The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay custom wiring

no problem, thanks for looking out for me, like i said feel free to say whats on your mind, its America isn't it? thanks again!

i had been thinking about the ''where's the fan relay'' all day.
glad you have that sorted. what gauge wire runs the fan?
you're doing a great job, Chris
i don't know about fan controllers ..... yet
but I'll learn.
thanks

i'm off to go pack for my vacation
i'll check back in a week ++
cheers
Ps, this has been fun

I have a 10 gauge wire running to the fan controller from block 1. thats really just a guess, the wiring is included with the kit, so it will be what ever is in the kit.

fan controllers are basically a relay that are activated automatically. they consist of a temp sensor that goes into the coolant passage. the sensor is wired to the fan controller, and when the coolant gets up to a certain temp, it supplys power to the relay, turning the fan on. when the temp goes down pass a certain point, it shuts the fan off. these kind are called adjustable thermostats. most of the kits also have a wire that goes to the air conditioning system so the fan turns on when the a/c is turned on.

the kit im getting has the sensor in the coolant, this sensor is basically a heat activated switch and when the coolant gets to 185, the sensor closes and the relay becomes grounded and the circuit becomes closed, activating the relay and turning on the fan. when the temp goes down to 170, the sensor opens the circuit cutting off power to the fan. both versions require a line to a switched circuit.

thanks and have a nice vacation!

i guess ill have to order from www.madelectrical.com
no one seems to carry 8 gauge wire, fusible links or power blocks around here. advance has them in their special order center, but cant order them, for some unknown reason.

any ''flaps'' ... f riendly n eighborhood auto parts store
should be able to get you bulk fusible link wire @ about $5.00 roll
any radio shack or elect shop/ store. or auto electrical shop has access to 8ga,- 24ga wire, relays are cheap @ $5-6.00 ea 30amp
as well as heat shrink tubing and solderless connecters.
or http://www.mcmaster.com/
www.delcity.net

the power dist blocks i bought from mad

good luck chris

well i never thought autozone would carry bulk fusible links but they do (much thought because they didnt show it online), still looking for 12ga but i got 14 and 16ga at least. each are 10ft long so ill have extra. still need to get 8ga wire, but should be getting it tomorrow. autoparts store told me to try sound solutions, not sure if they are in any other state, but they do everything car audio and would have bulk rolls of wire and i could get it by the foot.

one quick question, but long story, when i mentioned to the guy at the auto parts store (a&a auto parts) that i was going to use 8ga wire to run to the power blocks, he mentioned that i should use a heavier gauge wire than 8ga. i know you (carolines truck) said you used 8ga to run to the block, so thats what i figured id use. you even have more stuff running off of them then i will. im assuming 8ga will be fine.

heck in my daily driver i have a 600watt amplifier running two 12in subs, and that pulls alot of power, without a capacitor all the lights will blink, and to supply power to the amp i have 8ga wire. kits that come with the same wire are rated for over 1200watts and are rated for high current. im guess ill be fine.

sorry to ramble on, i seem to do that alot, im more of a typer than a talker.

chris
no problem rambling
ask away

as this shows
Up to 50 amps: 8 AWG
Up to 65 amps: 6 AWG
Up to 85 amps: 4 AWG

but it will be a rare moment that you will need to charge any battery at full drain, (really about 10 volts to full charge of 13.4) so the eight gauge should be fine. your distance is alternator to block to starter, about 6-7'
question: does any modern truck that has a 12si have a 4 ga wire off the alt lug? to the battery??
no
buy wire in bulk not by the foot. as you said maybe a total of 300'. i'm more inclined @ 200'
very surprising thought and not many think about just what goes into a wire kit. 18-8 gauge, mostly 14 and 16 ga. in 4-5+ colors. i have 6 wires (tail,brake,left,right,back-up,ground) almost the length of the truck to the rear. add 4-5 going across the rear. i have two clearance/ running lights on the running boards just below the doors, (one as a running and the other is a side blinker) that's 100'+. under bed fuel tank.
behind the dash, cigarette lighter,gauges, door switches, courtesy lamps, glove box lamp, indicator dash lamps maybe 100'
engine compartment, DA plug, wiper motor, window squirter, electric choke, temp, hei, tach, fan, headlights and blinkers, all those relays, each relay has four different wires and one must go into the cab to a switch. a heavier wire to power block ( about 1-2' depending on where you place the relay panel. i have a panel i made w/ room for 8 relays, i'm using 6. the power block is about 1' away. everything needs very good grounding, those are fairly short. i run a separate gnd to the rear (one of those 5-6), cab to frame to bed to radiator frame to engine.
& split black housing to cover it all, in various sizes 1/4 - 5/8'', black tape, 4-5 dozen solderless connectors various sizes, heat shrink various sizes.
lots of fun work.
gosh did i mention speaker wire??

