Morris Minor Owners Club

Does anyone know if these are wired in series or parallel please? I can't remember from when I fitted them to me previous traveller....
Thanks, Bob

I would think parallel. If one fails the other would still be working. Just my thought.

King Kenny wrote: ↑Mon Oct 28, 2024 11:48 am I would think parallel. If one fails the other would still be working. Just my thought.

That would certainly make sense from an electrical design point.

Biggles1957 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 28, 2024 10:14 am Does anyone know if these are wired in series or parallel please? I can't remember from when I fitted them to me previous traveller....
Thanks, Bob

Simmitc posted on here last year viewtopic.php?p=692174#p692174 so he can most likely confirm it for you.

If you connect two 12v elements in series they will only get 6v each, they have to be in parallel to work fully.

My instinct was to wire them in parallel for the reasons given by others, but they came with a diagram that made it clear that they were wired in series. I deduced that as they are less than half the width of a saloon version, they probably did not have sufficient resistance if in parallel. As I commented in the other topic, they do work well, but are slower than the saloon to clear. Perhaps in parallel they would heat up quicker, but I believe that if the instructions tell you how to wire them, then it's probably best to follow that advice. The caveat to this is that I fitted them 20+ years ago, so the newer ones might be different.

They could be two 6v panels so designed to be wired in series. If one failed they would both stop working so no overload of one.

What is the resistance of each panel?

OK, I'll ask the obvious questions (in no particular order):

Have you just brought them and if so were there no instructions?

Did you take them out of the car months ago and now you're reassembling it, you can't remember how they were wired up?

I'm assuming these are heated glass, and you're not talking about a NOS aftermarket stick-on kit you've found???

Have you considered asking ESM if they can let you have a copy of the instructions that they use?

They're on order but haven't arrived yet. They're the proper heated glass ones, not stick on. I asked the supplier when I ordered them but they didn't know! I'll check the resistance when they arrive and work it out.

Biggles1957 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 29, 2024 2:29 pm They're on order but haven't arrived yet. They're the proper heated glass ones, not stick on. I asked the supplier when I ordered them but they didn't know! I'll check the resistance when they arrive and work it out.

Well with a bit of luck, while the Supplier might not know diddley squat about what they are selling, the manufacturer might have some instructions in the packaging.

You could:

Start by connecting in series - not in parallel . That way you won’t destroy them by providing twice the voltage to each element (if they happened to be series connected, not parallel.

If they should be connected in parallel, the series functionality will be hopelessly poor.

Half the voltage across each would mean half the current (I) and twice the resistance. As Power equals I squared R, the power would be much reduced - to the point of being pitifully low (only one eighth of that when wired in parallel).