How to protect the Hairball while wiring the car
Q: How to protect the Hairball while wiring the car?
A: Remove all power to the Hairball before performing any wiring. Double check your wiring before powering it up. Also, be sure you have the correct snubber diode (supplied with the unit) installed on the contactor before turning it on for the first time. Beware that the snubber diodes supplied by Albright are not acceptable.
The two most common repairs that require return to the factory come from shorting Hairball outputs while wiring the car and neglecting the proper snubber diode on contactors. Some compromises were made in the Hairball 2 design in order to keep the cost well below the $800 that is typical of automotive ECU’s. Primarily this means that the Hairball is not tolerant of shorted outputs and reversed power applications. If your Hairball is damaged due to improper wiring it is imperative to remove all power since sitting damaged with power applied can further damage the unit sometimes burning the PC board beyond repair.
If you suspect a problem due to fuses blowing contact the factory for repair.
Shorting of the speed sensor power lead can cause also the Hairball to be damaged. In that case it will report a 1131 error and not start up. If at any time the voltage on ‘Acc +14V Out’ is well below the ‘SLI +14V In’ then the unit needs to come back to the factory for repair.
Usually these problems are not expensive to fix if caught early enough. Contact the factory to get a RMA number if needed.
-Otmar