620 parking lights, brake lights, and ignition relays

[Drummerboy4as]

As we all know relays are a great addition to our old ratsuns. There are a

couple write ups for relays on the forum already. slodats "hot start relay , and BEEBANI's "620 headlight relay rewiring"

 

I have a couple I would like to add :D A relay for the parking lights, brake lights, and the ignition coil

 

DISCLAIMER: I have not actually wired these in, but I've been pouring over wiring diagrams for a little bit and feel that these will work.

That being said, if anyone sees a problem with any of these setups feel free to to correct me :D Also, this is for a '73 620.

 

Previously I wired in an "auxiliary" fuse box under the hood so I will be trying to put as many relays under the hood as I can

 

To start, for all these setups

#30 terminal on the relay will always be a fused battery source

#86 terminal will always be ground

 

#1, Parking lights,

You have a green/blue wire coming from the original fuse panel to the headlight switch in the dash, then it goes to the engine harness. This is where I would tap into it and install my relay. Right after the connector the wire splits off to the front and the rear, I would put the relay before that split.

#85 on the relay gets the wire from the headlight switch

#87 goes to the lights

 

#2 Ignition coil,

This one someone else mentioned, but didn't explain the wiring. So, I'm taking a stab at it.

On the + side of the coil there is a black/white and black/red wire.

The black/white wire goes through the ballast resistor then splits off to the ignition switch and goes to the ignition power of the fuse panel.

The black/red wire goes straight to the ignition switch.

It makes sense to me that you could plug both b/w and b/r into #85

Then #87 to the coil

I'm not 100% on that one, hopefully someone will chime in and confirm or deny whether that will work :confused:

 

#3 Brake lights,

This one I'm sort of just brain storming on. I like the idea of having brighter brake lights and it seems like using relays is my best bet.

Now the brake lights double as the turn signals and I'm not sure how the relay would react with a flasher.

 

There's a green/yellow wire supplying power to the stop lamp switch, then a green/yellow to the turn signal switch. There's a green wire going to the flasher. From the turn signal switch there's a Light green/red (left side) and light green/black (right side) going back to the tail lights.

 

I'm guessing when you hit the breaks power flows from the stop light switch through the turn signal switch then to the tail lights. If you use the turn signal power gets routed through the flasher then to the tail lights.

 

If I put the relay between the stop light switch and the turn signal switch it would seem that it wouldn't make much of a difference, because power is still being switched by the TSS.

If I put the relays inline with the with the left and right wires to the tail lights (thats using 2 relays) would the flasher work properly? If it does, I think this would be the way to go, best power delivery AND I could put the relays under the hood where the instrument harness connects to the engine harness :D:D

 

If anyone has any other good relay setups they would like to share, feel free.

Maybe we can make this the "how to relay everything" thread. I was going to put the thread in the "how to" section but wasn't sure on some of the setups. Maybe when all the wiring is worked out it can be moved :cool:

[Drummerboy4as]

Bumpity bump bump :D

[datzenmike]

If the intent is to have brighter lights I really doubt this will change anything. If the relays are under the dash or hood the voltage still has to go down the same thin wires. The longer and thinner the wire the larger the voltage drop and the dimmer the lights. LEDs would be the way to go.

 

Only way to get (maybe) brighter tail lights or parking lights is to have a big fat 12 volt supply wire run right to the back (or front), then use it for a strong 12 volt source to the relays and use the tiny signal/brake wires as the trigger for the relay.

 

Not much use putting a relay on the coil as a stronger 12 volts will be just going through the ballast resistor anyway to drop the voltage. This might have some merit if you have an EI dizzy.

Edited November 21, 2008 by datzenmike

[Drummerboy4as]

I do have an EI dizzy and the ballast resistor is gone. So it would be beneficial to have a relay then?

 

As for the brake lights, that seems like a lot off work :( Just be better to go to LEDs then. I looked today and my brake lights are actually quite bright, so I may not worry about it at all.

 

Any thoughts on the parking light idea?

Edited November 21, 2008 by Drummerboy4as

[datzenmike]

Parking lights? LEDs or thicker gauge wire.