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Wiring help needed

Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2005 10:08 pm
by cleanskin
Im wiring up a rearwards facing light to run ofa switch on me tray to be worked used as a work light, ive sourced a old spot light and have purchased a new go fast deadly switch for it and i need help on where to run which wires. on the light ive worked out which is the positive and negative wires and thats as far as ive gotten. On the switch its got a sticker with 3 terminals coming off it Power, Acc and Ground (ground is for a led light on it to signal on and off). Can anyone please tell us where to run which wires as ive got noooo idea on electrical systems... Cheers Any help appreciated

Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2005 10:27 pm
by mickyd555
can you give me a bit more info on the switch, have you got a pic of it. there should be two terminals on it that you need to run the power through for the light.


take power from 1. battery or
2. accessory power



from there go through a fuse, which you didnt say you bought. so back to supercheap for you. then to the switch (ill tell ya what terminal when ya give me more info) then from the switch to the positive on the light. negative from the light can go straight on the frame, onder the mounting bolt should work.

Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2005 10:40 pm
by chimpboy
These switches usually go like this:

wire 12 volts from your battery to the POWER terminal
wire the +ve terminal on the spotlight to the ACC terminal
wire the GROUND terminal to ground

and on the lamp, wire the -ve terminal to ground as well.

Jason

edit: yes, as suggested a fuse before the switch would be good, and it's up to you whether you get +12V from the battery or from accessories or wherever.

Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2005 10:47 pm
by cleanskin
ok heres the switch... what sort of a fuse should i buy..would a in line fuse be right.. ?

Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2005 10:52 pm
by chimpboy
cleanskin wrote:ok heres the switch... what sort of a fuse should i buy..would a in line fuse be right.. ?
Inline fuse would be fine, for a 100W spottie you'd want 10 amps or so, but the only thing worrying you is a dead short so any fuse from 10 - 25A would work okay.

Jason

Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2005 10:57 pm
by cleanskin
ok so here is what i can gather of the posts.....

from the switch..
Power - to the battery
Acc - to positive wire off my light with a inline fuse 10 - 25Amp
Ground - Earth it to my chassis

Negative wire on my light earth it aswell

Is this correct???

Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2005 11:05 pm
by chimpboy
cleanskin wrote:ok so here is what i can gather of the posts.....

from the switch..
Power - to the battery
Acc - to positive wire off my light with a inline fuse 10 - 25Amp
Ground - Earth it to my chassis

Negative wire on my light earth it aswell

Is this correct???
No, you should put the fuse before the switch ie

Power - to the battery with a inline fuse 10 - 25Amp
Acc - to positive wire off my light
Ground - Earth it to my chassis

Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2005 11:32 pm
by cleanskin
ok... here we go again lol

Switch

Power - goes through to the battery with a inline fuse... would this just go to the Posivte terminal on battery??

Acc - to the positive wire on the light

Ground - earth
Negative wire on light should also be earthed


Sorry i just want to get this right

Also is this the sort of inline fuse i should get... is it just a single wire??
http://www.narva.com.au/Fuses_13.html

Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2005 7:34 am
by mickyd555
yeh, looks like ya got it sorted. wire from battery +ve terminal to fuse, then to power terminal on switch. from acc terminal to work light +ve terminal. -ve on worklight to ground and also the ground on the switch.


wire it all up on the floor and then connect it to the battery, check to make sure youve got it right first then start buggarising around in the cabin.......

Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2005 9:33 am
by michaelcarey
Any fuse should be placed as close as possible to the battery, unless you are connecting to another wire which is correctly fused.
This makes the length of un-fused wire as short as possible, helping prevent a fire in case of a short circuit. The last thing you want is a metre and a half of smoking wire because of no fuse. Fuses are there to protect wires (and vehicles) as well as equipment....

Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2005 7:42 pm
by cleanskin
i did all the wiring today... all worked out great.. and works a charm thanks very much for all your help