Adding circuits

I need ideas to connect extra lights to a 3 way switch?
How to connect it to the positive and negative side of the battery?
Just confuesed?
Please help?

 

There are definitely several ways to skin that cat. I used a BlueSea fuse block to add circuits. It has a place for 12 new circuits and a capacity of 100 amps. It is connected directly to the battery with a 100 amp circuit breaker on the positive side.

 

what do you mean a 3 way switch? like an on-off-on switch? or an off-on-on? or momentary?

 

Sorry I didn't mean 3 met 2. But yes just on-off.
That fuse block. Is it simple to connect to a light bar with a switch

 

Yeah, that's the idea. Instead of getting power from the battery for all of the accessories you add, you connect them to the fuse block.

Here is a thread that helped me a lot when I was getting started. Has some good info in the first 2 or 3 pages.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/blue-sea-aux-fuse-block-install.69853/

 

ok. youll need 1 bosch style 5 terminal relay. youll want to pick up an R3177P from carquest/advance auto parts or an AR272 from NAPA. the terminals are labeled and there is a schematic on the side to help. here's a pic, with another at the end of this post. wire as i note:



you want to run 1 wire from any power source in the vehicle to terminal 85. for simplicity, probably straight form the positive battery terminal or the fuseblock that @Digiratus posted.

at the same time, you want to split a lead/pigtail from the same spade on 85 to 30 just like the photo i made for you (don't you feel special........).


/|\ this first wire is coming from any power supply.

then you want to connect a wire from terminal 86 to your toggle switch (wherever you want to put it in the cab) to any ground (anywhere on the metal body works if thats most convenient for you. best to use anny already existing screw/bolt).

that takes care of your switch!!!

next. run a power wire from terminal 87 to a fuse or circuit breaker and then to your light bars power. and from your light bar, connect it to ground wherever works best. that's it. you may want to add another fuse just for the switch, but thats about it.

 

Most places that sell light bars offer a pre made wire harness with fuse and relay fir 20 bucks usually. Itd be the easy way to go in your case. Most come with a cheapy switch too, u coukd use it or cut it off and use one of your liking..

 

How did you make your mounting bracket?

 

That is a a simple metal roof shingle I found at home depot. I manually folded it to get the shape and dimensions I wanted. Drilled a couple of holes in it to mount the fuse block and to mount the shingle. To mount it to the fender, I used two existing bolts for the emissions components that are right there. Its held up surprisingly well over the years and was easy to work with.

edit: Here is another view of the shingle

 

These are cut/pasted from an old post of mine...

A relay in it's simplest form (single pole, single throw) is a coil that, when power of appropriate voltage is applied, moves a switch (the pole and throw action).

On a single pole single throw relay you'll see 4 pins.

Coil (+) -> This comes off the switch you're using to actuate your accessory. The switch should be run though the battery.
Coil (-) -> Direct to chassis ground or battery negative
Load -> this goes to the positive side of your powered accessory. From the negative side of your accessory you'd go to the battery or chassis ground.
Battery (+) -> This is your (FUSED!) power source. Or direct to the positive terminal on your battery.

You'll have to look at the wiring diagram sorta like this:



So you see the coil (which doesn't actually have a "proper" orientation. Power to either side will work). Terminal A can be the "Battery (+)" side. Terminal B can be load. These can be switched depending on how you prefer.

I could draw you an actual diagram with how this would work... one sec.

Pardon this absolutely HORRIBLE 5m paint drawing but this should give you a basic light diagram with no fusing and using a single pole single throw relay. Red "lines" show "positive" wire and green lines show grounds.

Top/left is the relay. You see the coil, you see the "normally open" circuit.
The yellow penis is the "light"
The middle "normally open" line would be your switch.
Bottom left is obviously your battery.


https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/explain-what-a-relay-is-and-when-to-use-it.463107/#post-13784146

 

Thanks a ton! I'm going to go ahead and copy this!

 

Quick question, since the block has a ground, is that ground common? Or do I need to use the ground bus terminals for each accessory?

Edit: ignore me I'm dumb

 

Each circuit should be grounded to the frame at any point. If you do one large 4ga or similar ground it's probably safe to ground around 100amp to it.

 

1st gen frames are only grounded by default thru fuel/brake hard lines and e-brake type cables. From the factory there is no frame/battery bonding wire because there are no electrical loads grounded to the frame. Body yes, frame no.

 

All done!

Probably gonna try to route the wires a smidge neater but it's way better than it was. I used 12ga wire for the main leads and I have MAX 55 amps running through it if everything is on at once.

After:


Before:

 

How did you bypass the existing in-line fuses, did you just cut it off and extend the wire?

 

Yeah I just cut them off before the fuse. I didn't have to extend most of the wires since there was still enough length to work with.