Over the years we’ve covered lots of ways of
triggering intercooler water sprays. But here’s probably the simplest and most
effective. It’s also smart, because it relies for its brains on you, the driver.
After all, you know whether you’re driving hard, you know whether
the day is hot or cold – and you (often) know how much performance you’re
going to want in the next few minutes.
So let’s put control of the intercooler spray in
your hands, via a dash-mounted pushbutton. You press the button and the
intercooler water pump sprays. Easy, huh?
But let’s add the killer trick.
If you press the button once, the spray
automatically switches on for (say) 5 seconds. But if you press the button
twice, the spray stays on for 10 seconds! A quick triple press - and the spray
squirts for 15 seconds!
So what the system does is to monitor how many
times the pushbutton is pressed and then spray accordingly.
You can give the button one press to get rid of
heat soak after re-starting a hot car. You can give the button two presses when
about to perform an overtaking move. Or, stopped at the traffic lights and
lining-up someone in the next lane, you can give the button three presses!
How Long?
During the initial set-up, you can configure a
‘one button press’ to be any time length from 1 second upwards.
So if you have a small volume spray nozzle and a
pretty large tank, you might make the one-button-press 30 seconds long. Then the
nozzle will spray in increments of 30 seconds – one press for 30 seconds, two
presses for 60 seconds, and so on.
On the other hand, if your intercooler spray
really splashes the water around, you might make the one-button-press 5 seconds.
Then you can have a spray period of 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, etc.
Change Your Mind?
But what happens if you press the button four
times – and then the noise of the pump tells you the tank is empty? Not a
problem – just press the button for a single long push. That cancels the
pump.
eLabtronics Timer Module
The Intercooler Spray Squirter uses as its control
system a pre-built electronic module – the eLabtronics Timer. This costs AUD$59
and is available from the AutoSpeed Shop. You’ll also need a
box –
Performance Modules Box - Bulkhead - Black is suitable. Finally, you’ll need a pushbutton. Any
normally-open pushbutton is suitable, including low current switches.
The module has only four wiring connections, so it
is easy to wire into place. The module can directly drive the pump, so no relay
is needed.
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If
you don’t already have them, you’ll also need a suitable pump and spray nozzle.
A good quality windscreen washer pump and brass misting nozzle are suitable. The
reservoir can be your existing windscreen washer bottle, or you can fit a new
tank.
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Wiring
The Spray Squirter needs only four connections.
An ignition-switched source is used to feed 12V to
the positive terminal of the module. (“Ignition switched” means it turns off
when the ignition switch is turned off. The cigarette lighter usually has a 12V
supply of this sort.)
This 12V source also connects to the ‘In’ terminal
of the module via a normally open pushbutton. (“Normally open” means it’s open
until you press it!)
The negative (-) terminal of the module connects
to chassis ground (or the negative terminal of the battery).
The spray pump is wired between the ‘Out’ terminal
of the module and ground, with the positive side of the pump going to the
module.
DIP Switch and Pots
On the board there’s a DIP switch to configure the
module for different functions. Orientate the board so that the terminal
strip is on the right and then use a ballpoint pen or a small screwdriver to
set the switches so that they look like this:
Now it’s time to set the length of time that one
button press will operate the Spray Squirter. You can set this anywhere between
1 second and 1 hour (but I reckon 1 hour might be a bit excessive!).
Again orientate the board so that the terminal
strip is on the right. Use small flat-bladed screwdriver to rotate the
bottom pot anti-clockwise at least 15 turns, or until it can be heard clicking.
(Why so many turns? Multi-turn pots like the ones fitted don’t have clear ‘end
stops’, so to make sure you’ve adjusted the pot as far as possible to the
minimum value, turn it lots of times!)
Then do the same for the upper pot – rotate it
anti-clockwise at least 15 turns, or until it can be heard clicking. OK, now
both pots have been adjusted to give the shortest possible time. Now turn the
upper pot clockwise 4 full turns. The spray time with one push of the button
will now be about 5 seconds.
If you’ve wired the system up as shown above, you
can now test it. (If you don’t want water everywhere, you can do the testing
with the pump disconnected!) Press the button once and the on-board LED will
start flashing. (If the pump is connected, the spray should also start
operating.) After the timed period has elapsed, the LED and pump will stop
operating. To let you judge the time, the LED flashes twice per second.
If you want a shorter time, rotate the upper pot
anti-clockwise. If you want a longer time, rotate the upper pot clockwise. If at
any stage you want to cancel the spray, keep your finger on the button for a few
seconds.
If in operation you find that you want to adjust
the spray period, it’s as simple as altering the position of the upper pot. By
rotating this pot you can set the time anywhere between 0 and 60 seconds. (As
shown here, the other pot sets minutes rather than seconds.) Note: when setting
the spray time, you should get an assistant to watch the spray nozzle itself –
some pumps take a few seconds to get going.
High
Power Pump?
If
you run a very high power pump (ie much higher power than typical windscreen
washer pump), you may need a heatsink on the MOSFET – check to see if this
component gets hot when the pump is running. See the end of eLabtronics Timer for details on fitting a heatsink.
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Installation
With the set-up complete, install the board in its
box and then mount the box somewhere convenient – eg up under the dash. Insulate
all wiring joins and keep the wiring neat and tidy with cable ties.
If you want a dashboard indication that the pump
is running, you can carefully unsolder the LED and extend its wires so that the
LED can be mounted within the driver’s line of sight (hard), or wire a 12V pilot
light in parallel with the pump (easy, and shown in this diagram).
Conclusion
The Intercooler Spray Squirter is versatile, easy
to control and can make a major difference to intake air temps, all without
using any more water than is required.
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The
Timer is available fully built and tested from the AutoSpeed Shop.
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