they can order the 12 ga fuse wire
you have electric doors windows air compressor &&& ??
grounds are green, hot voltage is red, lights are blue, make up the rest

you may be right 300'

well im going to buy 15-20ft of 8ga anyways, what ever i dont use ill just keep on hand for what ever else i need down the road. just need the two power blocks, the 8ga wire and 12ga f-link wire and ill begin wiring it up. also got to get some relays.

so far i bought 100ft of 14ga and 16ga wire, 25ft of 10ga and 50ft of 12ga. i have a crap load of crimp connectors, shrink tubing, black wire looming, electrical tape, ignition switch, light switch, f-link wire, wire grommets, zip ties, and a few other stuff. What ever i dont use now, ill use it later for another project that will come along.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/rockfan1815/new%20wiring/options.jpg

ive decided to go with door poppers so i made my diagram show it.

i believe i have every thing i need
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/rockfan1815/PIC00002.jpg
i have all the wire i should need, including 20ft of 8ga. around 10ft of shrink wrap, ignition switch, various switches, gauges, crimp
connectors, electrical tape, grommets, wire looming, battery cables, zip ties and a bunch other stuff. also got a few 12ga fusible links off of some trucks, since i couldnt get it anywhere with out ordering. cant forget the soldering iron tips and electrical solder

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/rockfan1815/PIC00003-1.jpg
i got these off two Chevy s10's(around 2000) for 3 dollars total(2 to get into the yard, and .50 for each block) I like the way these are more than the other ones because each circuit gets its own stud.

auto salvage yards are the best, find some good stuff for cheap, some times when im bored i just go to walk around and look at the cars/trucks. Ive been to the yard for the 4th or 5th weekend in a row.

this is where i go, the Hazleton location
http://www.wegotused.com/

i also just finished painting the interior

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/rockfan1815/chevy%20truck/PIC00003-3.jpg

so now i can get started.

dash isn't painted because im going to get rid of the center holes and the radio. radio is getting relocated to the center of the large hole that im patching up. im still trying to decide on the glove box.

heres another tip

storage space
http://s67.photobucket.com/albums/h298/1951otter/?action=view&current=DSC00492_0008.jpg

thanks for the tip.

as far as the fusible links, what is the best way to connect them to the other wire. is crimp connections fine or should I solder them together.

thanks again

i crimp (round eyelet on one end straight on the other with NO plastic on the crimp), solder and heat shrink
leave them about 6-7 inches long (this according to mark @ MAD Electric).

thanks,

yesturday i painted the firewall (still have to go back and patch all the small screw holes) and mounted the ign switch and fuse box. i also mounted the dist. block on the firewall and i am starting to run all the wires. today i plan to mount the inner fenderwells and the radiator frame and run the 8ga from the starter to the dist blocks. hope to get all the engine wiring done in a couple days. i only get about 3 hours a day to work on my truck. i get home from work at 5 and its completely dark out around 8. weekends will be the most productive.

cant wait to here this truck start. but before i do, i need to get a new fuel cell and fuel lines.


thanks again

well the wiring is coming along quite well, got the fuse box mounted(temporarily, i need to make a mount) Ign switch is in and all wires ran from it to the starter, coil, fusebox and power dist block. both dist blocks are mounted, one on the firewall, and the other on the driverside inner fender well near the alternator. the 8ga wire is ran from the starter to block 1 and then to block 2. charge wire from alternator is connected to block 1. the main power wires from the fusebox are wired, with f-links to block 2. All wires in the engine compartment so far are in looming. its looking real good, i think its very clean looking, and its coming along very well. ill take pics of what it looks like so i can get some opinions/comments/complements. not bad for a 18 year old.

