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Din

G

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Hi Guys
Now before you start throwing the virtual stones at me. I only have a couple
of questions.
I will eventually put some cig sockets in my cruiser so this brings up a few
little details.
As usual im only checking to see what you guys know and to keep you on your
toes. I already know all the answers to the questions but do feel free to
give me a detailed reply.
As you probably know I have gone through a few multi sockets on me little
trips of late.
Seeing as how these only melted at the ends I presume I can still use the
actual cig sockets. YES
I know I will have to replace the thin wiring with better stuff and put
another end piece on them.
When I get over the actaul trouble of replaceing all the little bits, how do
I go about wiring it up.
Should I run a wire to the positive left or right battery looking out from
the cabin.
Should I earth it to the other terminal of the same battery or to the body
of the cruiser, say near the head lights.
Can I assume that I can leave these cig sockets connected up permanently and
they will only take power if some thing is pluged into them.
Would I need to fuse them or relay them or something complcated like that.
I would like to put a quad one at the rear of the centre console and a
double or quad in the rear.
Is the best option for the rear one to connect it to the battery via a long
lead or is there some where closer to connect it up.
Thanks inadvance
John C
92HDJ 80 1HDT Rep of Ireland
 
John
I'm not quite clear about what you are planning, but here are some
thoughts:
If you wire a lead to the battery it MUST go to the battery which has an
earth wire connected directly to the chassis. In my truck this is the
front right hand battery (as viewed when sitting in the truck, looking
forwards).
Whether you earth to the battery or to the chassis won't make any
difference electrically, but it will cost you 2x as much money and
hassle to connect to the battery: the body is one big solid conductor,
and so long as you get a good connection to it you won't lose any
current.
Fuses, fuses, fuses! It is a well known fact that any expensive piece
of electrical equipment will sacrifice itself in order to protect the
fuse. (Only joking - sort of...) But if you connect straight to the
battery you should add a fuse otherwise if things go wrong something
else will melt ... as you have already discovered!
An "in line" fuse will fit somewhere on the wire, is very cheap to buy,
and could save your bacon (rather than cooking it) if things go wrong.
Take the max current you ever expect to draw, and multiply by 2 or 3
(roughly) to get the fuse rating. I should think 30 amps would be about
right for you.
I'm not clear about what melted previously. If you are saying that the
sockets survived and it was the wiring to them that melted then, yes,
you can put in new wiring. The new wiring must be heavier, and any
connections must be really good.
If the sockets themselves melted then you need to find different or
better sockets.
Christopher Bell
| Hi Guys
|
| Now before you start throwing the virtual stones at me. I
| only have a couple of questions.
| I will eventually put some cig sockets in my cruiser so this
| brings up a few little details.
| As usual im only checking to see what you guys know and to
| keep you on your toes. I already know all the answers to the
| questions but do feel free to give me a detailed reply.
| As you probably know I have gone through a few multi sockets
| on me little trips of late.
| Seeing as how these only melted at the ends I presume I can
| still use the actual cig sockets. YES I know I will have to
| replace the thin wiring with better stuff and put another end
| piece on them.
| When I get over the actaul trouble of replaceing all the
| little bits, how do I go about wiring it up.
| Should I run a wire to the positive left or right battery
| looking out from the cabin.
| Should I earth it to the other terminal of the same battery
| or to the body of the cruiser, say near the head lights.
| Can I assume that I can leave these cig sockets connected up
| permanently and they will only take power if some thing is
| pluged into them.
| Would I need to fuse them or relay them or something
| complcated like that.
| I would like to put a quad one at the rear of the centre
| console and a double or quad in the rear.
| Is the best option for the rear one to connect it to the
| battery via a long lead or is there some where closer to
| connect it up.
| Thanks inadvance
| John C
| 92HDJ 80 1HDT Rep of Ireland
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Hi Christopher
Thanks for the help.
By the way what did you do with the high powered really brillient,
fantastic, HID super boxes.
The item that melted not once but a few different times, each a different
one of course was the plastic piece that fits into the cig lighter socket.
The bottom melted.
Just a thought, is it possible to push this in too much into the cig
lighter socket and then it thinks its really a cig lighter in the cig
lighter socket and so starts to melt with the heat.
Every thing I have for the cruiser (all the gadgets) have a cig lighter
socket connector, but I have only one cig lighter socket.
Im really trying to find out the easiest way to run my Gadgets maybe some at
the same time.
Not a problem really now but when we travel it is.
So all I need is the Din (Cig lighter sockets) some good wire and a few
fuses.
I only need two wires is that right. and I would put the fuse on the live
wire.
Maybe I can get a Din socket with a fuse and good wire attached already, now
that would be the easiest option for this electrian.
John C
92HDJ 80 1HDT Rep of Ireland
 
Hi Christopher
Ah I know im back again.
I was looking at the bottom of the cig socket connector off a gadget and
would like to know, is it the metal bottom that takes the current from the
cig socket or is it the two side springs.
John C
92HDJ 80 1HDT Rep of Ireland
 
John,
Apologies for butting in on your conversation with Christopher but I if
the metal bottom bit that you're referring to is the centre of the plug
that you push in, then that's the conductor that takes the positive feed
or + from the battery. The spring clips on the side are the negative or
- feed from the battery.
If you have a choice of location for where to put the fuse, it's
sometimes better to put this at the battery end rather than at the
cigarette lighter end. That way the fuse can protect the wire from the
battery to the socket (in case it gets crushed and shorts out against
the bodywork).
Triple and double sockets are generally wired together inside so if
you've got a 20A fuse feeding the triple, you can only run a maximum of
20A spread across all three sockets and not 20A on each.
You may want to run the equipment only when the accessories are turned
on by the ignition switch and in that case you will need to fit a relay.
Some 80's have an electrical junction box on the drivers side halfway
back in the engine compartment where you can pick up already fused feeds
of battery and ignition, do you have this fitted?
Best Regards
David Roulson
 
