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My 82's A/C compressor is leaking so I need a rebuild or replacement. However I noticed something odd. There's a resistor in parallel on the A/C compressor connection. I assume that's not original but what could be the purpose? It's been switched over to R134a so figured it had something to do with that but after studying the wiring diagram I can't figure out why.
Diodes prevent current from going the wrong direction.
When a motor/compressor, anything with coils of wires is rapidly turned off it generates a big voltage spike, A (any) coil of wire acts as an inductor, and an
inductor RESISTS the flow of current from stopping/starting. It will spike the voltage to try and prevent current from stopping its flow.
Think of a garden hose. That column of water moving through it has inertia. When you try and fold the garden hose over to stop the flow it fights you.
Same thing happens if you disconnect a battery on a car while the engine is running. Gonna get a big old spark out of that alternator, up to 100V and
probably fry some stuff.
Diode prevents that spike from going anywhere or doing any damage.
Resistor on A/C compressor connection
