Stupid Question.....or is it? Relay and switch wiring LED and other lights

[Kryptoroxx]

I'm pretty sure that I can wire the rest of the relays up for my lights but I was wondering if there was a good place to look for a switched supply? In addition is there any limit to how many switches I can have on the switched power supply? I have a aux fuse/relay block for all my accessories but thus far I have just wired them constant hot which I wouldn't mind fixing....but I'm not awesome at electrical stuff. I have never used a relay for wiring switches before but I know I need to do it.

Maybe I just need a little help. Here is what I understand.
151
I believe that I am going to end up drilling a hole in the firewall and routing all of my cables through there independently. There's too many already.

[troyboy162]

Your cigerete lighter is switched and should run several relay coils without issue. I'd tap into that circuit if you want, but I like my add on's to be always hot

also your fuse on the switched supply is redundant since it would be fused in your stock fuse box.

[Seanz0rz]

I have tapped my cig lighter circuit for all my relays that need switched power. I actually don't use the factory cig lighter anymore, I replaced it with a blue sea USB socket.

[Kryptoroxx]

I have tapped my cig lighter circuit for all my relays that need switched power. I actually don't use the factory cig lighter anymore, I replaced it with a blue sea USB socket.

Did the same thing. I hardwired my bluetooth audio adapter at the same time. One of the best mods I have done for convenience.

That sounds good enough for me. I only really need 3 relays right now so it shouldn't be too much of a load anyway.

[Robinhood4x4]

I believe that I am going to end up drilling a hole in the firewall and routing all of my cables through there independently. There's too many already.

Can you expand on this? What exactly do you mean?

[Kryptoroxx]

Can you expand on this? What exactly do you mean?

Well honestly the holes through the firewall are filled with wires for stock components and after running a 0ga wire through one of them most of the extra space is taken up where it is convenient to run them through. I'm considering drilling a 3/4" hole through the firewall that's extra just for add-on wiring. That way everything I have added to the truck is organized and somewhat separate from the stock components.

[Seanz0rz]

just be sure to seal it up. I have a small leak through mine.

[Kryptoroxx]

just be sure to seal it up. I have a small leak through mine.

Yep. Going to try bicycle innertube and silicone along with a rubber grommet to see if that helps. This project should give me something to do while I wait for the account for mods to fill again for the axles.

stamped and snail mailed

[4x4mike]

Look into getting a wire gland to mount in the fire wall.

https://www.google.com/search?q=wire+gland&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=U71pU6uWJ9KAoQS-24C4Dg&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1290&bih=768

That with a little silicone should keep it sealed and protect the wires through the hole. I ran an 8g wire through my factory harness on the driver side to power a Blue Sea junction block behind the dash. It's fused on both sides of the firewall and has been nice for ad ons.

One thing to consider is the interference that a lot of the high power LED's cause. Currently only my center dome light causes any interference when using my HAM radio. It's the driver that causes it and I haven't really done anything to fix it. It's just white noise. My Blue Sea dual USB port on the other hand was far worse. It's mounted near the Blue Sea junction and the radio. It took some jangling to fix that.

Now I've got the same interference with the portable battery box i made recently. I have a noise filter I may try but first I need to order some ferrite chokes. My inverter and USB ports cause the same noise. The radio is attached directly to the radio and it's still an issue.

[Robinhood4x4]

Yeah, but what kinda electrical stuff do you have on the inside that needs big gauge wire, except for stereo stuff. You see, the idea behind using relays is to keep all the high amperage big wires on the outside of the truck and use small wires on the inside. Less chance for a fire in the passenger compartment this way.

If you tap off the cigarette lighter, then that's your single power source for the multiple relays. That means you only need 1 tiny wire going from each switch to the relay.

By the way, there's a large rubber plug under the floor mats that you can put wires through.

[slomatt]

The coil in each relay should draw around 100-200mA (check the specs for yours) so you should be ok running 5-10 of them off of your cigarette lighter circuit. As mentioned the fuse to the switch is redundant because the cigarette lighter circuit is already fused. Also, you show a ground connection for the switch which I'm assuming is because it is illuminated, otherwise the switch doesn't need to be grounded.

If you are using the switches to control exterior lights then I agree with Steve that you shouldn't run the high current wires into the passenger compartment. Instead I'd recommend putting a fuse or circuit breaker on your +12v line as close to the battery as possible, and then mounting your relays in the engine bay and using the fused +12v line to power your relays' pin 30. You would then wire your loads to pin 87 (you can actually reverse this if it makes the wiring cleaner since the relay is just a switch).

