Better12v Solenoid and glow plug power supply

[stuinnh]

The power for the solenoid and glow plugs comes through the resister on the firewall which drops the 24v to 12v which is what power the solenoid and glow plugs need. To get a direct 12v supply, just remove the wire from the rear of the resister and screw onto 12v power block very near the resister.

You can then remove the resister and it's 24v supply wire and sell the resister for $25 on Ebay.

 

[doghead]

Stu, your title is confusing, it says" better12v solenoid". Whats better? You should also let everyone know the down side to the modification you have posted.

 

[lavarok]

The power for the solenoid and glow plugs comes through the resister on the firewall which drops the 24v to 12v which is what power the solenoid and glow plugs need.

This is WRONG. It is my understanding that the resistor on the firewall AND the glow plugs themselves regulate the 12v. This is why when one glow plug goes bad, the others are soon to follow. One bad glow plug increases the voltage to the rest.

 

[Ken_86gt]

This is WRONG. It is my understanding that the resistor on the firewall AND the glow plugs themselves regulate the 12v. This is why when one glow plug goes bad, the others are soon to follow. One bad glow plug increases the voltage to the rest.

The glow plugs are 12V. The resistor does drop it to 12 when the circuit is complete with good glow plugs. He is right, and you are.

The down side that I see is that now only 1 battery is supplying the current to the glow plugs. However, the resistor "wastes" the same amount of energy as the glow plugs, so the net result is that a single battery battery supplies the same amount of energy any way. If you are going to do this you might as well just convert over to 12V.

 

[doghead]

This is WRONG. It is my understanding that the resistor on the firewall AND the glow plugs themselves regulate the 12v. This is why when one glow plug goes bad, the others are soon to follow. One bad glow plug increases the voltage to the rest.

That is correct, it's the total resistance(firewall resistors and GPs) that causes the voltage to drop to an acceptable level for the glow plugs to not fail(work properly)

 

[stuinnh]

This is WRONG. It is my understanding that the resistor on the firewall AND the glow plugs themselves regulate the 12v. This is why when one glow plug goes bad, the others are soon to follow. One bad glow plug increases the voltage to the rest.

I'm sorry you think it's wrong. The glow plugs are 12v. I have had this set-up on my trucks for 6 years now. Never burned out glow plugs or anything else because of it. The person who told me about the change was very experienced with both 1009 & 1008's. He had this mod on his trucks years before that. I had also used a manual glow plug button on one of my trucks for years with success. If you start with new glow plugs and everything is working correctly, why would you burn one out. I never have, even here in NH.
I only recommend things which I have found to work well and save money when possible. I have wasted plenty of $$ while learning. Not everyone can afford a new resister or glow plug pc board etc.

 

[doghead]

The glow plugs are 12V. The resistor does drop it to 12 when the circuit is complete with good glow plugs. He is right, and you are.

The down side that I see is that now only 1 battery is supplying the current to the glow plugs. However, the resistor "wastes" the same amount of energy as the glow plugs, so the net result is that a single battery battery supplies the same amount of energy any way. If you are going to do this you might as well just convert over to 12V.

Ken, the down side to converting to the front battery(12v) is that if your front battery goes dead, and you jump it with a Nato Slave cable, your GP's wont function. That is why they designed it with the resistor on the firewall.(24v source)

 

[lavarok]

Glow plugs create heat through resistance. I doubt your mod provides 12v to each plug when all plugs are working. Lack of sufficient voltage will still produce heat and may extend glow plug life. This is probably why you have never had a bad glow plug. I also suspect it takes your system longer to heat up. All my CUCVs have stock glow plug setups and work flawlessly.
Would your suggestion work well without a manual glow plug button? Probably not!

 

[doghead]

Stu, it is your first post, the way you wrote it, that is confusing.


BTW, this "conversion" has been posted by other people, before.

 

[Ken_86gt]

Ken, the down side to converting to the front battery(12v) is that if your front battery goes dead, and you jump it with a Nato Slave cable, your GP's wont function. That is why they designed it with the resistor on the firewall.(24v source)

Hmm. I do see where if the batteries are very weak with the jumper they may not get 12V. But I think that you would still see enough to "warm" them up. But I agree that it would not be 12V, it would be something less. On the upside though every other civilian system would now be able to jump start the truck

 

[mistaken1]

Hmm. I do see where if the batteries are very weak with the jumper they may not get 12V. But I think that you would still see enough to "warm" them up. But I agree that it would not be 12V, it would be something less. On the upside though every other civilian system would now be able to jump start the truck

Unless you make the conversion to full 12V wouldn't the starter still need 24V?

 

[SmokeyDod]

Yes , the starter AND the solonoid on the starter are both 24v. I'm not sure what Stu mean't by 12v unless he has changed the starter to 12v type. If he is starting his truck with 12v without use of Pushbutton,, I would like to know details how he did it.