Ken the electrical guy Q n A

Well as long as you don’t mind having to have the lights on then that should work.

 

I'm good with that, if I need lights on, I'll need the lights on!

 

to each his own man. Enjoy your lights!

 

They work great. The downside is it's 32F out. Have to get better pics when it's dark and run the black flex tube.

There's four wiring options this one made the most sense.

 

Great I’m glad you got
It going bud .
Lol
Damn that’s cold.
Get back inside!

 

I have a 1987 Toyota 4Runner that my son and I are trying to get back on the road for him to drive, when he gets his license and a job.
The 4Runner has factory power windows. The previous owner removed the drivers door panel, placed it in the back and left the rear window down for over three years. This allowed water to soak into the master switch and corroded the contacts. Also, the plastic switched started to disintegrate from the sun as well.
I want to replace the old switches and install aftermarket double momentary switches to operate the window motors.
So here is my question: Can I use just a switch, or do I need to wire in a set of relays to make this happen?
Thank you for any assistance you can give me.

 

I don't mean to step on Ken's toes. But, I would suggest simply cleaning up the OE wiring, installing new switches and call it a day (provided everything works).

 

No way to add new switches, it's all one big mess.
I feel the best thing to do is wire in some new switches.

 

If your bypassing the OE system and building new wiring, then yes. I would use relays. It may be possible to just use switches to control the window motor. But you would need to check the current rating of the motor against the rating of the switch contacts. Probably have to google a similar window motor to get the specs. Then check the specs on the new switches.

 

@Phessor - I feel that I need to add a little more information here. The wiring needed for this type of system may not be as straight forward as you think. If you wire directly to the motor from a couple of standard switches, there will be nothing to stop "anyone" from pushing both the UP and the DOWN button at the same time. This could be really bad for the motor. The original factory wiring has most likely already compensated for just such a scenario. And this is why I said to simply replace the switches, use the original switch wiring and call it a day.

If you rebuild the circuit from scratch, you need to "interlock" the UP / DOWN power to the motor (electrically - {using relay contacts} or mechanically - {using multiple switch contacts}) in such a way to prevent both circuits being applied to the window motor at the same time. Sourcing the correct switches with multiple contacts may be difficult. Also, installing relays inside a door may be awkward.

Just my $0.02

 

I have several questions because I am a clueless when it comes to wiring but I want to do it right.
I have an OE bracket that I will be setting up with a blue seas fuse block and 100A breaker. I figured I would start by not attaching a bunch of wires directly to the battery. I have been piecing it out when prices are good. So far I have the OE bracket and the breaker. I want to be able to correctly wire up my heated seats to start. I have plans for various lighting and would like to have the option to possibly set up a compressor and maybe an upgraded bed outlet with a voltmeter for camping.
Q1: The OE website uses 8 gauge wires to connect the battery, breaker and fuse block. (probably a dumb question) is this what I should use?
Q2: Are relays a redundancy if you have an auxiliary fuse block or are they vital?
Q3: With this kind of set up, can you use auxiliary power from the fuse block when the truck is off? I think I may have assumed this but never had a clear answer. (like I said clueless)
Q4: Should I ditch the inline fuses that come with a lot of aftermarket electrical stuff, or is this a good redundancy?
Q5: I have thought about using a low voltage disconnect. Is this a good idea if I want to use some of the lighting on my truck for camping or is it doing too much?
I have helped wire some things before but not done much unsupervised. I really don't want to screw up my daily driver but am excited to do some projects. Thanks for hearing me out.

 

I’ll take a stab at these questions:

Q1: The OE website uses 8 gauge wires to connect the battery, breaker and fuse block. (probably a dumb question) is this what I should use?

No such thing as a dumb question, if something is new to you

The wire used to connect this thing up depends on how much power you need to get to it, where that’s determined by what you actually connect to the fuse bus to draw power, wire distance from the fuse bus to the power source and a few other smaller factors.

