I'm going to rewire the switches I have for my lights with some relays and some LEDs. I got all of the wiring drawn out how I'm going to do it but I don't know where I should tap into to run the low current side of the relay? And what size fuse should I run inline for my lights?

 

85 ground 86 accessory wire off ignition or any switched 12v source 30 to your LEDs 87 to the switch and not using 87a fuses on LEDS you could use a 7.5 or a 10 they draw very little current

 

Does Waterloo still have the Bar-muda Triangle?

I got tore up at the country bar winning the tricycle race, up and down the ramps, what a hoot, 1995 or so.

There's a lot of ways to do it. An easy relay coil power source is the cig lighter, power socket, or radio power wire because it's switched and closeby. Probably the best are those add-a-fuse thingies in the Help section of AP stores that'll let you tap an existing fuse socket and still have a separate circuit. Just pick one.

Does it have to be switched with the ignition on? What about picking it off the parking lights? There are just so many variables.

You'll need to know the total WATTAGE of the lights and the gage of wire you are using to determine fuse size for the lamps power.

I get a lot of info here: http://www.the12volt.com/relays/relays.asp and searching the relay forum.

 

As Earl stated "cig lighter" is an easy power take off for the low power side (control circuit). Fuse it with a 3-5 amp inline fuse. To figure the fuse size for the lights, multiply the wattage of each light times the number of lights your installing on the same circuit. Divide the total wattage by voltage (14.5) equals total loaded amps. Add 5 amps on top of that number for the proper fuse size to use (100w each x 2 lights = 200 w. 200 / 14.5 = 13.79 amps plus 5 = 18.79 rounded to 20 amp fuse).


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I want to wire the relays to the ignition so they shut off with the key. I think I'm going to tap into the radio fuse to power the low side, should that be fine? Im also wondering should what gauge wire would be sufficient for the low side 20 or 22? For the high side would tapping into the aux power fuse or cig light fuse be ok because there 20 or 25 amps, or would it be better to go directly from the battery and run inline fuses? And should 12 or 14 gauge wire be sufficient for the high side?

Thanks for your help and sorry for all of the questions.

Im going to be putting my switches in the center consul cup holder thing, so I think its going to turn out pretty cool.

Yeah Barmudas still around they own like 7 restaurants/bar/clubs.

 

I personally don’t recommend tapping power from the audio system. But I do recommend adding an inline fuse to this circuit (3-5 amp).

You could use 20ga but 18ga would probably be a better choice.

I wouldn’t recommend using the cig lighter feed for powering the lights. I’d run a dedicated power feed either from the battery or Battery Junction Box to the relay with a properly rated inline fuse.

Depending on the wattage your lights pull the minimum would be 12ga. If your lights draw more the 200 watts you might want to use 10ga wire or add a second relay (each feeding one light).

 

theres no such thing as a low power side, the whole point of a relay is to give something more power than tapping into a wire and blowing a fuse from over loading it. The safest bet is to goto an igniton or an accessory wire. The accessory wire in our trucks is gray/yellow atleast in 01-03 that will be enough power to drive what your powering