Your clip video is excellent. It is easy to understand with a clear wording demonstrated electric diagram. I'll use it apply for my dashcam and other car accessories installation. Thank you.
Great instructional video. I’ve just added a new double din stereo to my vw caddy. It’s all working fine but I purely took a piggy back from the cigarette lighter fuse as it’s a switched live. There’s a 15 amp fuse attached to the stereo as well as the new piggy back fuse. After watching your video I’m intrigued as if I should have fitted a relay ? What would you advise ?, thanks
I got a quick one.. How do you fuse tap fog lights that has Engel rings? I want engel eye rings to come when l start the car then fog one use switch, was wandering if you could help with that. Thanks again
Hi Terran. I'm glad you found it helpful. Relays seem very tricky when you know nothing about them, but when you realise how simple they are and how much you can achieve with them, they quickly become your friend : )
Im intending to install a reverse/backup alarm. So 85 is splice with the parent brake light hot wire. My question is. For pin 30, can splice again/with the brake light hot wire but with a fuse/fuse holder instead of tapping it to the fusebox?
What's the name for a relay that buzzes as a reminder as well as deliver power to a car horn the to let you know you left key in the ignition ? Electromechanical ? What type of relay is this ?
This was an outstanding and educational video. The illustrations really helped. Would you mind telling me what software you used to create them. I would like to use something like it to plan my project's design. Thanks a bunch.
Ive seen many electrical explanation videos. The ones ive seen from you far surpass any other! I click the thumbs up but for all of your videos there is no thumbs up/down counter. Im wondering if maybe you have ratings disabled on your video or user settings or something of that nature
Hi Logan, Thanks for your kind words - and the thumbs up! I don't display the ratings... I like people to judge for themselves. Some people like to go with the flow, liking what others like and disliking what others dislike. Others deliberately buck the trends, disliking popular videos, etc. I prefer people to have an open mind when they view my stuff. If they like it, I get a thumbs up and I am quietly pleased... it's nice to be appreciated after all : ) I genuinely don't mind people disliking my stuff as long as they say why... if I'm wrong, tell me, if I've confused, say how and where... that way I can improve on what I do. Thanks again. Geoff
Great practical advice / help! After seeing your helpful video on "piggy back" fuse holders, can you clarify if it would be ok to use this in the parking / side light fuse slot in order to take a feed to the DRL auto dimming facility for when driving at night (white wire from relay)? (Splicing into a feed from the headlight / side light unit is almost impossible due to restricted space & accessibility. From what you say I think using a "piggy back" fuse would be safer since it will be fused and no extra load imposed?
+Sight & Sounds Thanks for your comments. To be honest it's a tricky one to answer because I'm not there with you so I don't know the specifics of the situation. Generally speaking, most DRLs tend to be LEDs and these tend to be very low current. This is a good thing and lends itself happily to Piggyback fuses etc as there's little concern about overload. The danger comes when you plan to Piggyback with a large load - something that uses a lot of current. In such a situation even though the fuses may be up to the task, the concern is whether the wire that feeds the fuse holder is capable of handling the load. So as a 'guess' I'd say you'd be fine. However, if you're asking me if you can use the existing fuse as a TRIGGER to act on a relay (using this instead of splicing into the sidelight feed, etc), I'm not so sure. I would imagine the dashboard switch comes after the fuse, meaning that the supply will always be positive regardless of the switch position, so your DRLs will be on permanently (at least after the ignition is turned on). The obvious thing is to test it with a multimeter and see ; ) I have got a couple of other videos that might help you - Homemade DRLs - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9c-iZ-SKqCE.html Fuse It - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8omZ545Cw1U.html (handy lips on selecting the relevant fuse with a multimeter, etc). I'm sorry if my answer seems vague. It's not intended to be. I suspect you already have a good grasp of the subject based on your question so my answer is intended to give you food for thought - I hope it does. If I can be of any further assistance, please feel free to ask. I'll do my best. Good luck with your project. Geoff
+Geoff VegOilGuy Many thanks for that comprehensive, prompt and useful answer. I know where I'm going on the wiring front, but I confess I don't know how the relay and the wire which makes the dimmer work (inside the relay - which I bought ready-made) really works. Presumably it does not necessarily carry much load other than (perhaps) the 5W allotted to the side parking lights? I have just discovered that as the relevant fuse box is inside the car, it might be just as easy to send a much longer wire to the rear side / parking light, which is more easily accessible. Anyway, I shall be having a look at your further guidance videos and illuminating web site on other issues also. (It does seem that car makers make their products very difficult to work on for DIY and prefer us to spend endless sums on "expert" garages and services under the general pretence of "healt & safety" considerations. I'm sure you know much more about this than I during the course of your various endeavours....!) All the best.
