Haltech TCA-8 Thermocouple Amp - Where's everyone installing them?

[TurboTapin]

I'm in the middle of installing a few Haltech bits and can't find a nice place under the hood for my TCA-8 amp. Where is everyone putting them? I hate that they put the connector on top.  

[Shoota_77]

What length leads did you get on your EGT's?  I've got the amplifier but not the EGT's yet as I want to confirm where I put them first.  My plan is to either put the amp next to the ECU somewhere or if there's not room there or will make too much mess with wiring into the cabin I'll be putting it inside the passenger side (left side) front guard.

[r32-25t]

I’m thinking of putting mine either behind the abs unit or in the passenger guard 

[TurboTapin]

On 4/25/2022 at 7:18 PM, Shoota_77 said:

What length leads did you get on your EGT's?  I've got the amplifier but not the EGT's yet as I want to confirm where I put them first.  My plan is to either put the amp next to the ECU somewhere or if there's not room there or will make too much mess with wiring into the cabin I'll be putting it inside the passenger side (left side) front guard.

I bought WHP thermocouples from ecumaster. They are much cheaper then Haltechs and come with weld bungs and compression fittings. Not certain how long the leads are, but long enough to get anywhere sane. 

 

Haltech states the amps are not completely water proof so I'm going to avoid front guards. I don't want to put it in cabin to avoid the nest of wire. Rather pass 1x canbus cable into engine bay then 6x TC's into cabin. 

[TurboTapin]

On 4/25/2022 at 7:22 PM, r32-25t said:

I’m thinking of putting mine either behind the abs unit or in the passenger guard 

I have a catchcan where abs usually is, if not that would of been a great spot. I'll probably make a bracket and put it somewhere in that region. 

[Shoota_77]

On 26/04/2022 at 11:56 AM, TurboTapin said:

I bought WHP thermocouples from ecumaster. They are much cheaper then Haltechs and come with weld bungs and compression fittings. Not certain how long the leads are, but long enough to get anywhere sane. 

 

Haltech states the amps are not completely water proof so I'm going to avoid front guards. I don't want to put it in cabin to avoid the nest of wire. Rather pass 1x canbus cable into engine bay then 6x TC's into cabin. 

Do you not have wheel arch liners?  It should be pretty well protected back there.  Can pretty easily waterproof it if need be.  Wrap it in a plastic bag.

[TurboTapin]

On 4/25/2022 at 10:14 PM, Shoota_77 said:

Do you not have wheel arch liners?  It should be pretty well protected back there.  Can pretty easily waterproof it if need be.  Wrap it in a plastic bag.

Throughout my career as an electrician and then an electrical engineering technologist, I have yet to see a plastic bag wrapped in electrical tape waterproof anything. It has the opposite effect, water gets in and stays in. 

I agree, It should be rather well protected with liners, but I like to err on the side of caution. 

[Shoota_77]

On 26/04/2022 at 12:32 PM, TurboTapin said:

Throughout my career as an electrician and then an electrical engineering technologist, I have yet to see a plastic bag wrapped in electrical tape waterproof anything. It has the opposite effect, water gets in and stays in. 

I agree, It should be rather well protected with liners, but I like to err on the side of caution. 

Hey, I'm no rocket scientist or electrician but I do know water doesn't flow up hills very well.  If you affix it vertically with the cables coming out of the bottom of the sealing bag (like one of those waterproof phone swimming bag thingies), the insignificant amount of water that gets passed your guard liners isn't flowing up into the bag provided it's half well sealed.

But anyway, your car, you do what you see fit!  🙂   

[TurboTapin]

On 4/26/2022 at 12:29 AM, Shoota_77 said:

Hey, I'm no rocket scientist or electrician but I do know water doesn't flow up hills very well.  If you affix it vertically with the cables coming out of the bottom of the sealing bag (like one of those waterproof phone swimming bag thingies), the insignificant amount of water that gets passed your guard liners isn't flowing up into the bag provided it's half well sealed.

But anyway, your car, you do what you see fit!  🙂   

It can actually flow up into it. Capillary action up the cable into the bag.

I appreciate the ideas though. Sorry to come off strong, bagging things is just a very hot topic in my field. A lot of old timers did it and it's one of those things we scream inside when we see because we know when we remove it to do it properly, you'll get covered in rusty water and whatever surprise it hides will be corroded. 

Cheers!

 

[GTSBoy]

Aren't these small enough that they could reasonably fit on the front side of the passenger's suspension tower? Where the PS reservoir and airbox live. A little judicious relocation of the loom plug that resides there should see enough space made.

Or how about on the firewall above the ABS unit?

[TurboTapin]

On 4/26/2022 at 8:04 AM, GTSBoy said:

Aren't these small enough that they could reasonably fit on the front side of the passenger's suspension tower? Where the PS reservoir and airbox live. A little judicious relocation of the loom plug that resides there should see enough space made.

Or how about on the firewall above the ABS unit?

Unfortunately with the Type K connectors at the bottom and the canbus connector on top, you need a fair amount of space. I tried both locations you mentioned with no luck. I'm either going to make a bracket to space it out near your yellow circle or near the right headlight. 

Cheers. 

[bigboss59400]

I would be interested to know what did you do at the end ?

THanks

[TurboTapin]

On 11/19/2022 at 2:47 PM, bigboss59400 said:

I would be interested to know what did you do at the end ?

THanks

I'm a tad late to the party but here's where I ended up installing it. One oem hole, bracket to another oem hole I also use for PS reservoir.

I used a 90Deg strain relief instead of the straight supplied on the 8pin connector. 

Cheers. 

[bigboss59400]

THanks for the update !

Do you still have the ref of the angle connector ?

Best regards

[TurboTapin]

1 hour ago, bigboss59400 said:

THanks for the update !

Do you still have the ref of the angle connector ?

Best regards

TE Connectivity Part #'s. Cheers. 

Angle Connector: 1546347-2

Connector Pins (If ever you scrap one depinning): 66506-9

Depinning tool: 91285-1