If you are handy with a soldering iron, get hold of some resistance wire,
Dick Smith has Nichrome and Cuprothal for about $3.00, and replace the faulty coil in the resistor pack , just wind your own coil,
The length of the wire and the type of wire used will determine the fan speed,
but I just had a try today first with a piece of copper wire and the only difference was speed 2 and 3 were the same.
DO NOT use the copper wire long term as it can,t withstand the heat too well.
If you have an old heater or kettle with exposed heating elements , you could
probably use some of that too.
Hi
I just joined, wish I'd found this old thread earlier, spent almost a whole day tracing the wiring from the switch to locate this resister. Location not in my service manual. New resister now $62.80 from holden.
Ok so the cuprothal wire from Dick Smith is $4 for 4 metres of 6 ohm/m 0.32 mm dia and the #2 elememt is 0.5 mm dia and around 24 cm long.
The cold resistance looks about right but I'm not sure this finner dia will take the required current.
Anyone know if the diameter is a problem?
I intend adjusting the wire length until the speed settings have roughly even current steps. I have the gear and ability for this but little experience with elements where the resistance varies with temperature.
I could double the 0.35 wire and this would give the same X area as the original 0.5 element. Would that work OK?
Another option is to replace the element with a 7W cereamic resistor.
opinions?
It's a bit of effort but I'd feel ripped off paying $62 for the part.
Regards,
Ken