Help Fire(s)!

Good Afternoon Tom,

Your post last night deserves a fuller reply.

I think you might have hit the nail on the head especially after something revealing yesterday. On one climate at least there was an odd thing with no connector on the prongs from the board when I stripped the carcass for the pictures. Some pictures for those who might not be familiar.

Just look like forks as in 'knives & forks' great for dinner service in a dolls house!

View attachment 107918

I gave the connector a prod with a small screwdriver down its tunnel but it did not want to move, came to the conclusion it was stuck on the counter prongs from the the little fan and I left it in. The exposed prongs seemed to slide home nicely when I pushed the button housing onto the back box.

I have for years thought this connecting arrangement was a poor design, no locking mechanism just pulls off and nothing to stop two prongs going into one conductor and all depends on friction.. For those unfamiliar you are working 'in the dark' having introduced the connector into its 15mm long tunnel you cannot see anything on assembly. The final push home of the front facia comes with the HOPE all goes well with the four prongs mating satisfactorily with no shorting hazard created. Always thought this method of working was dodgy but must have been lucky up to this week and my luck ran out.

The tunnel, vertical in picture

View attachment 107921

Now the really odd thing, yesterday evening when I was taking pictures the connector fell out.

I HAVE A BETTER IDEA - Remove the little fan first!

Check the connector sits on the forks correctly.

View attachment 107924

Fan in situ..

View attachment 107922

... and removed.



View attachment 107923

The fan showing with its prongs.

View attachment 107927

Replace button housing.

View attachment 107926

This way nothing to impede the connector instead of push button housing home and hope.

Now replace fan, the benefit is you can see what you are doing, ensuring each prong on the fan mates into one conductor in the connector. Sorry no way to take a picture.

Back together - SORTED.

View attachment 107928

I still have 4 A2 climates and 6 other model carcases (from a long time ago for facias to retrim, heated rollers, hard touch buttons). Over the weekend I will strip one down and rebuild, reinstall but this time I am confident there will be no need to call the fire brigade.

Live and learn best by your own mistakes.

Andy
Very clear explanation of the problem, and how to avoid it. It is a poor design, but I guess Audi only expected their service techs to remove the fan, for cleaning. Does this method mean the fan can be removed for cleaning, without a strip down of the controller? Again not familiar with this.
Mac.
 
Very clear explanation of the problem, and how to avoid it. It is a poor design, but I guess Audi only expected their service techs to remove the fan, for cleaning. Does this method mean the fan can be removed for cleaning, without a strip down of the controller? Again not familiar with this.
Mac.
Yes, you can remove just the fan. - Andy
 
Good Afternoon Tom,

Your post last night deserves a fuller reply. Can I ask how you know the little connector was the source of your meltdown, no sign of arcing on prongs or connector with mine.

However I think you might have hit the nail on the head especially after something revealing yesterday. On one climate at least there was an odd thing with no connector on the prongs from the board when I stripped the carcass for the pictures. Some pictures for those who might not be familiar.

Just look like forks as in 'knives & forks' great for dinner service in a dolls house!

View attachment 107918

I gave the connector a prod with a small screwdriver down its tunnel but it did not want to move, came to the conclusion it was stuck on the counter prongs from the the little fan and I left it in. The exposed prongs seemed to slide home nicely when I pushed the button housing onto the back box.

I have for years thought this connecting arrangement was a poor design, no locking mechanism just pulls off and nothing to stop two prongs going into one conductor and all depends on friction.. For those unfamiliar you are working 'in the dark' having introduced the connector into its 15mm long tunnel you cannot see anything on assembly. The final push home of the front facia comes with the HOPE all goes well with the four prongs mating satisfactorily with no shorting hazard created. Always thought this method of working was dodgy but must have been lucky up to this week and my luck ran out.

The tunnel, vertical in picture

View attachment 107921

Now the really odd thing, yesterday evening when I was taking pictures the connector fell out.

I HAVE A BETTER IDEA - Remove the little fan first!

Check the connector sits on the forks correctly.

View attachment 107924

Fan in situ..

View attachment 107922

... and removed.



View attachment 107923

The fan showing with its prongs.

View attachment 107927

Replace button housing.

View attachment 107926

This way nothing to impede the connector instead of push button housing home and hope.

Now replace fan, the benefit is you can see what you are doing, ensuring each prong on the fan mates into one conductor in the connector. Sorry no way to take a picture.

Back together - SORTED.

View attachment 107928

I still have 4 A2 climates and 6 other model carcases (from a long time ago for facias to retrim, heated rollers, hard touch buttons). Over the weekend I will strip one down and rebuild, reinstall but this time I am confident there will be no need to call the fire brigade.

Live and learn best by your own mistakes.

Andy
Morning Andy,

Glad you’re sorted now and yes after the melting episode I’ve never since worked on a climate unit that is still connected to the vehicle, lesson learnt to never rush something. If it’s worth doing it’s worth doing right. It only take minutes to remove the panel from the vehicle followed by a couple of minutes to strip one down once your back in the workshop or at much disgust to the other driver here, on the kitchen island.

I know one of the 2 prong pins (forks as you put) was the issue as I was closely watching what happened. I can confirm that I had no sooty or arcing evidence on the forks either. I guess the incorrect connection was good but resulted in frying the PCB elsewhere.

I’m sure this thread will help many in the future to not make a similar mistake.

Kind regards,

Tom
 
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