Wiring Archives - Page 12 of 16

Horn

June 23, 2016/in Wiring /by admin

This is a really easy one. It’s time to wire the horn on this 1967 Mustang project. This post is going to talk about how to connect the horn output on the POWERCELL to the terminals on the horn. It is pretty straight forward.

There is a dedicated output in your 10 or 20-Circuit Wiring Kit for the horn. In the standard front-engine configuration, it is the orange wire on the front POWERCELL. This is output 9 on the A connector. Check the configuration sheet that came with your kit to verify this output. When the MASTERCELL sees the horn input wire grounded, it sends a command to the front POWERCELL to turn the horn output on. This applies battery voltage to the horn which makes it sound. When the horn button is released, the MASTERCELL sees the input wire come off of ground. The MASTERCELL sends a command to the POWERCELL to turn the horn output off. Pretty simple.

You are going to run the horn output from your front POWERCELL to the horn mounted in the car. Most horns have two terminals on them. One is the switched battery power. The other is ground. This picture shows an example horn. This is the Wolo 315-2T. The 2T stands for two terminal.

Example of a Wolo Horn

You can see the two terminals in the upper right of the picture.

Most horn terminals are 1/4″ male Quick-Disconnect connectors. You simply strip the POWERCELL output wire and crimp on a female Quick-Disconnect connector. Some companies refer to these terminals as Push-On. Others call them Fast-On terminals. This picture shows an example of these terminals.

Fast-on female terminal

You can source these terminals from companies like Del City or Waytek Wire. Make sure that you are getting the right width of terminal. You also have to make sure that the terminal is the correct size for the gauge of wire. Our POWERCELL outputs use 14-AWG wire. Terminals to mate with 14-16 Gauge wire are usually blue. Pink or Red terminals are usually for 18-22 Gauge wire. We recommend using these insulated crimp connectors. You can use un-insulated terminals but we suggest applying heat-shrink tubing over the terminal to insulate the joint. You do not want to risk the terminal connected to the POWERCELL output accidentally touching the chassis.

Also, make sure that you are using the correct tool to make this crimp. As noted in other blog posts, you want to stay away from Radio Shack and Home Depot for car wiring. This includes for tools. Also, don’t just use a pair of pliers to crimp these terminals. A good crimp tool is an important investment and will save you problems down the road. This link will take you to a good quality crimp tool for these types of connectors.

The other of the two terminals on the horn needs to go to ground. There is no polarity on a horn so you can connect the POWERCELL output and the ground wire to either of the two terminals. Use the same Quick-Disconnect connector that you did for the POWERCELL output to connect the ground. Remember that the size of the ground wire should be the same as the size of the wire feeding the horn. That is good practice for any electrical connection. On the other side of the ground wire, crimp on a ring terminal and use a bolt to attach this to the chassis. Make sure that you have a good, metal-to-metal connection from your ground wire ring terminal to the chassis. You must remove all dirt, rust, paint, powder coating, oil and grease from the connection.

The example that we used above was for a two-terminal horn. You connected the POWERCELL output to one of the terminals on the horn. The other connected to ground. There are some horns that only have a single terminal on them. That terminal connects to the POWERCELL output. The horn grounds to the chassis through its mounting bracket. The same rules for grounding apply. You must have a clean metal-to-metal connection between the horn bracket and the chassis.

That’s it for this one. We’ll talk about wiring the MASTERCELL input wires in upcoming posts. If you have questions or comments about this post or any of the other steps in wiring this 1967 Mustang, please click on this link to contact our team.

Picture of a Spal Cooling used in our 1967 Mustang wired with Infinitybox

Cooling Fan

June 22, 2016/2 Comments/in Wiring /by admin

We’re getting towards the end of the outputs that we need to wire on this 1967 Mustang project. The cooling fan is next. We’ll talk in later posts about how to wire the cooling fan triggers to the MASTERCELL input. This post is going to talk about connecting the POWERCELL output to the fan motor.

In most cars, the cooling fan is connected to the radiator in the front of the car. When the engine coolant temperature exceeds a set point, the cooling fan turns on to blow outside air through the radiator. The fan will continue to run until the coolant temperature drops below a set level.

There is a dedicated output on the front POWERCELL in the 20-Circuit Kit that our customer is installing in this 1967 Mustang. It is output 10, which is the tan wire on the A connector. Check your specific configuration sheet to confirm the wire color.

