News:

The ORG - No shonky business!

Main Menu

ACCII Automatic climate control replacement.

Started by zeppelinboy, 24 September 2007, 06:04 PM

Are you interested in a high quality, reliable, modern day, microcontroller based replacement for the auto climate control system?

Of course! I hate sweating in the summer and/or freezing in the winter.
16 (59.3%)
Where was this when I spent 2 grand to replace my crappy system with the same crap?
1 (3.7%)
No way, I love the eccentricities of my Benz and would never replce anything with non MB parts even though I do have to wear electric socks to drive during the winter.
1 (3.7%)
HA HA. You poor US saps. I live in Europe, South Africa, Australia and could care less. :)
9 (33.3%)

Total Members Voted: 19

zeppelinboy

Hey guys,

Just a little update here. My PCB's are being shipped to me today, so I should be able to start making units in the next week or two.


Justin

UT_Tech

I wanted to jump in here and comment on this thread.  I congratulate Justin on taking the initiative to come up with a solution for his vehicle.  Innovations is a good thing, especially when it helps keep our cars on the road.  We (UnwiredTools) have been shipping our ACCII upgrade/replacement product for a several years now and a couple of thousand units have been sold.  It's even been blessed by the folks at Mercedes and yes, there is a patent application filed for several interesting aspects of our design. 

We've worked with thousands of shops and happy owners around the country in getting their ACCII system working like it should have from the beginning.  We've also retired hundreds of  'lifetime guarantee' aluminum servos that owners have had to replace over and over again.  So far the record is held by one of our customers who replaced his "lifetime servo"  11 times under warranty!  Our ACCII replacement is universal and we support 116, 123 and 107 vehicles.

There's lots of free info regarding the ACCII system on our site.  We publish (at no charge) a vacuum diagram for the system that you can actually read!  This diagram is color coded to match the color of vacuum lines you'll see in the car and it's very useful if you have to track down a leak.  There's more at this link: http://unwiredtools.com/products.shtml

All of our automotive products come with a five year warranty, and we're more than one guy in a garage if something goes wrong.

Regards,
Steve
1980 300TD
1982 380SLC
1994 E320 TE
1998 E300DT

CraigS

Hi Steve. Welcome to the group - albeit that this is your second post. While those of us "Down Under" don't have the climate control system, anything that is a techical improvement over the existing systems are always of interest. While you seem to have success with your ACC system, it seems a different story with your Warm-up Regulator, judging by comments on the M100 board - which are not exactly complimentary when it comes to both your equipment and customer service. I'm sure you know who I am talking about and this seems contrary to your comments about your technical support and warranty. Perhaps you would like to comment.

I am also not sure whether your comment about Justin developing his own system, followed by your patent application comment is not some sort of veiled threat to steer him away from the idea of developing it for sale amongst enthusiasts.

If I am totally off the mark here, please let us know. 
[url="http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n77/Aegeanfoods/My%20Cars/"]http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n77/Aegeanfoods/My%20Cars/[/url]

UT_Tech

The ACCII system was indeed worked out very well.  It's unfortunate that the system is hard to work with, but that's a well known story.

There were some negative comments about our warm-up regulator replacement on the M100 board.  There were also a lot of postive comments.  I wouldn't say that you're off-base, but can I make a case for fairness?  The most criticism we received was for a before and after dyno test of a 450SEL 6.9.  When our warmup regulator was fitted the car gained almost 30 HP.  This was unfortunately interpreted as an unrealistic "claim" by our company.  The customer's car had a lot of good modifications, including high compression.  There was some speculation that these modificaitons led to better than average results and one poster even proposed that there was some under-handed purpose in cherry-picking this particular car for test. 

All this negative speculation regarding our warm-up regulator missed what I think was an important point, namely that CIS systems benefit significantly both in economy and performance by the ability to fine tune the control pressure.  This realization was an import moment for us.  This dyno test led directly to an engine management system for CIS cars which features downloadable engine management maps.  We've been working on that product for a year and it should be introduced shortly.

