Activa spheres

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handyman
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Post by handyman »

Have a word with Martin at Pleiades, as he knows what he is on about when it comes to spheres and offers a reasonable regassing service, mind you he is a bit dismissive of Activa owners. :shock: Thinks we're all off our trollies! :roll:

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Post by CitroJim »

Activa Sphere list here courtesy of GSF..

Activa Spheres

The first page of this page shows where they are. This page will take a long time to load so be patient!

There have been designs published for homebrew testers using an old pressure regulator, a gauge and an HP Pump. I'm sure someone will soon post a link...
Jim

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Post by CitroJim »

handyman wrote:Thinks we're all off our trollies! :roll:
:lol: Why?

Within this post is a very comprehensive sphere listing from several sources...
Jim

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Post by andmcit »

Front Corners 400 volume / 45 bar
CITROEN 527162
GSF: N45335

Rear Corners 400 volume / 30 bar
CITROEN 527147
GSF: N45338B

Front Centre 400 volume / 70 bar
CITROEN 527609
GSF: N45335B

Rear Centre 400 volume / 55 bar
CITROEN 527606
GSF: N45338D

Rear 'anti sink' 400 volume / 50 bar
CITROEN 529304
GSF: N45338

Front Balancing 400 volume / 62 bar
CITROEN 527704
GSF: N45335D

Rear Balancing 400 volume / 30 bar
CITROEN 527703
GSF: N45338F

Main accumulator 400 volume / 62 bar
CITROEN 95666763
GSF: N45304
andmcit
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Post by andmcit »

andmcit
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Post by andmcit »

Jim - are you "playing God" with the messages here!!

I swear blind I DIDN'T SEE your first posting after Handyman's post, only
your second one, weird - I've seen others on forums mention posts they
only saw display on later visits/refresh...

I must be losing the plot!!

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Post by CitroJim »

andmcit wrote:Jim - are you "playing God" with the messages here!!
:lol: Funnily enough Andrew, you're not the first and only one to see this strange happening with my posts :?

I have no explanation for it. I once thought it was perhaps because the forum database sits on my domain and maybe small time errors between the web server and the database but actually that should not matter as I don't use the same internet connection for browsing as I do for the database connection...
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andmcit
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Post by andmcit »

I bought a kit about 15 years ago for around the price of a set of Amtex
spheres would cost today from Andyspares AKA GSF! Not sure they still
sell the kit now but do have the valves which are a fiver each. The
argument for Amtex is quite strong in terms of recharging set up costs
with nitrogen bottle rental taken into account.

That said, I now have the set up and can optimise my fleet of many
hydraulically suspensioned Cits as easily as if I were simply topping up
the tyres on the car or minutely tinker with the pressure intended for
that particular application; I find my Cx's run better for an extra 5 bar!

At the end of the day it depends what you feel like living with more; the
economically better cost of Amtex or the convenience of Valprex! Mind,
with an Activa (or two!!) the balance may tip in favour of recharging as
there are so many damned spheres... :D

Andrew
Last edited by andmcit on 06 Jul 2008, 11:32, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by DickieG »

andmcit wrote:Mind, with
an Activa (or two!!) the balance may tip in favour of recharging as there are
so many damned spheres... :D
I know just what you mean there Andrew, I've got a total of 34 sphere's on my Xantia's :shock:
13 Ram 1500 Hemi
14 BMW 535D Tourer
19 BMW i3s
06 C3 Desire 1.4
72 DS 21 EFi Pallas BVH
andmcit
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Post by andmcit »

A post on club-xm a couple of years back:

http://club-xm.com/forum2/index.php?showtopic=827

I use a rented OXYGEN FREE NITROGEN gas bottle from BOC where I have
an account for Argoshield too. Can't recall the rental (£40?) but IIRC the
bottle size I use for practical portability purposes is about 20-30quid a fill
and is about 3 foot in standing height compared with the garage 5-6 foot
high ones!

Andrew
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Post by andmcit »

Masterclock on club-xm - Posted: Apr 26 2006, 23:33 PM wrote:My search for a regassing tool has been more fruitful. I contacted Tecnosir, in Italy, about the availability of the recharging kit in the UK. They pointed me in the direction of their UK agents, GSF. I spoke to GSF, yes they stock the Valprex valves, part number N98711 at £4.50 each, but couldn't/ wouldn't supply the charging kit. Contact Citroen they said, its the tool that the dealers use, its in the special tools catalogue.

I phoned my local Citroen garage and they came back with a price. Hold on to your hat, £750 plus vat. I looked at the picture of the kit on Tecnosir's web site and thought no way.

I wrote back to Tecnosir explaining the situation and asked if they could supply the kit direct from Italy, and the answer was yes. They came back with a full quote, the prices are below.

They do two types of filling kit. The full spec one has a bottle fitting with contents gauge, a long length of hose, the controller that allows admission and release of gas to or from the sphere with its own sphere pressure gauge and then the fitting which connects to the valprex valves. The second cheaper version just has a bottle fitting with restictor jet inside and sphere pressure gauge, a length of hose and the Valprex fitting. The second one just uses the bottle valve to control filling.

Prices?

I've added 20% for Italy's vat and converted from euro's

C 720 Recharge tool £191.64
C 720SIM recharge tool £108.32
C 850 removal key (for the old Plug) £33.33
Five pack of 9mm Valprex Valves £16.66

Sim for Simple tool

That makes the full set of tools, if the simple recharger is bought, and postage £187. Or the same price as eight spheres from autospares, BEFORE the postage is added.

The beauty of this system is once fitted, and two my existing spheres already are, ther is no need to remove them from the car again. The pressure can be checked in situ and topped up if neccecery

Ian
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Post by handyman »

Hi Andrew, as you have a link into the XM forum, did the member querying the refrigerant valves find a solution in the end? I gather from his comment that he thought the valves were not correct for the pressure application, although the logic in his comments state otherwise.

Maybe you can clarify the situation? Are the Valprex valves just standard refrigerant units or are they specially made for Citroen application, given that the cars run much higher pressures than industrial or commercial applications.

I am interested in this as I already have a lot of kit in this area, but to do with energy capture systems! It would not be difficult for me to add the kit to do recharges. I have already started making my own sphere tester.

Handyman
andmcit
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Post by andmcit »

The Japanese blokey on the earlier link:

http://www.mars.dti.ne.jp/~ynar/bxorg_a ... /t03e.html

uses the VALPREX system which is bespoke for Citroen spheres and no
other application. As a good starting reference point, the valve is
available to order from GSF:

N98711 VALPREX VALVE 9mm SOLD INDIVIDUALLY 4.50

and come in a set of 5 though GSF do list them separately

The valve has a 17mm size hex head with an internal diameter collar that
is threaded to connect the charger's 'head' onto - the needle rod on the
charging kit is really just to unseat the internal one way valve ball off it's
seat and open the sphere to get a reading of the pressure in it as the
higher pressure gas from the main bottle will push the one way open
allowing gas into the sphere.

BTW There are two different sizes of Valprex as the DS/CX safari rear has
a different size teat on the crown of the sphere!

Andrew
andmcit
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Post by andmcit »

I've an idea CentreVille Garage will be able to help you here but it'd be
worth checking on the phone before calling in!! Guess it'd be a good excuse
to see the older Cits there like the D's and Cx's

http://home.btconnect.com/centreville/

CENTREVILLE GARAGE

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