Our POWERCELL acts as both the fuse and relay box, except we don’t use relays. We use what is called a MOSFET. Think of this as a solid state relay. Each of the outputs on a POWERCELL can carry 25-amps continuously. These outputs can also tolerate in-rush currents up to 100-amps. Like our previous post about headlights and high-beams, you need to consider the in-rush on a motor when you are planning on wiring your car.

When an electric motor is started, the rotor appears to be stalled at the instant the current is applied. This stalled current will flow through the motor windings. As the motor starts to turn, the amount of current flowing to the motor will drop. When the motor reaches its steady-state speed, the current will level off. This initial in-rush current can be 4 to 5 times the steady-state current depending on the size of the motor. The graph below shows an example of this in-rush current.

Graph showing the start-up current of a cooling fan

In the case of this fan motor, the initial in-rush is approximately 100-amps. Within 2 seconds of starting, the current levels off at about 25-amps.

In most cooling fans, the manufacturer will tell you that you need to use a 70-amp relay to turn the fan on and off. This is because of the starting current or in-rush current going to the motor. With your Infinitybox system, you can drive most cooling fans directly without adding an external relay. The outputs used in the POWERCELL outputs are designed to handle this in-rush current.

In addition to just handling the in-rush current, we use an extra trick to help manage this in-rush current. As mentioned above, we don’t use relays on our outputs. We use MOSFETs. MOSFETs can be turned on and off thousands of times per second. You can’t do that with a relay. This on and off lets us do something called Pulse-Width Modulation or PWM. There are two important parts of PWM. The first is the frequency. This is how many times you turn the MOSFET on and off each second. Our PWM frequency is 20,000 Hertz. The second part is duty cycle. This is the ratio of the on time over the off time. A 50% duty cycle would have the output on for the same period of time as it is off. A 100% duty cycle means that the output is on all the time. A 0% duty cycle means that the output is off. This picture shows the PWM pulses and different duty cycles.

Examples of three different PWM duty cycles

By changing the duty cycle, we can control the amount of power going to the fan. The higher the duty cycle, the more power is coming out of the POWERCELL output. When we turn on a fan, we soft-start it. This means that we gradually start the fan over about one second. This minimizes the in-rush current.

We get lots of questions about cooling fans and whether or not they can be driven directly from the POWERCELL. Most can. A good rule of thumb is to look at the gauge of wire on the cooling fan. If it is 14-AWG or less, you can certainly use our POWERCELL directly. In most cases, the manufacturer of the fan will publish the running current or steady-state current for the fan. Most commonly used fans in aftermarket applications draw between 8 and 20-amperes.

In some cases, our customers want to use two large fans to cool their engines. The two fans together would draw more than the 25-amps maximum of a single output. In this case, you can use any of the OPEN outputs on your configuration sheet. OPEN means that there is no specific function assigned to them. You can use them as auxiliary outputs. We’ll talk about wiring the cooling fan triggers to the MASTERCELL in a few more posts.

DC fan motors have a direction to them. One of the fan wires will connect to the POWERCELL output and provide battery power to the motor. The second wire must be connected to ground. You must check the manual that came with your fan to determine which wire is power and which is ground. You can also watch the rotation of the motor. Most fan manufacturers put an arrow that indicates the correct direction that it should spin. If the fan spins in the wrong direction, reverse the wires.

You can splice the POWERCELL output wire to the wires on the fan in the same way that we described in our headlight post. You can get to that post by clicking this link.

Keep watching for updates on this 1967 Mustang wiring job with our 20-Circuit Kit. If you have questions or comments, you can click on this link to get in touch with our team.

Image of wiring diagram showing how to wire the MSD 6A with the Infinitybox system.

Ignition

June 22, 2016/1 Comment/in Wiring /by admin

In our last post, we talked about wiring the starter solenoid to the POWERCELL in your 20-Circuit Kit. Now it is time to wire the ignition. There is a dedicated output on your POWERCELL that supplies battery voltage for your ignition. This is your “key-on” power. In this post, we are going to talk about wiring the POWERCELL output. We’ll discuss wiring the MASTERCELL input to the ignition switch in later posts.

Our Infinitybox system can power any type of ignition system. It can be a basic set of points or a highly sophisticated EFI system. In either case, we are going to power the ignition system when the key is on. In the case of this 1967 Mustang, the customer is using the Ford Coyote Crate Motor with the Ford ECU.

