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hey guys -
This weekend I got together with Import Junky to take a look at his HFS-5. He had been working with Richard to try to solve the problem but things can be a bit tricky when Richard is so far away. Anyone who has dealt with Richard knows how incredibly far out of his way he will go to help Aquamist customers. Having personally been helped many times by Richard I thought I could start to repay the favor by helping other Aquamist users.
Import Junky arrived with all of the wires ran, but not connected, for the new components that Richard sent him. I began wiring everything up testing things along the way. First we checked that the HSV worked by supplying 12v via a power supply, everything worked. Continued wiring up the rest of the system until everything was connected. As a note for everyone ALWAYS BE SURE TO INSTALL AN INLINE FUSE for the power supply to the DDS3. I then decided to test the system before connecting any of the extra components like the failsafe solenoid. The kit worked as expected so we took it for a drive around the block, again the kit triggered as expected.
We then connected the MAC valve used as a failsafe. Went for another test drive….hmmm not working. This systematic process of testing things along the way before connecting everything enabled us to know that something to do with the MAC valve was causing the problems. Starting looking over the system and we find that the fuse for the DDS3 was blown. This meant that the MAC valve was drawing too much power for the kit to handle. The only reasons this could be is either no resistor or a short in the MAC valve or wires. There was no inline resistor installed but I was skeptical this would have really blown the fuse. Pulled out the multimeter and checked for a short in the MAC valve wires….problem found. There was a short in the wires which was what blew two of Import Junky’s previous DDS3 kits.
By replacing these wires the problems will be eliminated.
Overall lessons learned that everyone should follow –
- Always install an inline fuse for the power supply; it protects the DDS3 from damage in many situations.
- If you have to run any wires either use multi-core cable with a protective shroud or run the wires through some sort of cable loom or sheath. Otherwise there is danger they will get snagged along the firewall and may get stripped and short out.
- Before connecting any external loads to the DDS3 check for a short and also check resistance. A multi-meter is worth its weight in gold when it comes to this kind of stuff.
- When installing and troubleshooting and Aquamist kit, do things one step at a time. Connect the bare minimum of wires needed for the kit to turn on. Then connect the next ground of wires, then the next, then the next, etc… By following this process you can quickly track down what component is causing the problems.
- Finally be neat and organized, it makes working on the kit in the future much easier.
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