Need help wiring a relay please..

Tbird has never responded with the Full Load Amps of his LED's. We are assuming that the current draw is low enough to be drawn straight from the ignition source. In my scenario I suggested a constant +12VDC fused source (possibly battery). Tbird has also never set any other parameters, easiest, cheapest, fastest, least number of parts etc. . Nor has Tbird responded with any clue as to what his preferences are, Ignition to power LED's, fused battery source to power LED's. Everyone who has responded has had some great ideas, All the suggestions I have seen here will work. It's all up to Tbird, or any other user to do a little research, decide what the parameters are that they want to try to achieve, and just do it. Just be safe, use fuses, make solid wiring connections (ie solder) so as to avoid problems later. And use a neat wrap of electrical tape to insulate your connections, or heat shrink them. Harbor Freight sells a cheap little voltmeter that I highly recommend to everyone, just so that you can tell if you have power or not, check for continunity, etc. I think I bought one on sale for $2.99.

Lots of different ways to do this.

Totally agreed. And therein the problem with under-specification. (We repliers provide various possibilities & the OP must eliminate & decide.)

My experience is that LEDs consume less than relays (relay coils are usually 50-200mA) and that IGN and light circuits have the capacity to handle added LEDs.

For LEDs, generally it's only when novel combinational switching/control is required that relays etc are required.
And whilst I'd generally suggest relays rather than "power" diodes for other loads, where LEDs consume under 1A I reckon 1N400x diodes are fine to power the LEDs directly for simple combinational control (ie, omit the relay since diode current and voltage drop is not an issue).


Of course the main thrust of my original reply was to use phantom or virtual (or whatever the heck they should be called) grounds to control the load. EG - LED+ to IGN +12V, and LED- to the beam +12V (or hi & lo beam +12V) so that they are off when beams are on ad on when IGN is on & beams off.
That assumes the beam or hi/lo bulb resistance to GND is much lower than the LEDs.
The same is done for flasher beepers - eg, motorcycles - just a buzzer between left & right flasher +12V feeds (assuming flashers are light bulbs).

Thanks for all the replies. These are the LED strips I got.. I highly doubt they draw much current.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o03_s00_i00

As for what I want. I want them to act like DRLs (daytime running lights). They should come on when the vehicle is on and go off when the headlights come on (and the vehicle is on)..

I have numerous relays laying around as I used to do remote starter installs so I have plenty (with the harnesses) to use. I want to do this the easiest way possible with the least amount of wires.. But I will do what it takes..

My issue now is I can't effing find an ignition (or an accessory wire for that matter) under the hood. I have a 2008 Nissan Altima Sedan..

Yes, I have a multimeter as well..

Thanks

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tbird2340

Thanks for all the replies. These are the LED strips I got.. I highly doubt they draw much current.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o03_s00_i00

As for what I want. I want them to act like DRLs (daytime running lights). They should come on when the vehicle is on and go off when the headlights come on (and the vehicle is on)..

I have numerous relays laying around as I used to do remote starter installs so I have plenty (with the harnesses) to use. I want to do this the easiest way possible with the least amount of wires.. But I will do what it takes..

My issue now is I can't effing find an ignition (or an accessory wire for that matter) under the hood. I have a 2008 Nissan Altima Sedan..

Yes, I have a multimeter as well..

Thanks

---

It should be easy enough to find one in the fuse box. I had plenty of fuses that got power on ignition. Pick one that will allow you to use one of those add-a-fuse things (I think those have some sort of maximum amperage rating you can put through them).

I looked and probed for like 15 minutes tonight.. I guess I'll look again tomorrow..

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Freak4Dell

It should be easy enough to find one in the fuse box. I had plenty of fuses that got power on ignition. Pick one that will allow you to use one of those add-a-fuse things (I think those have some sort of maximum amperage rating you can put through them).

---

What were some of yours that did?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tbird2340

What were some of yours that did?

---

Off the top of my head, there was a fuse called ENG. BAR that came live when the ignition was turned on. That's the fuse I ended up using, which is why I remember it. Before that, I was using the fan relay, but obviously, that's nowhere near as clean as using an add a fuse (hence why I changed it up). I know there were a few other fuses that did the same thing, but I can't remember which ones they were. I have a Mazda6, by the way.

Here is my listing for the box under my hood..

I tried the 15A Audio that's on the left there but strangely it stays hot after the car is off.. I'll have to check it again to see if it was hot the entire time.. I just know I had the car on when I was probing and after I shut it off that one stayed hot, even 30 or so seconds after..

The amp ones have fuses but I don't have the amp so it's not wired for them.. Same thing with the DTRL fuse.. It's there but not wired..

I must be testing these fuses wrong.. I have my negative probe on the negative of my battery.. I then put my positive probe and put it on the top of the fuses.. They all show 12V with the car off!!

Well, looking at that, the air conditioning fuse should be ignition controlled, and possibly the audio ones, too. The fuel pump fuse should be as well, but I think 15A is too high for those add-a-fuse things.