Rep Power: 361

Ok I am just getting ready to finalize my plans to finish my interior mods, and till uncle sam pays up its staying a plan.
Anyway I have/will install:
Voltage Gauge
Air/Fuel Gauge
Power Inverter for Xbox (~100watts @ 12 volts)
Custom fiberglassed LCD in the center console, behind cup holders
Relay...you will see why

[NOTE] the funny part of the power inverter is that I have a spare cig lighter plug and didn't chop the end off the wires; It's a temporary connection right now. thus the silly drawing. and yes i got carried away on the wire there too.[/NOTE]
Also I will be wiring the lights in the gauges to be always on to simplify the installation. I know thats wasting a little more power but whatever I want this as simple as possible without being set up terribly.

so here is the diagram:


I drew it up fast, but I want to know two things:
1. Is it ok to run the relay like I have it set up there, off of the cigaretter lighter plug. I never use the cig lighter plug but I will keep it in case I ever need it.
2. 100 watts at 12 volts is about 10 -12 amps right? I forget the conversions/formulas and am too tired to check it out. Just want to make sure that the Xbox will draw less than 15 amps. combine that with an 8" LCD and 2 gauges and ill be way under the 30 amps. Just want to be ultra careful.

I figure this is the easiest way to wire everything so that its only able to be on with the car. And I dont know what kind of switch im using thus the empty circle for the switch in the pic.

Any tips to make this less of a headache are welcome!

 
Rep Power: 786

using the cig lighter will make sure the relay turns on when your car is in acc... either that or use one of the wires under the steering column

what are those 2 circle things by "to engine bay"?

otherwise, looks good

 
Rep Power: 361

lol those are the gauges...
"v" = voltage gauge
"A/F" = air/fuel gauge, which has the extra wire to tap into the wire off the )2 senson. thats what I was drawing but not too detailed since the gauges are the last things I am worrying about. I put buying new floor mats at a higher priority than the gauges (seriously). I also drew the wires out of the gauges wierd just for convience.

edit: most importantly, thanks. I know what I am doing, not like im going to chop the HVAC control harness to install a head unit , but its finals week and im so stressed out so I wanted to double check.

 
Rep Power: 786

looks good then!

 
Rep Power: 361

ok thanks again.

now i just have to wait for my tax return(hopefully this year lol) and for monday(pay day) and im set. I cannot wait to do the LCD mod though. The clarion 7" is nice but I need something a tiny bit bigger for the X-box.

 
Rep Power: 294

It's cool to know electronics/electicity like you guys do...all I read is some giverish ****, even though my Dad's an electrician lol...you guys deserve credit...

 
Rep Power: 361

lol this is very basic stuff.
but im on my way for a computer engineering degree. which means I get most of an electrical engineering education and most of a comp science education. also means i get paid more than a computer scientist for the same job, and after 4 years i can take the tests to get PE (Professional Engineer) after my name; which means more money more opportunities.

On the lighter side i might take over the family insurance agency and make lotsa money right out of college and not worry about being a PE

 
Rep Power: 310

one question, what is that box in the middle of the negative from the relay? if its chassis ground or something then yes this seems fine for wiring i dont see any faults.

now lets see a shcematic including the internal parts of every component lol


one question thought, all i hear is people saying to ground the cap, my cap doesnt have a ground point it has the in/out leads and the remote turn on lead. jw what u think.........

 
Rep Power: 310

oh and i dont know how much current all this will be drawing but maybe if its alot get a new alternator?

 
Rep Power: 361

You need a ground point for a cap. There is no way around it.. You have to ground your cap. Unless they made a new design that defies the laws of current and electricity

about the alternator..i want to get one but dont have the money especially after all this modding will be finished!

 
Rep Power: 310

well i figured that since it just stores it for the amp i figured that it is in series with the amp and therefore the (neg.) of the cap is actually just the lead out going to the amp...... this makes sense in my head lol but i dunno, my cap is pretty old from RF and its only got the three terminals i listed

 
Rep Power: 383

wait why you do you make more then a cs person, what job are you referring to?