An 8 gauge wire of ~3’ is more than enough to supply power to the 100A circuit breaker the positive side of the battery connects to it at. You have a wide safety margin with 8GA, so ya -- you're good using that from the kit. The bit you should care about is the wire from the battery positive terminal to the big 100A circuit breaker. Best practice is to protect it right at the power source (battery). I added what's called an MRBF fuse right on my battery terminal for my OE set-up.

Q2: Are relays a redundancy if you have an auxiliary fuse block or are they vital?

Relays aren’t a redundancy. They’re used to turn things off and on using low-power wiring controlling a high-power thing. You don’t want 8 gauge wires running to switches in your cab (fire hazard and a pain-in-the ass), so the high-powered thing gets it’s power from a relay, and the switch in your cab flips that relay on-and-off using a low-power wire.

Q3: With this kind of set up, can you use auxiliary power from the fuse block when the truck is off? I think I may have assumed this but never had a clear answer. (like I said clueless)

Since the power comes straight from the battery, everything connected to the Blue Sea fuse block will have power available to it all the time unless you turn that 100A circuit breaker off.

Q4: Should I ditch the inline fuses that come with a lot of aftermarket electrical stuff, or is this a good redundancy?

Your call. As long as YOU know there are two fuses that can blow (in-line and on the Blue Sea fuse block), it doesn’t hurt anything… but could make it a pain to troubleshoot if the in-line fuse isn’t easy to get to or you forget it’s there. I strip out the in-lines when connecting to the block, but that’s just my personal preference. IMHO, one of the big benefits of using an aux fuse bus like this is that you know where all the fuses are and don't have to dig along wiring you installed 3 years ago looking for a fuse.

Q5: I have thought about using a low voltage disconnect. Is this a good idea if I want to use some of the lighting on my truck for camping or is it doing too much?

Much longer topic Not enough info to give you an answer. One of the common strategies is to go to dual-batteries, and use low-voltage isolation to save your starting battery for, well, starting the truck if you drain the accessory battery. Take a look at how RV / boat folks do it. Terminology can be weird since it follows nautical nomenclature… “ship’s battery” and “house battery” and things like that.

 

Ken, thanks for all the info on this. The two LEDs I put in are total .124A tapped off the extra four pin trailer harness and they run fine, just not very bright at 74 lumens. I'm thinking of putting in two brighter 400 lumen LEDs which total .6A, do you think I'll need a resistor?

 

Hey Ken, I'm finally wiring my BD LP9s, and I think I have everything figured out, except where to wire the DRL. These lights have a DRL that is always on, controlled through their switch, relay, and wiring harness. I don't want the LP9 DRL to flash with the turn signals, I just want it to always be on with the ignition when truck is running. I think I need to get an add-a-fuse, correct? Which fuse should I use? I am not sure which fuse to tap into for the power source. Any recommendations? Thanks in advance!

 

You should be ok without one but adding one in will be easy peasy.

 

Hey bud

first off do you have a multimeter/power probe?

I’m familiar with the BD LP9 and have installed many of them. The DRL circuit is low draw and you can add to most circuits. You probably have some unused key on fuse positions in the fuse box under the dash. Another options is to install an add a fuse into a key on circuit in the engine bay fuse box. The third option is to relay them but it’s not necessary. If you have a multimeter or power probe I can walk you through how to find key on power so the Lp9s DRL illuminate when the keys on

 

Yes, I have a multimeter. I’m using the wiring harness from BD that includes a relay, but the DRL wire on their harness is just a bare wire with some type of splice clip on it ready for another bare wire.

 

What I would do is look in the engine bay for your fuse box. Inside there should be a DRL fuse. I’d install my add a fuse there. Wouldn’t be a bad idea to install LED bulbs in your running light circuits if you can swing it. Not mandatory but a good idea.

 

I did it! Thanks for the help Ken!! I decided to use the 10A WSH circuit for the windshield washer pump. Installed an add-a-fuse with 2x 10A fuses, spliced the addafuse wire to the DRL wire on the BD harness, works great. Thanks again for the advice!!!! I owe you a cold beer.

 

@Kens04Taco

Finally wired these lights and a bunch of other things. I just want to confirm the Amp math above. If I am using two lights per side a 4 or 5 Amp fuse (per side) should be all I need, correct? Thank you again.