Grid heater in the summer

Apr 15, 2006 2 Replies
J

Now that I live in the Arizona desert, I have a question about the grid heater. During the summer it regularly gets to well over 100 degrees (up to 115 sometimes). Cooked batteries are a common problem here.



The grid heater obviously isn't needed during the summer months here. Does that heater always come on? Or is it thermostatically operated?



I was thinking of disconnecting it, or maybe even putting in a switch to keep it off during the summer. Giving the batteries a break during the summer seems like a good idea. Any opinions?



John



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J

The heaters are controlled by a temperature sensor in the intake manifold. Watch your volt meter after startup and you will see a large drop in voltage as the heaters are cycled on. From my observation they run fewer cycles as the outside air temp increases.

There are two relays that activate the heater, they are located near the battery on the drivers side; removing the small push-on connectors on the relays will deactivate the heater. I have disconnected mine (Generation 1) in the summer and noticed no difference in performance.

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N

The grid heater shouldn't come on above 59°. Grid heater chart:

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