Check the configuration sheet that came with your kit. It will define which output is for the ignition. In most cases, it is the light-green wire on the front POWERCELL. This is output 3 on the B connector.

You need to carefully read the instructions for your ignition system. In most cases, there will be a wire that needs to connect directly to the battery to give it constant 12-volt power. There will also be a key-on or ignition power feed. That will come from the light-green wire on your POWERCELL. Over the years, we have accumulated many different wiring diagrams for different ignition systems. They can be found in posts on our blog or in our reference library. We’ll highlight some of the most popular in this post.

The most common ignition system that we see customers using is a ignition box from MSD. The MSD 6A or 6AL are some of the most popular. There is a heavy red and heavy black wire in their harness. These wires need to connect directly to the battery and to chassis ground, respectively. Then there is a lighter gauge red wire that is for the key-on power. This will connect to the ignition output on your POWERCELL. See the picture below for more details.

Image of wiring diagram showing how to wire the MSD 6A with the Infinitybox system.

This link will take you to a blog post talking in more detail about wiring an MSD ignition box to our POWERCELL.

We also have many different posts that talk about how to wire the ignition outputs to EFI systems. This picture shows wiring our ignition outputs to the FAST EZ-EFI system.

Picture of wiring diagram showing how to wire the FAST EZ-EFI fuel injection system with the Infinitybox system.

Our ignition output from the POWERCELL connects to the pink wire in the EZ-EFI harness. You can read the entire blog post on the FAST wiring at this link.

Another popular option for our customers is the Holley Dominator EFI system. This link shows you a picture of how to wire that into our system.

Image of wiring diagram showing how to wire the Holley Dominator EFI System with the Infinitybox System.

In the case of our customer’s 1967 Mustang, they are using the Ford Coyote crate engine for this car. We have a complete schematic that shows you how to connect the ignition output from the POWERCELL to the ECU. You can see that schematic at this link.

Once you have your ignition system or EFI system wired to the ignition output, you also have to think about the other things that you want to come on with your ignition switch. Remember that each POWERCELL output has the capacity of 25-amps. You can use this single output to power many different functions. You are going to use this same ignition output to power your gauges, your transmission controller, your radio power or any other function that you need to power with ignition.

In earlier posts in this series, we talked about how to splice off of POWERCELL outputs for multiple taps. These examples included your headlights, high-beams and parking lights. For your ignition, we recommend creating a ignition bus that you can use to power the many different switched functions in your car. You can use a terminal strip to create a common point for your ignition functions.

You can purchase terminal strips like this from companies like Del City and Waytek Wire. Make sure that you pick a terminal strip that has an insulating cover on it. You want to make sure that you protect these wires from getting shorted to ground.

Another option is to use our Infinitybox Splice Saver Kit. This is a simple accessory that makes connecting a POWERCELL output to multiple wires robust and reliable. This picture shows you how you can use the Splice Saver Kit to create a sealed junction point for everything that needs to get powered off of your ignition.

Wiring ignition key-on power with the Infinitybox Splice Saver Kit

Please contact us with questions about wiring the ignition output on your Infinitybox system. Click this link to reach out to a member of our team.

Starter Motor

June 22, 2016/in Wiring /by admin

Next in our wiring series, it is time to wire the starter motor. There are a few important things that need to be considered when you do this. In this post, we are just talking about connecting the POWERCELL output to the starter solenoid. In later posts, we will go through the details for wiring the ignition and starter switch.

There is a dedicated output on the front POWERCELL for the starter solenoid. In most kits it is the light-blue wire, which is output 4 on the B connector. When you turn on the MASTERCELL input for the starter, you get power on this starter wire. This energizes the starter solenoid coil.

There are two main types of starter motors. Some have the starter solenoid built into them. Others rely on an external starter solenoid. It takes hundreds of amperes to crank an engine. Your battery is the source of this current. It takes a special solenoid to repeatedly switch this high current. A normal relay can’t carry this amount of current. You need a solenoid. This picture shows you the details of a typical starter motor with a built-in solenoid.

Drawing of the anatomy of a starter motor

The starter solenoid gets a direct connection from the battery. This will supply the starting current when you turn on the starter. There is also a contact on the starter solenoid that connects to the starter output on the POWERCELL. When you turn the key to the start position, battery voltage is applied to this start terminal. This voltage does two things. The solenoid pulls in which pushes the Bendix out to engage with the engine flywheel. It also closes a large set of high-current contacts within the solenoid that lets current flow from the battery to the starter motor. This current spins the motor, which turns the flywheel.

