Re: 1960mog-
Thanks for your interest in the project! The kit is compatible with some w123’s that shipped with the 1st generation automatic climate control system. Just make sure your control panel looks like the one pictured and it will work (note the vertically stacked buttons).
My board receives three electronic inputs from the car: The sensor chain resistance, 12v ignition power, and a signal from defrost. Additionally, it receives a direct vacuum input line to control the heater valve, and then another vacuum source to control the vents inside the car (foot vents/ center vents).
Before you install the board, you need to make sure the vacuum on your car is pretty good (no worries if it’s not perfect, it should still work okay). In the gasoline models, look at the economy gauge at idle. It should be far to the left if your vacuum is good. Aside from that, if you take a vacuum gauge to one of the lines running from the passenger side to the driver’s side, you should be able to measure vacuum then do a leak down test.
One vacuum pod (#14 on r107, #19 on w116) controls whether the blower motor can come on or not. It is located behind the glovebox. If it leaks your blower motor will act like it's not working. Test this by trying to cut the blower motor on using the auto low/ hi functions. If it comes on, you’re good to go. If it doesn’t work but comes on when you hit DEF, then this vacuum pod is either leaking or not getting vacuum. The wires flowing into the pod can be bypassed and replaced with a toggle switch if your vacuum system is plagued with leaks (at your own risk).
The one other variable is the sensor chain. It is made up of a thumbwheel selector, ambient temperature sensor, and cabin temperature sensor. The goal of the climate control unit is to balance the selected temperature sensor with the cabin sensor. It is rare that these sensors fail, but more likely that they are out of calibration. However, my software was designed with that in mind. These are old cars, and thus their sensors are not accurate as new cars, so we created a greater margin of error that leans towards giving you hotter heat in the winter and cooler a/c in the summer
Thank you
P.S. Please let me know if I can offer you more assistance personally. I’d be happy to email with you/ talk over the phone to discuss specifics.