Today's Packard Mystery - Rear Defroster
Posted by BigKev On 2016/1/30 20:37:28
So for today's Packard Mystery I present the tale of two Packard 6V rear defrosters.
So years ago when I was cleaning out Dan Yocum's sheds after his passing. I discovered a 6v Packard rear defroster. The housing was crumbled, but the blower motor and heater element were there as was the grille that mounts topside on the package tray. We shall call this the "Shed" one.
Fast forward a couple of years, and I see another one at the PI Swap meet, with a good housing, and with a sticker on it that says "Works 6v". And for a couple of dollars (literally) I acquired one in much better shape, but no grille. But not a problem, since I have the grille from the other one I can use.
Fast forward to now. I figure I will check out the "works" one and see if it indeed works, and I want to know how many amps it pulls so I can figure out the right 12v>6v step down I am going to need to use it. So I hook it up inline with my amp meter and it works and is pulling about 3amps. But the unit never blows any hot air. Curious, I think. So I look at the "Shed" one, and I notice that one has 4 wires coming out of it, but the "Works" one has two. So I pry to the top plate off of the "Works" one to see what is going on. Low and behold, it's missing the heater element. Not only that, but it doesn't even have any holes in the housing where the element was mounted, or for the wires for the element pass through! I look at both the "Shed" one and the "Works" one, and besides that, they are identical. Same exact motor numbers, same dimensions, same everything. Except the "Works" one looks like in never had a heater element.
So what the heck is going on here? Did Packard may two different ones? What is the point of a defroster without a heating element? I mean I can mount the element in the good housing and have a fully working defroster. Just trying to wrap my mind around why one has an element, and the other one doesnt.
The "works" one is on the left, "shed" one is on the right.
Attach file:
(99.33 KB)
So years ago when I was cleaning out Dan Yocum's sheds after his passing. I discovered a 6v Packard rear defroster. The housing was crumbled, but the blower motor and heater element were there as was the grille that mounts topside on the package tray. We shall call this the "Shed" one.
Fast forward a couple of years, and I see another one at the PI Swap meet, with a good housing, and with a sticker on it that says "Works 6v". And for a couple of dollars (literally) I acquired one in much better shape, but no grille. But not a problem, since I have the grille from the other one I can use.
Fast forward to now. I figure I will check out the "works" one and see if it indeed works, and I want to know how many amps it pulls so I can figure out the right 12v>6v step down I am going to need to use it. So I hook it up inline with my amp meter and it works and is pulling about 3amps. But the unit never blows any hot air. Curious, I think. So I look at the "Shed" one, and I notice that one has 4 wires coming out of it, but the "Works" one has two. So I pry to the top plate off of the "Works" one to see what is going on. Low and behold, it's missing the heater element. Not only that, but it doesn't even have any holes in the housing where the element was mounted, or for the wires for the element pass through! I look at both the "Shed" one and the "Works" one, and besides that, they are identical. Same exact motor numbers, same dimensions, same everything. Except the "Works" one looks like in never had a heater element.
So what the heck is going on here? Did Packard may two different ones? What is the point of a defroster without a heating element? I mean I can mount the element in the good housing and have a fully working defroster. Just trying to wrap my mind around why one has an element, and the other one doesnt.
The "works" one is on the left, "shed" one is on the right.
Attach file:
(99.33 KB)
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