Espar Hydronic Heater - L300 Install

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javabob
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Espar Hydronic Heater - L300 Install

Post by javabob »

I have the Espar installed and plumbed in. Thank you AJ and Explorer for your help!

Next step is wiring the East Start timer. I have never crimped the Dupont / Molex pins. Not only does it look like a tedious pain in the ass, espar gives you the exact amount you need. No extras for the learning curve. The picture below shows the wiring diagram.
Esparwire.jpg
Esparwire.jpg (76.67 KiB) Viewed 5078 times
Now for my embarrassing question. Can I just do some redneck wiring with bullet terminals. Matching red to red, brown to brown, blue white to blue white, then cram all the other wires together into one terminal?

I'm also a little lost on the gray black wire. in the diagram it shows it going up to "light (+)" Is this connection made with a self supplied wire to a light wire in the van?
If so does anyone know what wire that would be?
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.
204explorer
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Espar Hydronic Heater - L300 Install

Post by 204explorer »

I am glad to hear that things are going well. I never had the propper crimping tool but always managed to make a good connection. I sometimes quickly solder the wires to the pins after crimping. As far as the colors go I cant remember from memory. Dont worry about the light wire. I never hook it up. I dont think you need all the wires so you should have a couple of spares for learning how to crimp them.

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ajd
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Espar Hydronic Heater - L300 Install

Post by ajd »

Yeah, this heater is a slightly different model than the one I have as well. I'm sure it works all the same though.

For crimping, I also do not have special crimping tools, just go slow with needle nose pliers folding one 'blade' of the crimp over the other and making sure you have a good metal to metal contact (you right though, it is pretty tedious). What got me was inserting those little pins into the terminal blocks. Double and triple check that you have the orientation of the terminal correct before you insert the pin and the wire colors match up on either side of the block. the pins 'one way' snap into the terminal holes and are very difficult to get out if one goes in the wrong hole, I did this :-( . You could probably get away with just twisting the wires together, but the terminals they supply are nice and will keep everything clean. It would be a bummer to have an electrical issue to troubleshoot after its all installed, putting the time in for detail now could save you later on. I didn't understand what all the wires were for either so I installed them all according to the pinout on the diagram. I think some of them allow for diagnostics for the easy start timer, which might be nice to have.

Looks like your water pump is external. That's different. Maybe the mystery plug powers the water pump? check to see if the wires match up to the cable from the pump.

Sounds like you're making good progress! 8-)
AJ
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WanderingPeso
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Espar Hydronic Heater - L300 Install

Post by WanderingPeso »

Hi!
I am new to this forum, but I was looking for others who have installed or are in the process of installing the Espar. We purchased the Hydronic II D5E with the high altitude kit and easy start timer.

I saw the question about the mystery plug and that is the plug I had to cut and install the high altitude kit through. Basically, we had to insert the high altitude kit between the main wiring harness and the easy start timer.

Also I was able to source out extra pin connectors and terminals because, like a genius, I accidentally put the pins into the wrong terminal and needed to redo one of them. I found the molex type connector and pins at Digikey for under $10. The part numbers are WM4772-ND for the connector and WM3112CT-ND for the pins (I can thank PointsUnknown for the beta on those).

We are tying our system into the space where the rear heater core used to be under the van. We removed the AC/heater core because we are building out the van and didn't need them. We are installing an aux heater fan in the van that ties into the Espar loop though so we have cab heat as needed. In hindsight, I wish I would have fabbed a box for the original heater core because it would have saved some money. We fabbed an aluminum box for the espar and our hot water tank that will also be tied into the espar loop. We are waiting on a bracket that we needed to mount and then we will be installing the system.

As far as crimping, I found a local maker's space that had micro crimpers that worked really well for crimping the pins.

I look forward to seeing your progress. I'll post more as soon as ours is installed too.
Wandering Peso
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1989 Chamonix Delica Starwagon
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