Suggestions for thick insulated wire for testing Fans & AC Compressor - any ideas what & where to get?

[mrjonsavage]

Hi.

Gonna be testing my AirCon Compressor & Fans to see if they are fried (as AC Compressor not kicking in & yes have read most of the forum posts re this!).

In these posts they say to put 12V across the relavent terminals from your car battery to test them which is all well & good BUT they say you need some thick a*s insulated wire to do this as they draw quite a hefty current (amperage - 30-40A fuse protectioin on battery so confirms this) and tend to melt the insulated wire within seconds so,

(1) Anyone suggest what wire & maybe in a practical sense where to get?

(2) I could use my battery charger & clamp two probes on end of clasps then juice it up (though most chargers only give out up to about 20A so this may not be enough to 'check for life' in these bits if they require higher Amps than the charger can give?)?

(3) Any other ways to put the right voltage/current across.


Please, no jokers or glib comments, just bare facts everyone, ta!

[Sam]

Moved from How To section to MkIV section based on a quick Google search for OP's vehicle :)

[mrjonsavage]

Ta for move if relevant? Did search here & this seemed most related...!

[Sam]

Ta for move if relevant? Did search here & this seemed most related...!

You posted in the How To Section > This section is not for you to ASK how to do something (http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?114507-This-section-is-not-for-you-to-ASK-how-to-do-something)

I assumed (perhaps wrongly) that this was a question related to your mkiv Golf. If it's a general question on electrics then I could move it to the Chat About Anything section if you'd prefer?

[mrjonsavage]

HI Sam,

Reason why I put in the Golf MKIV section is that it is something that a lot of MKIV owner have to do (see other Golf MKIV threads to common problems with Fan or AC Compressor failure & how to test/fix) & they would have to had to do this hence would have knowledge they could pass on re this.

Agree it could be a 'common' problem for all car owners but thought Golf MKIV'ers would likely have to do more than most (& isn't a job to be taken lightly as 40Amp going through your hands with a thin wire is quite dangerous!).

Posted in the most releavent but lets see if I get any replies - if not suggest putting it back where I started it?!

[Sam]

I moved it to this section from the How To section.

The How To section isn't to ask how to do something, it's for people to tell us how to do things.

See how it goes here, if you don't get any bites, we'll try moving it to the general chat section.