About to go work on my seats but think I should figure this out soon.. Adding electric locks, stereo amp for ipod hookup, Maybe a second amp depending on setup, electric windows (near future), some new guages (near future), some sort of rear defroster (near future) Would I need to add two separate fuse boxes?.... one that's powered all the time for locks, and one that's only on when the key's on. Maybe I can do an in-line fuse for the locks and a fuse box for the other stuff...? Opinions about where to tie the fuse box in, or whether to take power from the starter selenoid and just have a switch to turn the box on and off? Frank, I've seen your setup lol. It's very nice but way out of my price range. Trying to do this on the cheap of cheap for now
Run an accessory feed wire to the interior from the solenoid or battery positive cable, like a 12 or 10 ga cable to a isolator stud and attach the power leads to however many relays you need for your add ons. Tap the existing accessory power wire from the Maverick ignition switch (black with light green strip I think on most models) as turn on power for the relays and you have isolated the high current add ons from the original wiring while still retaining the function of the original components. Don't forget to fuse the individual circuits and the main feed near the battery.
I used an expansion fuse block with an integrated relay for the switched circuits. Think it had 4 unswitched circuits (which I used for horns, radiator fan, hi beams, low beams) and 3 switched circuits (choke, ignition). I've looked all thru my project threads and didn't find any documentation. Can't believe I didn't document it?? Anyway, the original coil wire (OK to leave the resistor wire in) switched the integrated relay for the all the switched circuits. Think the supplied fuses in that block were all 20A. Sorry I can't provide a link to the fuse block I used.
So you're saying don't add a fuse box at all... Just fuses in-line, like crimped into the wires or something. Would the relays be any different than those bosch relays people use for the headlight upgrade, or are they a specific type? Automotive wiring is not my things.... Looking up what an isolator stud is right now haha This is what I've read alot of people on here have done. So it was one fuse box that did both power all the time and power when switch on? That would be just what I'd be looking for... Sounds nice and clean looking too The coil wire you're talking about is located under the steering column I'm guessing... I tied into a wire for my floor shift indicator - probably the same one
You can take the wire off the positive terminal of the coil and use that to switch the relay in the expansion fuse block. Then use one of the switched circuits from the expansion block to power the coil. Voltage is reduced to something like 8-9V at the coil when current is flowing thru it and the resistance wire. But the relay has much higher resistance than the coil so a lot more of the 12V will be across the relay. I believe even 8-9V is enough to switch the relay reliably.
Oh ok. That makes sense. Thanks Jim! Having trouble finding an affordable one with relays. Found some from jeeps and neons and such... does it matter if it's from another car? Tried searching: Fuse box, fuse box relay, fuse block, fuse block relay, universal fuse box, universal fuse block, and a few other things. Think advanced auto or radioshack would have one? Calling them is worthless....
For my Key on power accessories I ran from the key on portion of the starter solenoid a 10AWG stranded wire into the cab to an auxillary fuse box. I put inline a fuse that was 5 amps higher than the sum of the fuses I was using in my fuse box. Then I used 10AWG wire to ground it as well. Did the same for my constant power accessory box, except that one comes off the battery postive. I'm a bit of a freak about fusing things though, I hate blowing my devices because something spiked the power in my system. The fuse box also makes the wiring look a lot cleaner. When I just had the inline fuses I also had a rats nest of wiring that wound up sitting on my trans hump all ugly.
Yea, you and I think the same about this cleanliness thing... Got a recommendation on where to shop for fuse boxes?
I found some cheap 4 circuit boxes on ebay. Like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATM-Mini-Fu...Parts_Accessories&hash=item4d0c232db7&vxp=mtr
I used one with these specs but, IIRC, is was more square. Same features though. http://www.painlesswiring.com/webcatalog/largeview.php?SearchField=70107
Thanks guys! For the sake of getting it done fast and cheap I might go the MSmth route and use two fuse boxes (one for power on, one for power off). I can switch to one with built in relays when I find a good one on the cheap.. Thanks again! I'll let you know how it goes. Gonna try and do these seats now lol
I was drooling over that Painless kit for a couple weeks. But, just couldn't fit it into my budget. In fact there is lots of stuff I wish I could buy from Painless... shame they charge so much. Really the quality is there on their stuff though. For me though, cheap chinese junk.
If you're over this way, I have extra relays. Probably can find a 40A one. Amps add up quickly for constant on items like horn and lights.
All good advice. I ended up using some cheap 4 position fuse holders that used crimp on terminals that could be separated if necessary for different circuits or using a common power supply. I think I got them at Autozone back in the late 90's. There is a method for my madness on the circuit I used to power up the relays though; the accessory feed which is the black with green on the switch depowers during start but is hot in the run position. This allows the 12 volts to turn on the relays in run but doesn't draw any additional current from the system during start. If, say you run your added accessories like an amp or blower motor, ac compressor, etc off of the coil feed circuit, all of those components will be hot during start, drawing that much current from what is available to the starter and ignition system. Just the blower alone can draw 30 amps when it just starts to spin by itself. Those old systems need all the current they can get just to start the car. Try waytekwire.com, they have all kinds of stuff for electrical supplies. The isolation stud is just a plastic mounting base with a stud attached that allows you to use a ring eyelet to make electrical connections without the danger of grounding to the metal chassis.
Of the 2 middle terminals on the starter solenoid only one of them has power when cranking, the other has power when the key is in RUN. I didn't want to use the accessory out of the ignition switch because it goes through the in car fusing, and I wanted my add-ons to be independent of that. I can't remember atm which stud is which on the starter solenoid, but I can look later. I know 1 doesn't have power during cranking because none of my accessories are on while cranking. But you have a good point about drawing power from the ignition system, I may need to look at the schematics again when I'm adding in my rear-view camera this weekend. some tweaking may be in order. No wait it's not an issue, my ignition system is run straight off the battery.
