Bongo Fury

I'm thinking of getting a remote locking kit.
Think I'm being a bit thick but I have a 2 wire actuator which I've tested on a battery and its drawing nearly 4 amps when actuated.

Now........if I attach it to the link rod which goes to the button in the door card then it will either be up or down but still drawing 4 amps .

Can this be right????????

nope dont think so, as its supposed to be wired up to an alarm or remote locking unit?..........so the alarm or remote locking unit should controll the power to the actuator, so it shouldnt draw a constant current??

thats how i think it works anyhow

I think - and this is based on an earlier car of mine (I think an Austin Montego or Vauxhall Omega!!) - that the actuators are given a pulse lasting around 1 second (probably a lot less) which is enough to operate them the full distance.

I remember being surprised they didn't have top and bottom limit switches (micro-switches) as I'd expected before dismantling one, so the only conclusion I could come to was that they were given a short timed pulse instead.

.........thanks for the replies so far - if the power is removed from the actuator then the actuator rod returns to mid position - surely this would relock the door again?

On the ones Al's fitted, it's got to go down to lock the door - they've just gone down or up. When he's fitted the motor for the central locking to the door, it's been connected to an alarm or to a control unit which gives a pulse to open the door and another to close it. Once it's open or shut there's no current at the motor.

So, there must be a slot arrangement at the lock to allow the actuator to return to central after unlocking and no powers consumed then? Then reversing the power to lock it again must do the same. That'll mean the actuator is always in the middle of it's stroke except for the pulses to operate the locks.........does that sound right? can anyone confirm without me opening up my panels?

not sure if this is the answer to you question ( not very technical ) but managed to fit one last weekend and on it the actuator stays in the up position for open and down to close its not connected to alarms or anything else. hope that helps.

Easy to do, get the Hawk kit. What you have is 2 relays operating the solenoid that you fit to the drivers door.
EG...........sending a + and - from the first relay pulls the solenoid down (locking) activating the relay that controls the other doors like via the key on the drivers door. Sending a - and + from the second relay pushes it up unlocking. The only time there is power to it is when it is moving.

If you want I can send you the wiring diagram.

I think you may be trying to be too technical with this. The "actuator" is just a motor which moves one way to lock the doors and the other way to unlock. The remote locking device or car alarm will, as mentioned above, send a pulse in one direction to lock the door with a reverse pulse to unlock.
These motors do tend to "relax" a bit when there is no current applied but this will not be enough to move the door lock. The mechanical resistance of the door lock will be enough to prevent the motor from moving when no current is applied.
I think you need to actually fit the motor to the door, connect it to the locking rod and then try pulsing it with a battery and you will see what I mean.
I do understand your concerns, but have fitted hundreds of these back in the day when I fitted car alarms. The adjustment of the motor, both getting the travel correct and the angle right so the pull is straight is most important.
Steve

The Great Pretender wrote:Easy to do, get the Hawk kit. What you have is 2 relays operating the solenoid that you fit to the drivers door.
EG...........sending a + and - from the first relay pulls the solenoid down (locking) activating the relay that controls the other doors like via the key on the drivers door. Sending a - and + from the second relay pushes it up unlocking. The only time there is power to it is when it is moving.

If you want I can send you the wiring diagram.

GP you have the wiring diagram and i have a spare actuator, wiring loom and the black boxy thing if your interested dandy it been on the wants section for ages give me a pm, it's in my garage somewhere but i can dig it out if your interested

I'm interested Cheffy - I'll PM you and thanks to all for the replies - I think I am probably looking too deep and techie into this - what foxed me was that the actuator I got yonks ago from Clogger (remember him - worder where he is these days ) sits in the middle of it's travel drawing no current and draws full current which makes the plunger go full extension or retraction depending on the polarity. I just thought it might be trying to lock itself again when the plunger returned to the centre position when the power supply was cut.

I'd be interested in the diagram Mel - maybe there's one on the Hawk website

There is, it's here.
http://www.comm-elec.pwp.blueyonder.co. ... manual.pdf

Thanks for that - all iIneed now is for cheffy to get his arse into gear...........

Just seen this one, I'm on it dandy honest