On the control side you would ground all of the relay's pin 85 as you show, and then wire up pin each 86 to the output from one of your switches. One option is to get a ~18g multi-conductor cable, such as sprinkler control cable, and run that from the switch panel in the passenger compartment to the relay box in your engine bay. Make sure you use stranded wire because solid wire can fatigue and break under vibrations like you find in a car.

On my 4Runner I ran a wire off the positive battery terminal directly into a fuse block which powers a few relays. I use an 8 conductor cable to run the control power from the switches in the passenger compartment.

http://www.blankwhitepage.com/gallery/albums/t4r_fuseblock/IMG_0198.jpg

- Matt

[Kryptoroxx]

Look into getting a wire gland to mount in the fire wall.

https://www.google.com/search?q=wire+gland&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=U71pU6uWJ9KAoQS-24C4Dg&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1290&bih=768

That with a little silicone should keep it sealed and protect the wires through the hole. I ran an 8g wire through my factory harness on the driver side to power a Blue Sea junction block behind the dash. It's fused on both sides of the firewall and has been nice for ad ons.

One thing to consider is the interference that a lot of the high power LED's cause. Currently only my center dome light causes any interference when using my HAM radio. It's the driver that causes it and I haven't really done anything to fix it. It's just white noise. My Blue Sea dual USB port on the other hand was far worse. It's mounted near the Blue Sea junction and the radio. It took some jangling to fix that.

Now I've got the same interference with the portable battery box i made recently. I have a noise filter I may try but first I need to order some ferrite chokes. My inverter and USB ports cause the same noise. The radio is attached directly to the radio and it's still an issue.

LOL a wire gland!!! So that's what those things are called. I never would have thought of that. Yes I will definitely use a wire gland lol. Man I have been searching for that kind of piece for a bit. Every day you learn something new.

Now I have my CB antenna mount way back in the rear for my CB and I run my 0ga down the driver side of the vehicle with my RCA cables down the right. I don't use my CB much but I haven't noticed a whole lot of interference. I actually still need to tune the CB a little more. I did it and I know I can transmit but I'm pretty sure it's not where it could be.

Eventually I was looking at a mobile HAM setup but I was going to mount it in the overhead. My dash is jammed tight and there's already too many wires. Now I'm probably mounting all of my LED lights up front for now till I can bribe the wife into letting me have a welder. Then I will start building stuff to include a full length roof rack. Since you bring up the point of interference would audio deadening paneling do the trick since it has a foil and rubber component that would separate the two areas better for electromagnetic stuff? Just asking the Q since it is obvious you know your signals.


Yeah, but what kinda electrical stuff do you have on the inside that needs big gauge wire, except for stereo stuff. You see, the idea behind using relays is to keep all the high amperage big wires on the outside of the truck and use small wires on the inside. Less chance for a fire in the passenger compartment this way.

If you tap off the cigarette lighter, then that's your single power source for the multiple relays. That means you only need 1 tiny wire going from each switch to the relay.

By the way, there's a large rubber plug under the floor mats that you can put wires through.

Besides the stereo there isn't much but 0ga....it's a big damn wire and I do plan on running HAM, CB, LED's up top, and a larger inverter for the rear (around 1000w or so). You're right I won't have many high amp wires but there will be enough that I want to have separation from stock. It's a quirk I have that I like keeping things separate. Thanks for the tip on the floor plug. I did not know that was there.

When I do wiring I always use one size bigger than calculated for distance. It keeps things cooler(or at least makes me feel better) and I always use shrinkwrap over my connectors. It's also why I use a separate fuse box for my stuff rather than having independent fuses/relays everywhere.

I'm decent at organization but I lack a lot of technical knowledge with electrical simply because I don't deal with it that much. I haven't done car audio in years (notice the lack of installation) and there's something about wiring in a vehicle that already has wire looms as big as your fist that makes me nervous. I had to dig through and fix a random ground because of the previous owner's ignorance and I had the whole dash out. I really don't want to do that again.

My current setup is on the right side of the engine bay as pictured here.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/4/20111211104208.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/0420111211104208j)
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/23/20111211104131.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/0n20111211104131j)

As you can see I don't have jack hooked up yet but the lights will be added soon. I have 30/40amp relays for all of them which should be enough.

[Kryptoroxx]

While I was searching for pieces I need I discovered this type of gland and thought it might be of interest to the board. It has a rubber skim to it so that when you add a wire it simply goes through but doesn't negate the water-tight qualities.

http://www.elecdirect.com/product/34466e37-f979-4089-b964-7faa086c4fd5.aspx