When you release the key from the start position, the battery voltage is removed from the start terminal on the solenoid. This opens the contacts providing current to the motor, so the motor stops spinning. Also, the Bendix retracts from the flywheel.

This picture shows a typical wiring diagram for a starter motor with a built-in solenoid.

Starter motor drawing showing different electrical connections

The B terminal connects directly to the battery. We’ll discuss this in more detail below. The M terminal is internally connected to the windings on the starter motor. The S terminal is what connects to the starter output on the POWERCELL. When there is battery voltage from the POWERCELL on the S terminal, the solenoid engages. The Bendix extends into the flywheel and the B terminal gets connected to the M terminal. This provides the current to turn the starter motor. The starter motor gets grounded to the chassis through its mounting plate to the engine block.

There are other starter motors that do not have the built-in solenoid. They use a different mechanism to extend the pinion into the flywheel. They rely on an external solenoid to switch the current to the starter motor. This picture shows an example of an external solenoid.

Cole Hersee Solenoid

This external solenoid is what switches the high-current for the starter motor. One of the large terminals connects to the starter motor. The other large terminal connects directly to the battery. Again, we’re going to talk about this battery connection below. One of the small terminals needs to get connected to ground. The other small terminal needs to get connected to the starter output on the POWERCELL. When the POWERCELL applies battery voltage to to the starter terminal, the solenoid closes and lets current flow to the starter motor, which turns the flywheel.

Now it is time to talk about the battery cable. This is what supplies current from the battery to the starter motor. At the instant you close the starter solenoid, the current flowing to the starter motor can be between 1,500 to 2,000 Amps. Once the engine starts to turn, that current will drop down to 200 to 400-Amps. You must make sure that you size this cable appropriately. A lot of guys get cheap with their battery cables and go with smaller gauges. This is a case where the bigger, the better.

We recommend using a 1/0 or 2/0 welding cable to connect the battery to the starter. Smaller cables will result in voltage drop to the starter. Voltage drop will lead to problems starting the engine. Welding cable is much more flexible and easier to work with than typical battery cables. It is easier to route through the car. Please note that we do not include the battery cable or the required ring terminals in our kit. You need to source these separately.

You also need to consider the grounds between the engine block and the chassis. Whatever current flows to the starter has to return to the chassis. You need to have good and large ground straps between the engine block. The size of the ground cables must be equal or greater than the size of the cable you have feeding the starter.

Please click on this link to contact our team with questions about wiring the starter output on the POWERCELL in your 20-Circuit Kit.

Hazard Lights

June 17, 2016/in Wiring /by admin

We just posted details on how to wire your turn-signal and brake lights to our Infinitybox POWERCELLs. Here’s a quick follow up to that post. Once you have your turn-signal outputs wired, wiring your hazard lights is really easy.

Some people call them hazard lights, hazard warning flashers, warning lights, emergency lights, 4-way flashers or simply flashers. Whatever you call them, these are the flashing lights in the corners of your car that you turn on when you help or when you want to warn other drivers.

In most cars, your hazard lights are simply your turn signals. The original mechanism in the steering column shunted all of the turn signal bulbs together through the flasher can when you pressed the hazard button. With our Infinitybox system, you simply turn on an input to the MASTERCELL for the hazard lights. The MASTERCELL sends a command to the front and rear POWERCELLs to flash the left and right turn signals together. You do not need a separate flasher can, the POWERCELLs handle that for you.

Wiring diagram for 1-filament brake lights and turn signals for the Infinitybox system.

If you look at the line in your configuration sheet for the hazards, you will see that there is a dedicated input going to the MASTERCELL. You will also notice that the POWERCELL outputs are just the turn signal outputs on the front & rear POWERCELL. This picture shows the hazard lights details from our standard front-engine configuration.

Configuration details for wiring 4-way flashers with the Infinitybox system

If you need it, you can get more information on how to read our configuration sheets by clicking this link.

We’re going to talk about wiring inputs in upcoming posts. For now, everything that we need to do for the hazard lights in our 1967 Mustang is done since we wired the turn signals.

If you have questions or comments about wiring any parts of your car, truck or commercial vehicle with our Infinitybox system, please click this link to contact our team.

