I used a thin wire and sandwiched it between the fuse and the slot of the socket that read 0 volts. This will provide 12 volts to the PCB once the fuse is in and if something goes terribly wrong, the fuse will burn out. We will use the slot that does not read voltage (use the one that reads 0 volts). Now find which of the 2 slots of this fuse socket reads voltage. Now place the key in and turn to "ON" position so as to listen to the radio. We are looking for a fuse that is not hot when the key is "OFF". If it reads voltage, again try another fuse. If it reads 0 volts, place the red probe on the other slot. If it reads voltage (not 0), try another fuse. With a voltmeter, connect the black probe to the car's ground and the red to one of the 2 slots of the fuse's socket. To locate which fuse to use, disconnect any fuse. On my '99 Ford Explorer, I picked fuse #12 on the interior fuse panel which happens to be used for the windshield wiper pump. Finally, 2 heavy gauge wires will provide the coolant probe. A car's ground is any exposed metal connected to the car's chassis so I found a narby bolt provided a good ground. 2 wires will provide voltage for 2 LED's and another provides their ground. This supplies 12 Volts from the car's battery. The ground wire will connect the ground on the PCB to the ground on the car. 1 wire connects a fuse, which is hot when the key is "ON" or engine is running, to the voltage in on the PCB. The PCB will have a few wires connected to it. Technically, this project uses an equivalent circuit to my " Electronic Diaper" project in that it uses a voltage divider connected to an ADC (analog to digital converter) pin. This way, it's most efficient in power consumption while it's turned on. The indicator is microcontroller based and it incorporates built-in hardware features called "sleep mode" and "watchdog timer" to periodically wake up, take a reading, flash the corresponding LED, and go back to sleep. By choosing the right fuse in your car, the indicator is turned on only when the car is running or the key is in the "ON" position. Otherwise, a red LED flashes if it's low or empty on coolant. A green LED flashes when there is coolant in the reservoir. This instructable does not cover troubleshooting the source of the problem however. The idea is that the coolant reservoir will likely go empty before the radiator does and while the coolant level in the reservoir changes as you drive, an empty reservoir is a good indicator of a problem.Ĭoolant loss could be the result of any number of things including a bad water pump, bad gasket, or broken hose. While most cars have a temperature gauge alerting you of overheating, they fail to warn you of the issue in time to resolve it before the likelyhood of a broken engine. Today I will show you how to tell when your car is experiencing coolant loss by building and installing a low coolant indicator in the coolant reservoir.
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