John, this is turning into a bit of an old "chestnut" !!
Have a look at this - for DIN plugs and sockets and also for cigarette lighter sockets:
http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.co.uk/VWPweb2000/switch-3/switch-3.html
Note these DIN sockets are rated at 8 amps (96 watts) max continuous.
It does not say what the cigarette lighter sockets are rated at - you might want to e-mail them to find out.
Julian also sent you the web pages for some good quality DIN plugs, rated at a higher current, etc.
Now for cable sizes see:
http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.co.uk/VWPweb2000/cables/cables.html
Read the "General notes" at the top of the page and you will be able to determine what cable size you need, as Christopher quite correctly suggests add a factor of safety in.
You were given some good advice a while ago by our Gallic cousins as regarding where to connect the wiring in. Use the accessory box positioned adjacent to the drivers side ( RH ) battery. This box has at least 3 fused connections in it. Some are "on" at the accesory position just like your radio, others are switched through the ignition.
Find the box, undo the lid and all will be revealed. Why on earth anyone would connect extra leads directly to the battery, provided they have this fused connector fitted, totally baffles me. It is a very neat fitting.
Think carefully where you are going to feed the cables through the bulkhead, you don't want anything chaffing, and no, you can't rub any cream on the chaffed areas !!
Run the cables under the carpets, you will need to remove the central cubby box to do this and to fit the connectors in the rear of the cubby box.
If you want additional connectors in the rear load area, it's up with the carpets to make a neat job of running the cables and to do that you will have to remove at least one of the rear (2nd row) seats. I did this when I put in some big speakers and thick cable in the rear.
Hope the info is of some help.
Remember - as the man who designed the Titanic said " Planning is 90% of the job."
Regards Gareth Jones.
 
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Hi David
Hey no need for any apologies at all.
This is an open forum free for all to join in and help in any way they can.
After all you can get a good debate going with a few but it can get boring
with just one.
If I just wanted to ask one particular member something I would do it off
list.
The reason why I do a lot on list is so every one can learn from the great
knowledge base that we are so lucky to have on the list.
Also I have a hard neck and dont mind asking all the little ,stupid, maybe
silly questions.
Its really amazing what you can learn by asking one question after another.
aswell.
So never think you cant join in , the more the merrier.
Im really crap at electrics and so need tender loving care in this area.
I think my knowledge and understanding of the mechanical side has improved a
wee bit but would really like to find a way to download some of the guys
mechanical knowledge onto my PC.
All I want is the easiest, simpliest, quickest way to power a few gadgets.
Ill explain, on my last trip to France I had a few gadgets pluged into the
cig socket via a quad socket connector.
I went through three of these , all melted at the end that fits into the cig
socket.
So the general concenses from the guys that know is I was looking for too
much from the one cig lighter.
I also had a big issue with my headlights in that I had no head beam for
about 2,500 miles.
O yea and the fact that we got lost for hours several times didn't help
either.
I know your saying crap I dont care or want all this info, well it does
explain where im coming from.
So my next option was to fix these things with all the advice I got from the
list..
I replaced the 100/80 bulbs with lower ones and bought a new headlight
relay.
I bought one of those satvnav things and now I need to have a few more
sockets so I wont melt anymore things.
I still have the quad sockets , well the bits that didn't melt and want to
know will I use them or get all new.
John C
92HDJ 80 1HDT Rep of Ireland
 
Hi Gareth
Thanks , not another word from me Im sorry ill go to my room now, how long
am I grounded for this time. I really didn't mean it. What ever I did I
didn't do it honestly. It was him, I swear. He made me do it. Its not my
fault.
Bye
John C
92HDJ 80 1HDT rep of Ireland
 
Hi John
| By the way what did you do with the high powered really
| brillient, fantastic, HID super boxes.
I was pissed off about that, and have yet to pull them out of the
cupboard (answer to your question) and experiment with pushing up the
voltage. You live and learn! But at least it should have improved
matters for you a bit, and relieved your headlamp relay.
I think others have given you some pretty good advice about better
sockets, fuse location and wiring.
Personally, given my experience of the poor standard of Toyota wiring, I
wouldn't use the terminal box in the engine compartment. But if you do
decide to there are, if I remember correctly, two terminals in there:
one (rated at 10A) live only when the ignition key is on the accessory
setting or running, and the other (30A from memory) that is always on.
It's in the handbook and I can look it up for you if you want.
I liked Gareth's comment about the Titanic! And the warning about wires
chafing in holes is important too: use a rubber grommet and bind well up
with insulating tape as well.
CB
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Thanks John,
Did you mean that you plugged the same item into one socket, it melted
so you plugged it into the next and it melted. Or did you mean that they
all three melted at the same time with different pieces of equipment
plugged in?
The first one would suggest that whatever you plugged in was taking too
much current and you really out to look for a better plug and socket.
Not sure about the second as it sounds like either all the kit you
plugged in was taking too much current or the contacts were particularly
bad.
I would suggest that the first step is to look at all the kit you want
to plug in and add up how much current it will take. That may determine
whether you use a double/quad socket or whether you wire 4 single units
individually. If you're going to plug in things that take a lot of power
I would suggest wiring up four single units.
David
 
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