Add-On-Air Conditioning, 54 Cavalier.

Posted by Jim McDermaid On 2012/5/8 11:01:52

There was a thread that passed through recently and I am motivated to discuss this further so I'm looking for opinions on this.

My 54 Cavalier, I bought last fall came with Add-On A/C already installed.

They made a sturdy bracket which is mounted to the right side of the engine which supports a small alternator and the A/C compressor.

A single belt wraps all of the pulleys which I don't like but it seems to work. They have an idler that rides the backside of the belt to get more wrap on the water pump pulley.

My car runs on the original 6 volt electrical system which works just fine. The A/C has its own 12 volt system which consists of the small alternator and a 12 volt motorcycle battery. The car has one of those "Gel" 6 volt batteries which only needs half of the battery bracket space and the motorcycle battery (old battery from my Harley) fits neatly to the side with a custom hold down bracket.

There is a relay near the 12 volt battery that is controlled by a switch under the dash so if the switch is off the battery is disconnected from the 12 volt system. I didn't realize the purpose of this switch until last weekend. I suspect this is their idea of how to shut off the 12 volts to the A/C system after the ignition switch is turned off.

I am going to change this so either this relay or another is controlled by the ignition switch and kills the A/C when the Ignition switch is off.

Since the under dash switch has been off (until I played with it last weekend) the 12 volt battery hasn't been charged. I believe it needs to be connected to the alternator all the time.

I had considered removing the Add-On but the temperature here in Phoenix AZ has already been over 100 so I re-considered keeping it in. I also considered moving the Evap unit to the trunk.

The under dash Evap. unit fits neatly under the Glove Drawer and you can eisily pull out the drawer.

Under the bonnet is quite neat and has a factory look. (I don't do car shows for judging). The 12 volt system barley has enough go to keep the system running at stop lights which may be due to very little contact of the belt and the alternator pulley and my mostly dead 12 volt battery.

You're thoughts please.

Jim