240 General: New (to me) 1980 Volvo 244

[Moomoo]

Originally Posted by Othen

Whilst being frustrated by a lack of parts for the Barge, I thought I'd have a look at the spurious wire than ran forward from this repay on the bulkhead:



... and disappeared under the engine - but not in the ducting that carries the 12v cable to the alternator, the oil pressure sensor wire and the charging sensor wire, so I doubt that it was installed in the factory.

Under layers of scruffily applied electrical tape I found this:



So, the black wire from the relay (the thinner of the two you can see here) is crudely soldered to the wire that goes to the charging light in the instrument panel. That being the case it can't really be anything to do with driving lights, so that would seem to have been a red herring.

You may also notice that the Barge is suffering from a common 1970/80s Volvo malady: insulation falling off the crappy wire that Mr Volvo must have bought cheap back in the day. I may well end up making a new engine bay loom as I did for the RB, but I may get away with just fixing the odd bit at the extremities that has rotted. The end of the charging light and the oil pressure switch wires has obviously been repaired previously (maybe decades ago as they needed some attention). I managed to pull just enough good wire through both to insert a proper self-soldering joint and seal everything up properly with shrink tube:



This temporary fix is a great deal better than what there was previously, and the motor can had probably been like that for a decade - so it may well be a 5-10 year temporary mend.

So, the extra relay isn't to do with driving lights (so probably shelve that idea). What could it be? Something that is switched by the alternator charging and that controls a 12v feed from the battery into the cabin, what could that be? I'll try disconnecting the source wire from the battery tomorrow and see what stops working.

:-)

Alan

Alan, we’ve established the caravan history, I wonder if it was a charging override for the caravan battery .
By that , I mean car battery full, caravan battery needs charging.
Just a thought!🤔

[Bob 1967]

I had wires under the bonnet I couldn't identify going into a relay.
It turns out it was some kind of inhibitor/immobiliser .
It went in the bin, with the spider web of wiring attached.
On another point , I recall Mercedes using Biodegradable wiring at some point.
Possibly '90s , didn't go down to well with the punters.
One of many mistakes by the marque in recent history.
Good hunting , do you have a Pith helmet ?

[john.wigley]

Originally Posted by Bob 1967

I had wires under the bonnet I couldn't identify going into a relay.
It turns out it was some kind of inhibitor/immobiliser .
It went in the bin, with the spider web of wiring attached.
On another point , I recall Mercedes using Biodegradable wiring at some point.
Possibly '90s , didn't go down to well with the punters.
One of many mistakes by the marque in recent history.
Good hunting , do you have a Pith helmet ?

We'd never take the Pith, now, would we, Bob?! J.

[Moomoo]

Korth not!😀

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Moomoo

Alan, we’ve established the caravan history, I wonder if it was a charging override for the caravan battery .
By that , I mean car battery full, caravan battery needs charging.
Just a thought!🤔

I don't know anything about caravans, but that makes sense. I wonder whether it goes to the permanent live on pin 4 of the 12S (grey) trailer socket, or perhaps also 6 for the fridge? One would not want the caravan drawing current unless the motor was running.

Alan

PS. I'll take the Barge out to see if all the lights work at 19:48.

[Moomoo]

Originally Posted by Othen

I don't know anything about caravans, but that makes sense. I wonder whether it goes to the permanent live on pin 4 of the 12S (grey) trailer socket, or perhaps also 6 for the fridge? One would not want the caravan drawing current unless the motor was running.

Alan

PS. I'll take the Barge out to see if all the lights work at 19:48.

A bit like a split charging system.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Moomoo

A bit like a split charging system.

If that is the case I wonder why the installer took the feed all the way to the alternator when he/she could have picked up the same wire at the bulkhead connector right next to the relay? I suppose he/she didn't understand all that much about it - and that is the way someone told him/her to do it during his/her apprenticeship 20 years previously.

[Moomoo]

Originally Posted by Othen

If that is the case I wonder why the installer took the feed all the way to the alternator when he/she could have picked up the same wire at the bulkhead connector right next to the relay? I suppose he/she didn't understand all that much about it - and that is the way someone told him/her to do it during his/her apprenticeship 20 years previously.

Who knows bud , I’m probably speak rectally , just can’t imagine what else it is !?

Still love the Barge, it’ll be great. My’83 DL used to have a ticking sound when I set off and I noticed they all did.

I wonder if yours does, it’s in the exhaust somewhere???

[Bob 1967]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

We'd never take the Pith, now, would we, Bob?! J.

No , that would be Madness !

(Night boat to Cairo)

but do I feel Alans pain, I had to remove all the panels both footwells to chase wiring from a constantly blowing fuse (and melting wires).
I couldn't fix it ,so now I turn on lights before the ignition switch.
A helmet would have helped when I was banging my head off the proverbial brick wall!

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Moomoo

A bit like a split charging system.

Originally Posted by Othen

If that is the case I wonder why the installer took the feed all the way to the alternator when he/she could have picked up the same wire at the bulkhead connector right next to the relay? I suppose he/she didn't understand all that much about it - and that is the way someone told him/her to do it during his/her apprenticeship 20 years previously.

That will be exactly what it is, a split-charge relay - common practice to take a feed for the relay coil from the warning light feed on the alternator. With the engine off, even with ignition on, the rotor in the alternator provides an earth path for the warning light and keeps the relay coil at 0V, once up and running, the alternator has +12V (battery voltage) on this terminal so powers the relay coil, connecting power through the contacts to the socket at the back.