122: Tuesday 16th February 2010

I've been hunting for batteries today. I am still keen on the Elecsol 125Ah as they are a reasonable price and sealed. I have also looked at Numax, they do a 113Ah battery. I am not sure this is enough. Has anybody got experience with these? They look the same as the Lucas batteries. The Elecsol batteries have a 5 year guarantee as well, so that's another plus point.
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The heater in the car was set up to only work when the heat button is on and the blower was on speed 3 or 4. I took the slider switch out of the heater controls and stripped it apart. You can see in the photo the track that needs extending to include blower speeds 1 and 2.
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I took a length of copper wire and hammered it flat to make a strip. I then put solder on one side and did the same on the switch track. I soldered the strip to the track and put the switch back together. I checked the switch was working for all speeds now. I found it to be a bit stiffer, but that was to be expected as I had just made the track thicker, but it works fine. I put it all back in the car and it is nice and hot on blower speeds 1 & 2. Once it has warmed up a bit, putting the speed up to 3 or 4 still keeps some heat going, so this will be excellent for demisting the windscreen and making the car nice and warm inside. That is important in the UK as it is really cold at the moment. My nose is frozen as I am typing this in my garage. Completely happy with the heating now!