Well I finally thought about getting arond to wiring in my car and all the accessories Im gonna have running. I tallied it up and theres gonna be around 10......

cd player, boost guage, oil gauge, temp gauge, shift light etc etc

What I dont get is how to wire these up

I was thinking of making a distribution block with an 12 gauge wire going fomr the battery to the block and then from the block to all the gauges, but that would mean a constant power source, so I would need a switch, Im always in a hurry so i would forget the switch and kill the battery

What can i do?

 

the stock fuse box has accessory 12V leads. look under the dash, youll see 3 boxes wit ha spade plug. one of those is constant 12V, the other is ignition 12V (only on when the key is in the ignition, and i forget what the middle one does. it wont be hard to figure out what each one does. i remember just using one of the nuts as ground.

if youre going to wire anything yourself, then you should have a fuse in the system. and if youre powering foglights, use a relay.

 

No foglights

Will that one spot be able to hold all of these accessories though? without them dimming and such?

Anyone can explain to me where that one spot is and how I am able to wire into it

My car is an 88 crx si

 

If you are worried you could wire up a relay which is tripped off of the Acc wire.

Chris

 

What should I be worried about? Can I not just put like a 50 fuse in there?

Or should I do what i originally wanted and put a wire with a swtch straight fomr the batteyr and just count on remembering to turn the switch off everytime

 

I've got my tachometer running off of a switch, as well as my radiator fan. Since I only have two accessories that aren't factory I just ran two power wires directly to the battery with fuses inline.

I've left my tachometer light on during school and overnight before...it didn't drain the battery enough to not be able to start the car, but it's not a good idea.

I don't really know how the relay thing works, but an easy accessory power source to get to is the remote wire from your CD player. Sounds like you could tap into that to trigger a relay that would power up all your accessories. Correct me if I'm wrong, I don't really know how a relay works.

 

Yeah expletive it, im gonna just one 1 large wire with an inline fuse and a switch to a distribution block and then to my accesories, battery is always working, no problems

 

http://www.the12volt.com/relays/page5.asp#rtol

Check that out.

 

I suck at wiring, never gonna learn how to do that sutff thats for sure

I was thinking an inline fuse (no idea what size) maybe 50? to a automotive rocker switch, i think i have a fairly large one. Does the size matteR?

 

Is that an OK route guys?

Do they make rocker switches to hold that much power?

 

How do I figure out what type of inline fuse Im gonna need? I have some little rpemade thing, come with like 12 gauge wire and a socket for a fuse just for this type of thing, will a regular underdash fuse work for this? Is 12 gauge wire to small?

Thanks

 

look pull power from the radio that main power wire(red) has switch in it all ready or pull from your clock(red) pull power from there and put a block on it and wire in your self

 

Miss Cleo sees an automobile plagued by electrical problems. Or engulfed in flames.
Either way, bad news mister.


By your own admission, you really have no idea what you are doing. Maybe getting someone who is a little more knowledgable to help might be a good idea. Even if you have to pay them.

 

50 amp no way! maybe a 25 amp at most. those guages barely use any juice, and a cd player maybe uses a 15amp, fuse it at the battery and then fuse each item speparately, use the smallest fuse possible if it blows up it to the next size until it doesnt, you dont want stuff to melt do ya

 

Go to RadioShack and ask them about an "add-a-circuit" for your car....or research it online.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TurblowEF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I suck at wiring, never gonna learn how to do that sutff thats for sure
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Dude it is that kind of attitude that makes people not care about helping you in YOUR thread. You asked for help and people are telling it to you for free. Open up that skull of yours and try and learn it. Its not rocket science, and the welfare of your car is in question here...

In response to your question a cd player already has the radio circuit that should be cool. 50 AMPs is way to much for any accessory. I think the starter only uses 60Amps and it is the largest circuit in the car. Gauges consume very little power, and could prolly just be wired on the radio circuit. In all actuallity you should create an additonal circuit off the fusebox like tyson described.

 

::cough:: "add a circuit" ::cough::

something like that. You'll have to do a lil more research to make sure you get the right one for the right fuse and accessory.

 

I didnt know gauges used so little power, Im still probably gonna run it straight form the battery with an inline fuse and a rocker switch

I'll just try off and start with a small fuse (30amp?) and try and run everything and see if it blows

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by staticCRX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Go to RadioShack and ask them about an "add-a-circuit" for your car....or research it online.</TD></TR></TABLE>

and take some pics when its done and give yourself a pat in the back seeing how clean it would be when its done

 

I agree with Crx Jimmy fuse the main line and then fuse each accessory separatly. What you need to do is get manufacturer specifications for maximum current for each accesory and fuse them to spec. Never just use whatever fuse you think sounds good.

 

Start small and work my way up until it doesnt blow

I wont be fusing each accessory though

 

Don't worry, a test light is your friend!

Not fusing your accessorys is a dumb decision. IMO

 

I made this thing on sunday, came out prety good, ive got a 10gauge wire going into the cabin straight off of the battery, then to a fuse holder (undecided on what size fuse to use) and then connected to my little distribution block, once I attach all my gauges and accesory power wires to that (8 in all) Im gonna wrap it up in a layer of electrical tape

 

Post a pic of the finished prouct i wanna see how you did it

 

^werd!