Help with A couple of electrical questions please

[Gmg31]

Apparently there is an electric fan relay.  I've stripped this car down about as far as possible and I've never found it.  Any ideas please?

Also.  Quite shocked that there are only 2 fuses and very few relays, (which I can't find).  Has anyone else upgraded the electrics so that every electrical component has its own fuse.

[EuropaTC]

My UK TC didn't have relays originally on either the blower or cooling fan.  Actually I'm wondering now if there were any at all on the car, I don't think there were ?   My fusebox has 4 fuses, if yours has only 2 it sounds like the early ones used on 1960s mini's and also the 60s Elan which only has 2 fuses for all circuits.

Anyway I retained the original 4-fuse box in the cabin  but fitted a secondary fuse box fed with an independent ammeter feed plus some relays in the front of the car, mounted against the plenum chamber wall. I've no pictures of the mod, but you can get a feel from the photo of the blower fan installation.  I've added the modified wiring diagram as well.

A full upgrade to a modern system of single circuit per fuse is a great idea, and if you're going from scratch then I'd ignore originality and go for it. The electrics are fairly simple on our cars so it wouldn't be a big job.

Brian

[BDA]

Nicely done, Brian! Especially documenting your changes in the wiring diagram. How did you do it? I was going to do that but scribbling on the diagram just made a mess and I didn't have a drawing program that could do it reasonably (i.e. I didn't have a drawing program).

[EuropaTC]

Actually I don't have a drawing program either, but I use Adobe Photoshop quite a lot and although there is a lot of cut'n'paste in there, the final product looks like a wiring diagram. I printed the final version out and laminated it so it's in the workshop, for those times when I forget what I've done.....   

Brian

[jbcollier]

Originally the fan relay lives near the radiator.  You can see it in this photo between the washer reservoir cap and the "fender":

https://jbcollier.smugmug.com/Lotus-Europa/i-v3C8ZMQ/A

S1s have it mounted where the wires are coming out in the above photo.

I wired mine with a fuse box in the front, passenger and engine compartments.  I used a simple Lucas four fuse box in each area with one being fused battery (purple), two being fused ignition (green) and one reserved.  I fit relays as follows: front - key switched, rad fan, ac fan, headlight high, headlight low, driving light, daytime running, horn; passenger - key switched, key accessory; rear - key switched ignition, key switched non-ignition, ac compressor clutch, fuel pump, starter.  I stayed with English automotive wiring colours to make trouble-shooting easy.

[EuropaTC]

Another school day for me, I'd no idea that relays were fitted originally to these cars.  It's interesting, after John's picture I went back to check my (paper) manual and still can't see any mention in the TC section or in the TC (UK) wiring diagram. But on the earlier S2 base manual, PDF version,  it's there. What did they do, get a lower power motor ?

No wonder we have so many head scratching moments with these cars 

On the same subject, one thing I have been wondering about is putting relays on the window motors. There's none on my car and I do wonder about the current going through those old window switches and if it would be a good idea to reduce it.

Brian

[Grumblebuns]

On the S2, appears the fan relay is in the same place as on the S1, see pic.

On my Federal TCS, I could be wrong but I don't recall seeing a single relay in the electrical system. This is probably the reason that some of the components in the TCS fail with long term use. I'm thinking of the Otter switch and the headlight switch. The power windows could use relays but they don't have high currents going through them continuously unlike the headlights so probably not very critical. On my TCS Cosworth project I will be installing relays for the headlight and the power windows to save the switches.

Nice electrical work Brian, very tidy. I'm still looking for a easy to manipulate drawing program to use for my from scratch wiring harness. I've previously used Express SCH for simple circuits. I found it OK if a bit clunky to use and takes a lot of practice to get usable results. If I can't find another program, it's back Express SCH again.

     

[EuropaTC]

I'm still looking for a easy to manipulate drawing program to use for my from scratch wiring harness. I've previously used Express SCH for simple circuits. I found it OK if a bit clunky to use and takes a lot of practice to get usable results. If I can't find another program, it's back Express SCH again.

Almost going off-topic here, but after a short learning curve I found Photoshop quite easy to reproduce a wiring diagram.

I cheated by scanning mine in and using that as a base layer. Using the Line Tool it's quite easy to overlay the individual circuits exactly with nice sharp lines which forms separate layers and then flick back to the base layer and wipe everything underneath your new lines which leaves your new layer untouched on a clear background. Then just merge layers and start on the next circuit.

It took a while but not difficult. Then adding the full text of colour coding rather than the letters (which I always forget) and it makes an easier to use diagram. It's actually in 2 x A4 pages which laminate together to form an A3 plastic covered sheet.

[BDA]

Photoshop is pretty expensive, isn't it? That may not be a viable option for mere mortals like most of us.

[Grumblebuns]

Photoshop is pretty expensive, isn't it? That may not be a viable option for mere mortals like most of us.

That was my impression also.

[jbcollier]

Sorry for the confusion.  The photo I posted above was an S2.  This is an S1:

http://s250.photobucket.com/user/jbcollier/media/1966ndash1968-lotus-europa-ducted-radiator-and-front-trunk-photo-383948-s-1280x782.jpg.html?sort=3&o=10

(photo bucket is full of pop-ups, sorry)

[jbcollier]

PS:  Don't forget that the S1 and S2 (maybe just early?) had single speed heater fans with two speed switches.  The second position turned on the rad fan.  They also used a Renault rad fan run in reverse which meant the fan blade was running backwards and not very efficient.

[Gmg31]

Thanks everyone for your advice and photos. I appreciate the help.