 
Rep Power: 361

In general anyone who has an "engineering" degree gets paid more than say a scientist of the same field.
for example almost any computer science major will tell you:
computer engineering > computer science

The engineering degree covers much more information (hardware and software) while the comp sci degree is almost 100% focused on software.


I would contact RF before hooking it up to make sure you get it right! Sounds like you have a +, -, but I dont know what the 3rd would be for? Maybe a 3rd with a resistor to charge safely. I have no idea.

 
Rep Power: 310

the third is remote turn on, so like the amp it recieves a signal to turn on when the radio turns on, maybe to stop it from trying to draw current while car is off and weakening battery (if i turn car off while its empty somehow)
other two are in/out positive leads........anyways enough about this, im gonna look at the manual otherwise have my bro just do it and ill ask him cus hes a genius lol

 
Rep Power: 0

I want a ps2 in my car! That would rock! Although I don't want to pay for the screen!

 
Rep Power: 361

This is really important....the way I have the relay hooked up will definatly have enough current to make it switch, but do I need to hook it up like this instead since if nothing is plugged into the cig lighter the relay won't switch over?
New Way:


Old Way:

 
Rep Power: 310

wow good job catching that i didnt even think of it, yea that would most likely be the way to do it since there isnt constant current flow throught thee cig lighter, you could also just chassis ground it and not have to tap into that wire.

 
Rep Power: 361

Both the power and ground are already tapped since I temporarily have the power inverter off that (I know thats alot of power for small gauge wire but its ok.) So I will just do it how I have it in the pic. SO glad I caught that!

 
Rep Power: 310

yea good one, so right now you have it wired up the first way but the inverter is plugged in so its closing the circuit and so the relay works? -tryin to see if i understood right

 
Rep Power: 361

Its a temp hook up. I wired a 2nd Cig Lighter recepticle thing BEHIND the console and the inverter plugs into that. When I re-do the wiring the relay will be hooked up where the inverter is now, and everything will get power off the battery through the relay. and ill but the inverter wires to clean it up and remove the 2nd cig lighter thing.

 
Rep Power: 310

oh cool. are you going to be putting everything on a switch or just have the relay close when you turn the car on

 
Rep Power: 361

the relay will take care of everything...when the car turns off it all turns off.

 
Rep Power: 310

i know i was just thinking maybe youd put a switche or something cus xboxs draw current while there off unless you flip a switch in back (if its same as ps2 anyway)
edit: i mean while your driving but not playing the xbox.

 
Rep Power: 361

oh yeah thats right the only 2 switches will be a switch for the power wire to the inverter and one switch for the ground on the DVD player to enable/disable playing dvds while driving.
the inverter is hidden behind the dvd player in the dash so I taped it's switch on thus me needing a switch for it!

edit: wow we are like the only ones on right now.

 
Rep Power: 310

oh alright, i was just wondering actually does pa have the law about having any I.C.E (video) wired to only work with parking brake up?

hmmm hadnt noticed almost nobodys on lol

 
Rep Power: 361

pretty sure its a federal offense now to have it wired to be able to play video while car is moving. but no matter what its a law no matter where in the US you are.

 
Rep Power: 310

oh that blows, id probably just have a switch under dash to turn off the video incase a cop is around

 
Rep Power: 361

exactly how I have it...except my switch is next to the cruise button and has a bright red cap that needs to be painted black to not be so suspicious

 
Rep Power: 338

I think you can get fog lihgt switches or other switches for honda's that fit our cutouts. clip right in, and look stock becuase more or less they ARE stock. just another piece of yoru attention to detail thatll earn you points for your interior

 
Rep Power: 361

very good point, nothing like a oem looking switch that would never get questioned!
I will consider this much more when I get closer to doing this all. Thanks!