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Message
Glad
you mentioned that. I missed it. I was going to hook it the wires up today.
I presume the diode is that arrow / line thingy between the bulb and
the terminal. Any idea what I buy from Radio Shack?
It probably doesn't have to be
anything fancy. I used a spare diode that I had laying around.
Look for something that's rated for more than 12V, and a couple amps of current
or more. The actual current will depend on what you use for a
lamp.
The large indicator lamps that I
bought at the local auto parts place are actually LEDs. If that's the
case, you can skip the diode, since that's the D in LED. I'd
want to put a meter on the LED and make sure that current will only flow one
way. Multicolor LEDs flow both ways, so you don't want one of
those.
I have
direct experience that says otherwise. My wifes chevy simply died without
warning. The alternator fried the battery. Took about 15 seconds. Bob Nuckolls's
OV protection setup is cheap and easy.
I remain skeptical that an
alternator can fry a battery in 15 seconds. Batteries are mighty durable,
and I would bet the alternator was cooking it for a long time prior to
giving you any
warning.
As for the OV protection, I
initially wanted to add Bob's crowbar circuit, but couldn't do it easily
with the internal regulator on the Mazda alternator. Now that I have an
alternator that can be turned off, I may look into it again. FWIW, I
realize that you can add the OV circuit, with a contactor to disconnect the
stock alternator. The problem is that you don't stop the alternator from
producing power. Even disconnected, it will continue to run in
it's malfunctioning state until something inside burns up. Hopefully,
it won't literally catch fire
:-)
I've installed enough
"stuff" to handle engine info that I'm considering doing without the
EM2.
I'd
just hate to move up to #1 on the list
:-)
Rusty
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