Project Viper GTS: Part 5 – Radiator Fan & Wiring Upgrade

To prolong the life of our relays, we used a pair of

ARC Suppression Technologies “NOsparc^®” 12Vdc Arc Suppressors (Part # MHXDC1F012). In a simple, elegant, and straightforward design, the NOsparc arc suppressors are connected across the two contact terminals on existing electromechanical relays with just two wires and are tolerant of harsh environments and effective even under mixed load conditions.

Relays are everywhere in the world around you from commercial to industrial, to (what’s important to us) automotive applications.  The #1 cause of relay failures is due to contact arcing.  ARC Suppression Technologies have a novel patent-protected solution that eliminates contact arcing at its source; thus increasing contact life by 10-times or more!  NOSparc products are robust, reliable, eliminates nearly 100% of contact arc energy, and are the first off-the-shelf solution that operates across a broad range of AC and DC power applications.

This is revolutionary for the commercial and industrial world where the extension of the operational lifetime of contacts by 10X, allowing users to realize enormous cost reductions in replacement switches, scheduled maintenance and unscheduled downtime.  We are going to use this groundbreaking technology in Project Viper GTS to prolong the life of our radiator fan relays.

For more information on the NOsparc^® Arc Suppressors from ARC Suppression Technologies, check out their website at:  www.arcsuppressiontechnologies.com

Pictured above are three identical relay contact points.  On the left is a brand new relay, centered is a nearly destroyed relay contacts with 100,000 cycles under power, while on the right is a relay with 1 million cycles under the same power load equipped with a NOsparc arc suppressor attached across the contacts.  It’s clear tne NOsparc arc suppressor greatly improved the longevity of the contact point and the relay.

We drilled holes in the shroud to mount our components and used ¼” delrin spacers to raise the components off of the hot plastic shroud to better insulate them from the hot radiator wash.  The circuit breaker is mounted on the left while the relays and NOsparc is mounted on the right.

To further insulate the electronics from heat, we used HeatShield Products Thermaflect Cloth that’s rated to 1,100*F and is capable of reducing up to 90% of radiant heat, to improve the radiant heat rejection.  According to HeatShield Products, “The mirror like finish and light weight construction will blow the gold vinyl sticker stuff away with its reflectivity”.

We used the Thermaflect cloth on the underside of all of our electronics to improve insulation.