Whats this cable?

clontarf_x · 10-12-2005, 06:27 PM

Well, digging around in my engine bay after giving it a good once over, found this wire that looks like its been snapped off/cut from its original connection.

Anyone know what it is? And am I correcting in guessing the flash gold thing next to it is my SmartShield controller?

2002 AU XR6 VCT ST

- Shane

XplodE · 10-12-2005, 06:55 PM

im not realy sure what the gold thing is but im guessing that wire is ment to be an earth?

Or maybe even bolt onto the other end of that module...????

10-12-2005, 11:09 PM

The gold thing looks like a fuse for an amp power cable. The black box looks like a small amp.

Baboon_AU · 11-12-2005, 12:56 AM

i have never seen a black sorta looking thing box like that before in an engine bay???? got me baffelled! but where is that cable with the black tape around it going to.. the battery??

12 · 11-12-2005, 01:06 AM

No idea what that black thing with the heat sinks is. Was it factory?? What the heck is it??

The gold thing, with the red wire from the + terminal is an aftermarket fuse holder and power supply cable for an amp. Do you have an aftermarket stereo in the XR6 VCT ST?

Steve_T · 11-12-2005, 01:17 AM

If "flash gold thing" = "flash gold thing in clear plastic with red cable attached", then yeah, fuse for aftermarket amp/audio setup.

The black box with heatsink fins ain't factory. It could be an ERPS of some sort, or maybe looks a bit like a MegaPulse battery conditioner from memory too, or something like that.

Black wire would probably be earth - would've been a ring terminal which has snapped off - undo the bolts on the black box carefully and slowly and you'll probably find the snapped off bit of the ring terminal still stuck under one of the bolts/washers. Or maybe another nearby bolt. With that wire off it's a fair chance the black box ain't working.

EvilChief · 11-12-2005, 02:43 AM

question: do u have an alarm system? black box might be part of it ...

snapped black thingy: earth

clear plastic encapsulated gold thingy: fuse

clontarf_x · 11-12-2005, 12:04 PM

Gold thing in plastic with red wire == my amp wiring

The gold thingy is yes that black box. I've got no idea what the hell it is. However I do notice it seems to work in tandem with the AU immobilisation system.

On sat when my battery when flat, whenever I put my key in the ignition and turned it to "ON" the light on that gold box would flash a steady fast red, where as normally its a slow green pulse, it really does have me baffled

Heres a pic of the logo on it

**Whoosha** · 11-12-2005, 12:42 PM

I cant say I have ever sen one but by the symbol on it I would lead to some sort of after market alarm upgrade or a smart sheild of some sort. As for the spare wire who knows.
Alarms tend to activate when they gain earth such as a bonnet pin.
Earth it somewhere by hand. Lock the car and hold down any bonnet pin if you have one then un-earth the wire by hand and see if anything happens..

Just my 2 cents

Steve_T · 12-12-2005, 01:40 AM

Thought it was a black box in first pic due to lighting.

Does light flash green all the time or only when ignition is on/acc.? Is it just red and black wires coming out of it or are there more? Does that loose earth wire rack back to the box or go the other way down the loom?

DOC · 12-12-2005, 02:05 AM

A guess saying the gold thing is a motion sensor of some type and the black related to the alarm / security in some way but i might be wrong.

EvilChief · 12-12-2005, 07:13 AM

doc: hehe no, definately not

DOC · 12-12-2005, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EvilChief

doc: hehe no, definately not

Figures, i cant even win the local chook raffle - worth a try.

EvilChief · 12-12-2005, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DOC

Figures, i cant even win the local chook raffle - worth a try.

... haha good idea thou

clontarf_x · 12-12-2005, 11:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve_T

Thought it was a black box in first pic due to lighting.

Does light flash green all the time or only when ignition is on/acc.? Is it just red and black wires coming out of it or are there more? Does that loose earth wire rack back to the box or go the other way down the loom?

You hit the nail on the head. Flashes green almost all the time except the once when the battery was flat, which when I tried to turn the ignition it would flash a rapid steady red.

And it yes only has two wries coming from the actual box, red and black. that cable comes out of the loom, but im assuming that it has something to do with that box?!

i really have no idea what the hell it might be. not even the auto ellecy had a clue. I seem to buy cars with weird boxes! my XF had this strange white box with 5 red lights on it, and it would alternate between 5 and 3 lights!!!!!