Rear LED tail lights on a 1967 Mustang Restomod wired with the Infinitybox system

Turn Signals & Brake Lights

June 17, 2016/4 Comments/in Wiring /by admin

We’re making good progress on wiring the outputs on our 1967 Mustang. We’ve made it though headlights, high-beams and parking lights. Now, let’s wire the turn signals and the brake lights. Just like the parking lights, there are turn-signals in the front of the car and the rear. Your 20-Circuit Kit is set up with dedicated outputs on the front & rear POWERCELLs to make wiring these easy. We’re going to talk about wiring the POWERCELL outputs in this post. We’ll get to wiring the inputs in a later post.

Our Infinitybox system has a few advantages over traditional wiring harnesses when it comes to turn-signals and brake lights.

The flashing is done inside the POWERCELL. You don’t need a separate flasher module to actually blink the turn signals.
The wiring to the turn signals is much shorter than a traditional wiring harness because you’re connecting the bulbs to the POWERCELL located in the front and rear of the car.
It doesn’t matter if you are using incandescent bulbs of LEDs. Since the POWERCELL is doing the flashing, you don’t need a load-resistor for LED’s.
We can manage any different type of turn signal configuration. That is done by picking different MASTERCELL input wires.

For the brake lights, there are two different options. We’ll be the first to admit that this can be a little confusing.

In some cars, you have a separate bulb or filament on a light bulb that is for the brake lights. When you step on the brake light pedal, that switch controls its own light. We call this a multi-filament configuration. There are multiple bulb filaments that handle the turn signals and the brake lights. In this configuration, there is a separate POWERCELL output for the brake lights. This picture shows you the wiring for the multi-filament configuration.

Diagram showing how to wire turn signals and brake lights with the Infinitybox system.

In other cars, the rear turn-signals also work as the brake lights. In this case, you have a single filament that works as both the turn-signal and the brake light. This function was usually managed within the steering column mechanism. We call this a 1-filament configuration or a single-filament configuration. That means there is one bulb filament on the left side and one on the right side of the rear of the car that works as the turn-signal and brake light. If you use our 1-filament configuration, the rear left and right turn-signals will flash when you turn on the left or right turn signal. If you step on the brake pedal, both the left & right turn-signal outputs will turn on together for the brake lights. If you have a turn-signal on and you step on the brake lights, the turn signal will over ride the brake light on that side of the car. This picture shows you the wiring for the 1-filament configuration.

Wiring diagram for 1-filament brake lights and turn signals for the Infinitybox system.

Here’s a good rule of thumb to figure out which brake light configuration you have in your car. If your turn signals are amber, you probably have the multi-filament configuration. There are separate red lights for the brake lights. If your turn-signals are red, you probably have the 1-filament configuration. Those red lights in the corner of the car are both the turn-signals and the brake lights.

Once you figure out the brake light configuration that you have in your car, go to your configuration sheet and pick the POWERCELL output wire colors. In most configurations, the left turn-signal is the brown wire on the front & rear POWERCELL. The right turn-signal is the violet wire on the front & rear POWERCELL. Connect these wires to the left & right turn signals in the front & rear of the car. The POWERCELL output wire goes to one wire on the turn signal bulb. The other wire on the turn signal bulb goes to ground on the chassis. If you are using LED’s make sure that you have the polarity of the bulbs correct. The bulbs will not light if the wires are backwards.

If you are using the multi-filament configuration, you need to splice the brake light output to the brake light bulb on the left & right side of the car. Follow the instructions that we gave in the headlight post for making these splices. If you have a third-brake light or a CHMSL in the car, you can splice off of this same brake light output to power the extra light.

In our customer’s 1967 Mustang, they are using a sequential tail light assembly made by Mustang Projects. You can see the details on that at this link. Their system comes with a very simple manual that shows how to connect the wires for the left turn, right turn and brake lights. This one was wired using the multi-filament configuration which meant that there was a separate output for a brake light. It was very easy. This picture shows the tail light assemblies mounted in the car.

Rear LED tail lights on a 1967 Mustang Restomod wired with the Infinitybox system

The last step in wiring the turn-signals and the brake lights is to wire the indicators on the dash. You simply splice off the POWERCELL outputs in the front of the car and run 22-AWG wires to the dash indicators. This customer tied into the outputs for the left & right turn-signals, ran these wires to the indicators and grounded the other side of the indicator. They were using LEDs for the indicators so they had to make sure that they had the polarity of the bulbs correct.