Supporting these old cars can be frustrating and there's always an opportunity for problems which are beyond anyone's control.  That's the reason why it's so hard to find shops to work on these cars.  Mechanics don't want the blame or liability with some unrelated failure when they work on a 30+ year old car. 

I believe the "who you are talking about" is exactly as I have described.  Unrelated failures when you're working on a car are very frustrating, especially when the parties involved to not agree on whom to blame!

As I said before, innovation is sorely needed to keep these fine old cars on the road.  I think that's worth supporting.  We get something on the order of 50 to 100 support calls a week, 90% of which have nothing to do with our products.  We gladly answer questions regarding vacuum and electrical systems because our expertise is unusual and we like grateful, happy customers.  We're proud of our customer service and I don't think you'll find any better.  This does not mean, however, that we will always agree when mistakes are made.


Steve


CraigS

Thanks for putting your side of the story Steve. I was not trying to be critical of your company, but when you only hear one side, it is always difficult to come to any conclusion as to where the fault lies - and I am talking about the equipment only here, so it is good to have your perspective on it.

[url="http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n77/Aegeanfoods/My%20Cars/"]http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n77/Aegeanfoods/My%20Cars/[/url]

UT_Tech

Thank you for the opportunity to set the record straight, albeit from our point of view.  BTW, you may noticed a few more posts....

caleboar

Quote from: zeppelinboy on 09 October 2007, 12:11 PM
Hey guys,

Just a little update here. My PCB's are being shipped to me today, so I should be able to start making units in the next week or two.


Justin

i'd be interested in placing an order! my servo is DOA.

zeppelinboy

Wow,

Lots of activity recently!

Steve, welcome to the forum! Your input will be much appreciated here.

Just to make sure everyone is clear here, I am not attempting to compete with the folks at UT, I have no intent to start a business selling these things. Just trying to pass on the work that I did solving a problem to help out the community.

Craig, thanks for the support, but I doubt that Steve was being malicious. Anyhow, we are in contact and if there are any issues I am sure that we can work them out.

Finally, if anybody is interested in my solution, feel free to contact me at swanlzsong@yahoo.com. I am happy to answer any questions about what it does etc. here, but I don't want this to become a thread for selling something. If you are interested in a purchase, please limit discussions to email only. I started the thread to gauge interest and see if it was worthwhile for me to get some pcb's made up. I have a small batch of pcbs now, so that is that. :)


Justin

John Hubertz

I love the idea of multiple fan speeds!  Can I get a component that just adds that feature?

John Hubertz
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."
(Hunter S. Thompson) 

1977 450SEL (Max Headroom)
[img width=68 height=73][url="http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f248/fullhappyfish/max.jpg"]http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f248/fullhappyfish/max.jpg[/url][/img]

UT_Tech

As far as I know all 116s were either ACCI (manual control dials) or ACCII (servo system).  Both have multiple fan speeds.  Are your fan speeds not working?

Steve

zeppelinboy

Steve is corrrect.


The standard ACCII system has 5 or 6  fan speeds, unless it is not functioning properly. It uses a resistor pack to accomplish this. My system has an continuously variable fan speed between low and high because I use pwm to control the fan instead of a resistor pack, this is a much more efficient way to set the fan speed.

-Justin

shoponline


zeppelinboy


shoponline

Any feedback on how the system is working?  Is there still a DIY version available, i.e., option 2?  A pic (or two) would be nice of the entire system.

Thanks.

zeppelinboy

Hi shop,

The system works great. I don't have any diy kits as of right now, I turned my limited run of boards into the full system. I have nearly completed a thorough instruction manual and will be happy to post it, it should answer any questions. If you would like to see specific pictures, or have any other questions, feel free to email me -  swanlzsong@yahoo.com.


-Justin