HELP?!

GT-E · 13-12-2005, 12:22 AM

I bet the black box is some sort of electronic rust proofing device.
Some have a light that shows your car is protected.

ClassicAU · 13-12-2005, 01:13 AM

i know, its a Flux Capacitor. Have you ever gone back in time at 88mph?

Steve_T · 13-12-2005, 02:31 AM

Electronic rust protector would have more than the two wires.

I'll go out on a limb here and say with fair certainty that it's just a fancy lookin surge/spike protector. Having only pos. and neg. wires severly limits what it could be otherwise - maybe a pulser/desulphator, but it's behavior seems more like a spike protector.

I have a Matson one on my car (AntiZap std. duty) which has a similar light - it flashes slow/steady green all the time usually as long as battery voltage is ok to indicate it's protection circuit is operational. If battery voltage gets too low (eg. 10.5v) it'll stop flashing. Yours (and similar devices I've seen) seems to go a step further and flash quickly red when voltage drops even further (eg. 9v) which is what would happen when you turn ignition on 'cause dash would light up and drain more power etc.

I only had doubts 'cause usually spike protector wouldn't need to be that big or have that much of a heat sink, but it could just be an older/fancier one. That's what I reckon anyway.

It sounds like the unit still works (light still flashing) even with that broken wire, so either the box earths itself through it's chassis as well as the wire, or that wire has nothing to do with it - where that broken wire joins the taped up loom - which direction does the wire go when it enters the loom - towards the box or the other way towards the front of the car?

BTW: The SmartSheild controller is built into the BEM which is a plastic box located under the dash to the left of the steering column.

Steve.

clontarf_x · 13-12-2005, 10:25 PM

A couple more pics. Turns out the loom has 3x black and 1x red (one of those blacks being the snapped one) all running to the battery, nowhere else

clontarf_x · 14-12-2005, 09:08 PM

anyone?

EvilChief · 14-12-2005, 11:04 PM

i think steve might be on teh right track there

richo77 · 15-12-2005, 12:09 AM

you sure its not Brocky's Polariser?

:

12 · 15-12-2005, 12:30 AM

clontarf_x, can you undo the 3 mounting bolts and look under it to see if it has any stickers/info?

The loom has 4 wires?? 3 black (one to neg on battery, others to chassis??) and a red which is to pos on battery. Going by that, I think it's a electronic rust protector. Googled and looked around, found few units that look very similar in size and detail as the one above.

clontarf_x · 15-12-2005, 12:33 AM

roger 012, wilco tommorow. I dont think the other 2 blacks go to chassis though, they go from module to loom but then somewhere along the track dissapear :/ and as you can see when you look at the last pic they dont come out of the loom anywhere

but anyway yes I will detach the bolts tommorow n have a looksie

EBFalcs · 15-12-2005, 12:34 AM

that's a black wire, right. and 99% of the time a black wire is earth. so i'd say it's earth.

Steve_T · 15-12-2005, 12:39 AM

You still didn't say which way that snapped wire runs after in enters the loom - ?

Is it still only the 2 wires which actually come out of the box?

Where are the other two black wires you speak of at the battery end? I can only see one additional red and one additional black wire connected to the battery (apart from factory connections and your amp connections) - those are the two which go into the taped up loom at the bottom right corner of your last pic - I only see those two coming from that end of the loom - no others. Based on pics it looks even more certainly like a surge protector.

If I'm right, then whoever fitted it knew what they were doing at least - an inline fuse is a very sensible precaution on a surge protector.

Steve_T · 15-12-2005, 12:50 AM

Just found post #24 - if all four wires are actually coming out of box, then yeah, ERPS might be the go. Stange for three of 'em to all be black though. There'd be no way to identify them unless their all earths, in which case it's not gonna be a capacitive coupling setup if it is an ERPS I'd say.

clontarf_x · 21-12-2005, 09:05 PM

Well I finally got around to taking the box out, and there is no markings on it whatsoever. Its basically a huge heatsink?

*shrug* its not harming the car *leaves ita lone*

ford2dmax · 21-12-2005, 11:34 PM

hi guys the box with flashing green light is a electronic rust protector as a friend of mine had one on his Dunnydoor(VX 2001) it was a option from the dealer he was told never worry about it until the light stop then if it does get it looked at.