Our Infinitybox Splice Saver Kit is a really simple accessory that can be used to make splicing your turn signals indicators into their respective outputs easy. This picture shows how you can create a sealed junction point with the Splice Saver for your turn signals and their indicators.

Wiring turn signals and dash indicators with the Infinitybox Splice Saver Kit

That is it for turn-signals and brake lights. Stay tuned for the next posts talking about wiring this 1967 Mustang with our Infinitybox 20-Circuit Kit. If you have questions or comments, please contact us at this link.

Parking Lights

June 16, 2016/in Wiring /by admin

In our last post, we talked about wiring the headlights and high-beams to the front POWERCELL in your Infinitybox system. Now it is time for you to wire the parking lights. What we call parking lights can be called a few different things. Some guys call them marker lights, some call them running lights or driving lights. We call them parking lights. These are the amber lights on the front of your car and the amber or red lights on the rear of your car. Essentially, you are going to wire them the exact same way that you did for your headlights and high-beams with a few important exceptions.

There are parking lights on the front of your car and on the rear of your car. Instead of running wire from the front to back of your car to power these lights together, we have dedicated outputs on the front and rear POWERCELLs for these lights. In the case of our 1967 Mustang project, we power the front parking lights from the POWERCELL in the driver’s fender. The rear parking lights come from the rear POWERCELL mounted in the trunk. In both cases, the runs of wire are very short.

Remember that the switch does not connect to the lights. The switch connects to the MASTERCELL. We’re going to get into wiring the switches in upcoming blog posts.

In configuration that we are using for this 1967 Mustang, the parking lights are on outputs 6 on the front and 6 on the rear POWERCELL. These are the yellow wires. Click here to read the blog post that talks about the configuration sheet. Run your parking light output wire to the the closest parking light on that side of the car, then splice off of that to go to the second parking light on that side of the car. The parking light output is going to connect to both the left and right parking light bulbs. These are wired in parallel. The other wire in the parking light harness needs to get connected to ground. Check the documentation that came with your lights for the proper wires for power and ground. If you are using LED parking lights, the polarity is very important. LED lights will not work if they are wired backwards. You can see the headlight blog post to talk about ways to tap between the left and right lights on the car by clicking here.

You are going to use the parking light outputs from the front & rear POWERCELLs to power the lights. You are also going to tap off of these POWERCELL outputs to power other illumination in the car. Each POWERCELL output has capacity for 25-amps. Most parking lights draw about one amp so you have lots of room to spare.

In the front of the car, you are going to tap off of your parking light output to power the gauge illumination and your dash illumination. That way, you have lights on your gauges and dash when your parking lights are on. In the rear of the car, you are going to tap off of the parking light output to light your license plate light and any other running lights on the back of the car.

This illustration shows you how the front & rear parking light outputs connect from the two POWERCELLs in the car.

Diagram showing how to power your parking lights from the Infinitybox system.

We wanted to add a few comments about splicing and tapping off wires in your harness. We do not recommend products that pierce the wire insulation for making taps. This is a decent way to make splices in low current applications in sealed enclosures for telecom systems. We do not recommend these types of taps or splices for the automotive environment. Vibration, temperature, oil, dirt and grease will cause these taps to fail over time. We recommend that you use crimp connectors or solder these splices. If you used either of these methods, the joints should be protected and covered with heat-shrink tubing.

Another great option for creating a sealed junction point is to use our Infinitybox Splice Saver Kit. This is a simple way to join multiple wires together in a sealed connector. This pictures shows you an example of how to splice multiple lights to your single parking light output on your front POWERCELL using the Splice Saver Kit.

Wire diagram showing how to wire front parking lights and illumination with the Infinitybox Splice Saver Kit

This picture shows you how you can use the Splice Saver Kit to wire your rear parking lights.

Wiring diagram showing how to wire parking lights and brake lights with an Infinitybox Splice Saver

Click on this link to contact our team with questions or comments about wiring your parking lights with our Infinitybox system.

Headlights

June 15, 2016/5 Comments/in Wiring /by admin

In our last post, we hit the high-points of wiring the outputs on our Infinitybox POWERCELLs. Over the next few posts, we are going to go into detail on wiring some of the specific loads in your car. This post is going to talk about headlights.

