Relays and wiring

[adventureduo]

I have the blueseas dist. block. Works great.

You should be able to get relays and all the rest of the items you need at West Marine like they mentioned.. or there's cheaper (much cheaper) electronic stores. We have Orvac and Ford Electronics over here, i dont know what you have there. Go on superpages.com and see.

 

[TJVach]

This might be a shot in the dark, but I have had AWESOME experiences with WaytekWire.com they have lots of wire there aren't expensive at all the only thing is that there are minimum order quantities. It worked really well for me because I have a lot of electrical projects that I have to do with my rig and I just have to buy once at a pretty decent price. Just my $.02

 

[HongerVenture]

Another Relay question...

I understand relays and wiring for auxiliary lights and whatnot but I'm left with a question.

Let's use a set of auxiliary lights for example...
I have a switch wired(rated for 5A) to the relay as follows:

(+)--------(86) RELAY (85)----switch----Ground(-)

And I have the lights wired(rated for 30A) as follows:

(+)----fuse----(30) RELAY (87)----lights----Ground(-)

Do I need a fuse in the switch circuit? Or do you only bother to fuse the 30A lighting circuit?

 

[ntsqd]

If you pull your 86 power from the 30 terminal then your fuse will protect both, although wired as you've indicated the load is the relay's coil so a short to ground after the 85 terminal just turns the lights on - not very likely to pop the fuse (BT, DT).

Just b/c the switch can handle 5A doesn't mean that the relay will draw that. I don't know off the bottom of my head what a relay does draw, but it's not very much.

 

[HongerVenture]

If you pull your 86 power from the 30 terminal then your fuse will protect both, although wired as you've indicated the load is the relay's coil so a short to ground after the 85 terminal just turns the lights on - not very likely to pop the fuse (BT, DT).

Is that a standard shortcut? Pulling the power from the 30 for the 86? That's a great idea.

Just b/c the switch can handle 5A doesn't mean that the relay will draw that. I don't know off the bottom of my head what a relay does draw, but it's not very much.

I realize the relay probably draws very little current, however in the interest of over-design I'd make the circuit capable of handling 5A. The switch and wire gauge would be rated for that.

 

[ntsqd]

Is that a standard shortcut? Pulling the power from the 30 for the 86? That's a great idea.

Don't know how std it is, it's my way of doing it.

I realize the relay probably draws very little current, however in the interest of over-design I'd make the circuit capable of handling 5A. The switch and wire gauge would be rated for that.

Absolutely no harm in a little over-design.

 

[tacojosh]

Relay center

I just cleaned up 2 years of wiring with this system:

 

[tjbliley]

post up the source info for that. It looks sweeeeeet. I would like to get something just like it.

 

[tacojosh]

post up the source info for that. It looks sweeeeeet. I would like to get something just like it.

www.4x4s-pod.com

These are the connectors:

 

[TeriAnn]

Where can I buy relays and switches?
I went to Autozone, Pep Boys, Napa, Checker, Radio Shack and Fry's Electronics -- Nothing!
The only thing I found was either a lightweight cheepo harness.
Any ideas?

I like wrecking yards for high quality relays. I discovered early 1990's Cadillacs use bosh relays with triple water seals and potted connectors.

These relays would be sealed for short time immersion and impervious to just about anything that could be thrown at them in an engine compartment.

Cadillac uses a group of three that mount side by side on a simple metal bracket. I use one each for the horns, low beam, high beam and electric fan.

Cheap at the wrecking yard, high quality and about as water proof as you can get. Maybe not as fancy looking as rows of relays in a plastic enclosure, but far cheaper and probably better protected from water intrusion.

 

[Mlachica]

Thanks teriann, those are nice relays. Out of curiousity, I wonder how much they are new. What model caddy's are they found in?

 

[DaveInDenver]

Where can I buy relays and switches?

FWIW, a few places that I order misc electronic stuff:
www.waytekwire.com
www.mouser.com
www.digikey.com
www.rallylights.com
www.smallparts.com
www.terminalsupplyco.com
www.surplussales.com

 

[DaveInDenver]

Thanks teriann, those are nice relays. Out of curiousity, I wonder how much they are new. What model caddy's are they found in?

I didn't know about the Bosch ones from Caddys, but Hella makes (and it might be the same relay inside the case, I dunno) something similar. I would expect that the junk yard ones would be just a couple of dollars?

The weatherproof base with pigtails is Hella 87173 (about $12, this is basically identical to TeriAnn's picture)
A weatherproof relay is Hella 87411 (about $8)
Just a simple skirted relay is Hella 87410 (about $5, this is like what TeriAnn's looks like)

 

[ntsqd]

Add to Dave's list:
http://alliedelec.com/

http://www.delcity.net/

 

[tjbliley]

Thanks