+wordsmith52 Relays are actually very simple. All those terminals are off-putting but when you've played with them for a while it all makes sense ; ) They're just a safety device. We don't handle current well. Just a few milliamps is enough to stop the heart. Imagine a starter motor. These can use 300 amps or more, easily enough to kill us. Imagine running all that power through a switch and then pressing that switch. Potentially all that surging power could arc through the terminals of the switch and fry you - just for pressing the on button. To get round this we use a relay. Our delicate digit turns on the relay (by clicking a switch - turning an ignition key, etc) and this turns on a relay. This process uses very little current and is completely safe. The relay, however, is made of much sturdier stuff and it can then act as a switch to power starter motor or whatever. So when you turn on your car starter motor, you're really turning on TWO switches.... the ignition key and a relay. If you've purchased a DRL kit, it probably does have a relay in it for safety. Vehicles are packed full of them for the very reasons I've said. If you look at my homemade DRL I also used relays. I confused the matter even further by adding a dimmer circuit for night time operation. Once you get into them, they're great! And as for triggering from the rear sidelights... excellent idea. Wherever is convenient. Every time I do any auto electrics I swear at the manufacturers. There's never any slack in the cables and access is terrible. But I suppose one extra inch of cable over a million vehicles amounts to a fortune, so guys like me with big fat fingers are just going to have to learn to live with it ; ) Do let me know how you get on. Best wishes, Geoff
hello i am wanting to wire a relay for to a backup battery in my car. so if theives were to cut positive wire to silence alarm it would still be powered by the backup battery
I am trying to install seats that have heat pad.. but I know 30 goes to fuse box, 85 with brown wire from seat to ground, 87 to red wire that comes from the seat and I have no idea where to wire 86 ??? it says switch but the car doesn't have switch...
Hi there. Sorry I don't know how I missed your question... please don't think I was ignoring you : ) 85 and 86 are used to engage the relay, so one will be positive and one negative (grounded to the vehicle chassis). The positive element will be the trigger - so what is it that's going to trigger the relay to work... a switch... a splice into an existing circuit? I hope this makes sense. Again, sorry for the delay. Geoff
Thank you so much I have question I have fuse 40 amb and i want to make switch for it so i can turn it off when needed Can you help me what i need and how to connect it
Hi Thamer. I'm always happy to help if I can : ) A 40 Amp fuse is very large. It carries a LOT of power. Please take care when dealing with such large fuses. I have an electric Welder and that works on 40 Amps, so you can see how powerful 40 Amps is. You are right to be looking at using a Relay. The video you've watched gives a couple of examples circuits powered by relays. You'd need a low current circuit to connect to your switch and then use the power from the switch to trigger the relay which can handle your 40 amps safely. Normally people ask me about low powered devices like dashcams and I tell them to use a piggyback connector - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8omZ545Cw1U.html - but with a large fuse like yours I would recommend a dedicated power line. If you visit an auto products store they often sell kits that fit a small fuseboard in your engine bay, usually for amplifiers and things like that. These usually have a battery terminal connector, cable and fuse holders (and hopefully instructions). With one of these fitted, you can run your 40 amp fuse without risk to the rest of your vehicles electrics. Hope this helps. Geoff
I found switch thats can take 50 amp And i will add before the switch inline fuse holder with 40 amp fuse and the wire will be 10 gauge 1.5 m www.wiringproducts.com/50-amp-on-off-colored-handle-toggle-switch-black.html
Hi again Salman. I wouldn't recommend just using a switch. Whilst the switch may cope with the power it's not a good practice to switch heavy duty (high current) devices without a relay. That's what the car manufacturers do after all. Have a look at the image - vegoilguy.co.uk/_maingifs/relay-practice.png It shows you the right way and the wrong way. Personally I'd encourage you to use a relay. It's safer for you.
You're not the first to say it : ) This was one of my earlier videos. Since then I've got a better mike and I hope the sound levels are better. Have you sampled any of my more recent videos? Thanks for the feedback. Geoff
A few, I'm trying to add LED DRL to my car but I'm having a problem, because my car has DRL, but it's the DRL that is the High beam, and I'm trying to run a DRL but take the power from the high beam, but can't figure it out
I have a 2017 accord LX, which is the lowest model, and my headlights have the led strip, but the DRL is highbeam drl, so I need to drill a hole, add a t20 socket, with a 7443 led bulb, but I want to disable the high beam DRL, and run that power to the T20, but still want the highbeam function when I need it
Hi. Thanks for your comments. Have you seen my video on custom DRLs? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9c-iZ-SKqCE.html It was one of my first videos and the sound is quite poor, but there may be something there that might help, particularly using relays and existing light circuits as triggers. There has to be power going to you existing DRLs and so all you need to do is splice into this and use this feed to trigger a relay (to 85 on the relay, with 86 to chassis). The other terminals should be a fused supply through the relay to the new lights. I hope this makes sense. Geoff
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