, or Head Unit with integrated Amp in close proximity.
I also wonder if Mark (or I guess I could look at it one day), could add the ability to specify different options for when in Normal and Standby modes, e.g. something like
fan-enable-on=1, H=40, L=38
fan-enable-off=1, H=50, L=45

Or do you mean that the fan is active even when the player is competely shut down? If that is the case then I'd suggest that the output stage of the circuit needs to be switched by the RA line.

I'm going to get the schematic up there soon. I changed from using a 78L05 (since it's what I had) to using a 5.1V Zener Diode which saves on cost and space although anyone who wants to build one is free to use either. As for those who want something built for them, I'd be happy to do it. I just looked on Maxim's website and they have a new version of the chip that's on there in an 8pin uMAX package. I don't know if anyone's ever soldered one of those (I have something like it in a different project) but they are SMALL. I could have a board done where the only thing forcing size of the PCB is the connector. <grin> Would you folks rather buy it or build it? Schematic of course, but do you guys need a layout? Lemmie know.

Finally - there's no programming the module. All the software's in the Empeg firmware thanks to Mark.

Mark, if you wanted to issue a "STOP" command, that would be cool. I think that should shut it off... but would have to check. Easier for you than me since you have the code.

See yaz,

-Ben

OK, thanks for the answers. I thought it would incorporate a PIC or something similar, that's why I mentioned the missing code.

Me personally, I'd build it myself, but if you would provide a layout drawing, I'd prefer that since I'm not very good at laying out PCBs...

They're not that small...About the same size as the resistor pack for the lighted button hack...which was easy...

Stig

Well, these have a tighter pin-pitch than those.. but if you can do the LED button hack, you can do this. I would wonder if most folks here would want to take on an SOIC-8 which is what the present layout uses...

But yea, I'll get a schematic and layout up there soon enough...

-Ben

Given that the fan itself is fairly large, I don't see much to be gained from changing from SOIC to the smaller package, but I can see disadvantages;

a) A lot more people here would be capable of building a kit with the SOIC.
b) SOIC is a very standard package in pcb editors, including freeware editors (eg Eagle). You might have to create the pin out for the other package, (effort, chance of foul up.)
c) You'll have a better chance of good results from cheap boardhouses with the larger pitch.

the fan size isn't related to the PCB size... as it mounts elsewhere... but so far, my luck with the uMAX 8 has been excellent from a local board house.

However, I would never subject a novice kit builder to something that size... hehe.. so SOIC sounds good to me too.

-Ben

SOrry about the delay - I have a schematic done which is simple enough to serve as a layout as well.. I'll have it online soon...

thanks for the patience,

-Ben

I'm not sure any extra holes in the side of the sled are needed. There is a small gap around the empeg and while it's not much, the fan doesn't need to draw much air.

The screws on the side and the required separation give you some air movement room.

So far, when it sits in the jeep, it gets hot. I want to give the fan all the help it can get.

-Ben