Well, here it is... how to change the speed at which your spoiler goes up and down. Jan, feel free to add to your page/FAQ..
First you need to find the spoiler control module. It's NOT a relay in/above
the fuse box. There is a module about twice the width of a relay mounted
to the dashboard on the driver's side. The easiest way to find it is just
to trace the wiring from the spoiler switch. It goes directly to the module,
which is about a foot away. The module slides off the metal mount.
Go ahead and do so.
Next, you'll need to take apart this module. The connector side has a plastic
cover that comes off with some prying. Now the circuit board slides right out.
What you are interested in is a pair of resistors towards the top of the circuit board, as illustrated:
this resistor
|
|-------------|----------------------|
| ---- X o O [ ] [] | X=transistor
| ---- [] o- [v ] |
| ---- [ ] [w ] O | o = resistor
| ---- [v ] O |
| [] [ ] [w ] | [], O =capacitor
| [ 4 ] |
| [] [ 0 ] ===== ===== | [ ]
| [ 0 ] | | | | | [ ] = chips
| [ 1 ] |R1 | |R2 | | [ ]
| ===== ===== |
| -diode- | R1,R2=relays
\___________________________________/
| {} | | |
| {} | | |
connector side, component side up
Simply put, it's the topmost resistor not counting the group of 4 on the left side. Its value is 590 Kohm, 1% tolerance(!). Replacing this resistor with a lower value will raise the speed at which the spoiler rises. After some experimentation, I found that a 220k resistor will increase the raise speed to about 67 mi/h (110 km/h), as well as the lowering speed to 35 mi/h. I'm guessing that by changing the resistor directly below you can change the lowering speed independently. I didn't bother, since I got exactly what I wanted with the one change.
The 220k resistor is commonly available, even at radio shack. Just as a side note, these two resistors are the only two that appear to be hand soldered on the board, and the only two with 1% tolerance... maybe someone in Europe with too much time on their hands could find out what values are used over there.
You could also send $75 to AMS and have them solder in the 10c resistor for you.
Maurice Slot
kta@sccsi.com
Here's what I did: I took the measured resistance of the OEM resistor (the 45mph one) - 618k ohms And, the measured resistance of the 67mph resistor - 221k ohms All resistances where measured with a Fluke 87 DMM
I then set up a linear regression equation using my trusty scientific calculator. This is what I came up with:
MPH = 79.25 + (Resistance)(-5.5416 x 10E-5) or Resistance = 1430045.45 + (MPH)(-18045.45)
If you look at the top formula, you will see that the maximum activation speed can only be approximately 79.25 MPH (substitute a zero for resistance - short circuit).
I made a chart of theoretical activation speeds @ various resistances:
MPH Resistance Popular resistor sizes and speeds
50 528k 470k - 53.2
55 438k 390k - 57.6
60 347k 330k - 61.0
65 257k 270k - 64.3
67 221k 220k - 67.0
70 167k 180k - 69.3
75 77k 150k - 70.9
79.25 0 120k - 72.6
100k -73.7
82k -74.7
68k -75.5
Matt H.
Help Support the CCA by:
The Corrado Club of America, Inc. is a nonprofit group run entirely by volunteers. ISP support provided by Netsville.