This thread has wound around so much, I'm not sure exactly where you are right now. Carolines truck has been steering you into a number of changes, but neglected to correct some of the problems.
The size of wire is very important, but you never, ever use a fuse that is larger than the current carrying capacity of the wire. You posted Amperage ratings of the wire on the other page, but used fuses that were larger.
One example: You have a 20A fuse for the P/windows feeding a 14G wire. You wrote that 14g can handle 15A, but your linked chart says 10A. Either way, the 14G wire will burn up long before the 20A fuse will blow.
There are several other places where you have fuses that are larger than your own wire size/Amperage ratings list agrees with.
I would double check the amperage rating on the wiper/pump. The only reason I ask this is the original on my '67 is 20A.
The constant supply for the stereo to keep the clock and pre-sets would be measured in milli-Amps. 10A is a little over kill. Here is an example of a case where you can always use a fuse size well under the rating of the wire size. 3A or smaller would be my choice.
There are still others. 20A feeding 14g wire for brake light. This is an AD truck. Are you planning on running that many lights in the back. I'm just surprised you didn't combine the brake and turn signal.
I really don't see the need for two distribution blocks. I personally would have used only the one on the firewall. That would allow you to run a shorter 8G wire right across the firewall. If you still wanted a block towards the front for the fan and head light relays fed by a 10G that would be fine. The Gen and Gen sensing wire would go to the firewall block. The Gen sensing wire should see all of the battery load. Your setup has the fan and light load before the sensing wire.
The Gen exciter wire is another other area that could stand some changes. Gm always placed a 10 ohm resister in the harness, in parallel with the Gen light. The resister allows the exciter circuit to function if the light should burn out. This line should not have any accessories on it. The tach uses little power and can be fed from most anything going to the dash. The volt meter won't hurt anything, but I would hook it directly to the fuse block feed. Now for the fuse. On this, I would agree with Automarc about possibly having too many fuses and fuse links, etc.. Copper wire has resistance and so do connectors, plugs, crimp connectors, fuses and fuse links. Every time you add anything to a line, you are adding resistance as well as locations for corrosion to occur.
You have the power seats on "constant power". The reason I question this is because in my Vette, the switches tend to get dirt in them and stick in the on position and run the battery down. Where they are located, passengers sometimes lean on them getting out. Just a thought.
The P/windows on the other hand may end up needing to be wired hot because that alarm setup you are showing will probably have the capability of running the windows up for you, when it locks the doors.

as far as the power windows, i dont know why i listed a wire size/gage because the power window kit comes with all the wiring and the size circuit breaker to use. I also didnt show that either.

i revised my drawings a bit again, and before i post ill take a look at the amp ratings and wire gauges and other items you mentioned.

ive been thinking of the wiring for the rear and i do need to sit down and make corrections, and combine things like you said.

I got most of the engine wiring done, accept for the gauges and alternator wires so its a good thing you mentioned the resistor. im going to radioshack today to pickup a few things and that will be on my list.

thanks for the help

There is one other thing that you may want to consider. Most electrical tape is crap and when used on car wiring the ends usually come loose.
The best tape I have ever used is called, "Silicone Fusion Tape" by GB (Gardner Bender) and I've been getting it at OSH (Orchard Supply Hardware). There is no adhesive, it simply bonds to itself. It isn't even sticky like friction tape.
I have other tapes that are supposed to perform in a similar manner, but they don't.
This product doesn't have cut edges like other tapes. The clear insulation between layers is about one inch wide, but the tape is 3/4 inch. Both sides are feathered, almost as though it was poured onto the insulation, before it was rolled up.
A bit pricey at $6 for a not very big roll. Package doesn't say.
The package says: insulates to 15,000 volts and weather resistant from -85 F to 500 F.
I just found this stuff a couple months ago and so far has performed incredibly well.

It's about $6 for a not

what watt resistor do i need for wire from the alt to the dash light, then to the ign switch.

10 Watt is used in parallel with the light, not in series.

I should have added this. You are planning on a volt meter so you don't really need the light. The resistor by itself will do the job. I don't know if you have said what you would be using for an instrumemt panel. If the panel doesn't have a provision for the light and it will be too difficult to add, then you may want to go with just the resistor.
I personally like the light in addition to a gauge. It will catch your eye sooner than a slight change on a gauge.

i most likely will use a light as well. my plans for instrument panel is to have the speedometer in its normal place, a tach in place of the original combination gauge and the fuel, coolant temp, oil pressure and battery volt to the right of the speedometer. those gauges will be after market type gauges.

Thanks, Guys, for all this info.

Is there supposed to be a ballast resistor between the coil and the ignition switch?

I'll probably have many more questions after I start.

Wally/Montana,

If your system is 12 volt and you don't have a HEI...OR a internally resisted coil..OR a existing resistance wire in the harness, then you would need a ballast resistor wired as you have indicated above when the key is in RUN.

If all of the above is true, don't forget that the wiring should have allowances to bypass this ballast resistor when the key is turned to START.

Stuart

I'll be keeping my foot starter. Do I still need the resistor?

I'll be starting a new thread, I'm sure, when I really get into it.

Thanks!

(I couldn't find my reply until I realized there were two pages to this thread!)

Wally/Montana,

If you configure the system so that it requires a ballast resistor, there is a starter switch for the stomper that has a little bypass terminal on it..problem solved.

Unless you run some form of electronic ignition, the points should only see around 9 volts when the engine is running. This requires some type of resistor, regardless of what type of starter you have.

Stuart