Pre-Wiring Switches using Carling VCH Switch Housings

If you have sufficient room behind your switches, pre-wiring VCH housings for them can be a time saver and makes swapping out switches easier.

I was asked for pics of this by a member, wasn't planning on doing a full tutorial but I'll do my best.

This is the finished result:



Parts needed:

- Metri-Pack 630 Female Terminals 18-20 GA
https://www.waytekwire.com/item/30090/Delphi-12015869-Metri-Pack-Female-Loose-Terminal-/
This size works well for 20-24 awg wire. If you plan on using all 18 awg or larger wire than you may wish to consider the larger size terminals, this is because we'll be doubling up on wire into these in order to chain them together.

- Carling Technologies VCH-01 8 Position Contura Switch Connector Housing (you may need a different type if you are using different switches, check before ordering)
https://www.waytekwire.com/item/44386/Carling-Technologies-VCH-01-8-Position-Contura/

- Wire. I'm using 20 awg and 18 awg wire in the example pics. 22 or 24 awg will also be fine, these switches do not draw much current.

- Dialectic grease (optional), I'm using Permatex. Apply a small amount of this to the each stripped wire before crimping, helps prevent corrosion.

$9 Permatex 22058 Dielectric Tune-Up Grease, 3oz. - High Performance Dielectric Grease Used To Protect Terminals, Spark Plugs, Wiring And Other Electrical Connections Against Salt, Dirt, And Corrosion

http://amazon.com/gp/product/B000AL8VD2/

- Wire stripper. I'm using an Ideal Industries 45-092 Stripmaster:
https://www.waytekwire.com/item/444/Ideal-45-092-Stripmaster-Wire-Stripper-/

- Metri-pack crimper, or soldering iron if you prefer to solder, or both. I'm using a
Delphi 12155975 Metri-Pack Crimper:
https://www.waytekwire.com/item/509/Delphi-12155975-Metri-Pack-Crimper-Tool-/

Pre-wiring these housings is fairly simple. The 18-20 ga Metri-Pack 630 terminals have no problem accepting two 20awg wires, so that's what I'm going to do to chain them together.

1. Wire all the grounds together. In my case these are ports 7 and 8 on the housings. This will be connected to chassis ground. This is the black wire in my pictures.

2. Wire all the lower switch LED +12v together. In my case this is port 6 on the housings. I connect this to the dash dimmer circuit so that the lower switch LED text will come on when when interior lighting is on. This is the orange wire in my pictures.

3. Wire all the +12v in for the switches together. In my case this is port 2 on the housings. This gets connected to any +12v source. You can use your ignition circuit if you want the switches to be available only when ignition is on. I wired them to my Bussmann fuse box +12v with a 5 amp fuse. This is the red wire in my pictures.

4. The +12v outputs get wired to your relays or directly to your accessories if you're not using relays, this is port 3 on the housings in my case. I just leave a ~6 inch wire hanging off here and connect it to my relay wiring that will go through the firewall later using stinger speedwire. These are the green wire in my pictures.

 

Thank you very much for this! Looks good! Gonna get started on mine today

 

Seeing this makes me more comfortable jumping into it. I bought 14 gage wire though with 14 gage connector might have to buy other connectors so I can fit two wires in there at once.

 

14 ga. wire is way overkill for this. Larger wire is less flexible and a bit more difficult to work with, so I would recommend going with a smaller size wire. If you're set on using 14 ga, you'll definitely need to get the larger Metri-pack 630 female terminals.

These:
https://www.waytekwire.com/item/31079/Delphi-12052455-Metri-Pack-Female-Loose-Terminal-/

or these:
https://www.waytekwire.com/item/32090/Delphi-12084590-Metri-Pack-Female-Loose-Terminal-/

 

I might just go ahead and switch over to 18 gauge instead. Think will make the wiring easier

 

So then that means 12ga is even more overkill? Haha. I just have access to basically as much 12ga in about 10 different colors as I could possibly ever use.

 

I'm not sure how it would go trying to crimp two 12ga wires into these connectors. If you can get it to work in the terminals and the wire is flexible enough for wherever you are going to put your switches, then you could give it a go.

I have found that 20ga or 22ga wire works best for these wherever the wire is doubled up in each terminal. It's easy to crimp and easy to get two wires into the connectors.

18ga works best for the ends and the accessory/relay wires where the wires are not doubled up. 18 ga fits better in the terminals than a single 20 or 22 ga wire which are a bit small.

 

If I use these, https://www.waytekwire.com/item/32079/Delphi-12052456-Metri-Pack-Female-Loose-Terminal-/ I think that I can get the two 12ga ends crimped in. The end that the wires get crimped doesn't look any wider than the other end that goes into the terminal, so it may work. But I'll go to a local store and get some parts and check before I buy everything only to find out it doesn't work.

I can get new wire, and I almost prefer that. I just want this all to be done the best way possible.

 

Wire is pretty cheap, I would just pick up some 18 and 20 ga wire to do this. You don't need a lot, the pieces between switches are pretty short.

You'll use more wire and draw more current wiring your accessories to their relays and relays to their power source, use the 12ga there. It's not needed at all for switches and will just make the work more difficult.

 

Where is the dash dimmer circuit located?

 

thisssss

 

It's one of the wires on the radio wiring harness. The wire is usually orange or white with orange stripe. If you're using an aftermarket stereo then it's usually unused and just left hanging off or capped. If you have the stock radio then you can tap into it or splice it.

You could also just tap into one of the dash light wires directly.

Another option is to use a mini fuse tap in the interior fuse box.

FYI - I just did this on a 1st gen and the wire was easy to find on the radio wiring harness because it was labelled - they actually printed on the wire. I haven't done this on a 2nd gen yet, but I will soon. When I do I'll take some pics.

 

That would be great! Thanks! I am going to try and wire some of this up tomorrow. Got my connectors and wires and rockers all set up, just need to actually take the dash apart and start running the longer wires into places.

 

My "intructions" for the rocker switches I have say this:
port#8 Upper light negative
Port#7 lower light negative

Then there is a note on #7 that reads "this terminal can be jumpered from #8 (like you did) but do not jumper this terminal if you need both positive and negative wires from your dimmer circuit"
I am assuming we don't and it is safe to jumper the wire to #8 like you did correct?

 

Yes you can jump 7 and 8 together, you only need the positive from the dimmer circuit.

 

Thank you so much for this write up!

 

Happy to help!

 

Odd question, but will a regular electric crimp tool work from an auto parts store? Or for the 630 connectors is a special crimp tool needed? Thanks ahead of time.

 

Most of the auto parts store crimp tools are designed for insulated terminals and are missing the little point in the middle of the crimper that will "fold in" the "wings" on the metri-pack terminals for a proper crimp.



What you want is for the "wings" to "bite" into the wires, not just squish them as a standard crimp tool would do.

The metri-pack crimp tool is not the only tool that will do this, there are a lot of other options for non-insulated crimp tools that will do a proper job of it.

The thing that the metri-pack crimper has that I haven't seen on any other crimpers are the round crimp holes that are used for crimping the silicone insulators on other metri-pack terminals such as the metri-pack 280 terminals used in Bussmann fuse/relay boxes. If you plan on doing a Bussmann box then the tool is a worthwhile investment. If you are just doing switch housings, then you can go with pretty much any non-insulated crimp tool that is the right size for these terminals.

 

That makes sense. This is my first experience with connectors like this and want to get an appropriate tool to save on headaches and cursing later. Would something like this be capable of handling these?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/METRIPACK-W...L-for-DELPHI-PACKARD-CONNECTORS-/262335989552