Headlights are usually the easiest output to wire and we use them as an example when we’re helping guys wire their cars over the phone. On the front POWERCELL, there is a dedicated output for the headlights. Check your configuration sheet for the exact wire color. This blog post will show you how to do this. In the case of our 1967 Mustang project, the POWERCELL output wire for the headlights is the white wire. This is output 5 on the B connector.

From the front POWERCELL, you are going to run the white output wire to your headlights. It is usually easiest to run the wire to the closest headlight, then splice from there to go to the second headlight. Essentially, you are wiring the two headlights in parallel. You can use our Splice Saver Kit to make this connection easy and reliable.

In the previous post about wiring POWERCELL outputs, we talked about ways to connect wires together. These options include butt-splicing, soldering and connectors. You can built the splice between the two headlight bulbs in this splice. This picture shows a simple schematic for wiring the two headlights off of a single POWERCELL output.

Picture of a simple schematic showing how to wire your headlights to the Infinitybox POWERCELL

There are going to be two wires on each of your headlights. One is the 12-volt power coming from the POWERCELL output. The other is ground, which needs to be connected to the chassis. If your high-beams are integrated into the same headlight housing, there may be multiple connections. You need to consult the paperwork or instructions that came with your headlights.

If your headlights are incandescent bulbs, the orientation of the power input and ground wires do not matter. The current will flow through the filament in the bulb in either direction. If you headlights are HID or LED, the polarity will matter. You need to consult the manual for the HID or LED headlight kit.

The standard headlight output on the front POWERCELL is designed for an incandescent bulb. We can do things with a POWERCELL output that you can’t do with a relay. Because we are using solid-state relays, we can do something called Pulse-Width Modulation. That means that we can gradually ramp up the power to an output.

Incandescent bulbs have a high in-rush current. When the bulbs are cool, the resistance of the filament is relatively low. When you first turn on the bulb, it will draw a lot of current. As the bulb and filament heat up, the resistance of the filament increases significantly, which limits the current to its steady-state draw. This inrush current can be 4 to 10 times the steady state current. You need to size you wire and the fuse to work with this inrush current. We have done that for you in our choice of output harness wire.

We soft-start the standard headlight and high-beam outputs on the front POWERCELL. This essentially smooths out the inrush, which causes less stress on the fuse, the wiring and the light bulb. You get this feature automatically if you use the standard MASTERCELL input.

You can use this same soft-starting output for LED (Light Emitting Diode) headlight kits. If you are using HID (High Intensity Discharge) headlights, you need to use a different input to the MASTERCELL. There is a dedicated input to the MASTERCELL for HID headlights. If you use this input, the headlight input turns on instantaneously without the soft starting. We’ll talk more about MASTERCELL inputs in later posts.

While we’re at it, you are going to wire your high-beams exactly the same way as the headlights. In the case of the configuration that we are using for this 1967 Mustang, the dark-blue wire from the front POWERCELL is for the high-beams. This is output 7 on the A connector. You are going to run the high-beam output from the POWERCELL to the first high-beam bulb then splice over to the second high-beam bulb. Check the documentation that came with your bulbs for proper wiring. The ground wire on the bulb should connect to the chassis of the car.

Keep watching our blog for more posts on wiring the different outputs on your Infinitybox wiring system. Click this link to contact our team with questions.

Picture of POWERCELL with CAN cable in 1967 Mustang wired with the Infinitybox system

POWERCELL Output

June 14, 2016/3 Comments/in Wiring /by admin

Now it is time to connect the POWERCELL outputs to your loads in the car. When we talk about loads, we refer to the things that you need to power to make the car work. These include your headlights, turn signals, ignition systems, starter solenoids, fuel pumps, cooling fans, horns, lights, etc. All of these loads are going to the connect to each POWERCELL output to get their switched battery power.

This post is going to cover the basics of wiring the POWERCELL outputs. We will publish several specific posts that will go through the details of how to wire your turn signal outputs, wiring your ignition and starter, wiring cooling fans and other loads.

The automotive electrical system uses a grounded chassis. This means that each load gets its switched power from some power distribution device. In your case, it is your POWERCELL. Current flows from the POWERCELL to the load. To complete the circuit, the load needs to get connected to ground, which is typically your chassis. The chassis is connected to the negative post of the battery. This is how the circuit is completed in your system.

Another thing to remember about your Infinitybox system is that the switches connect to the MASTERCELL. Your loads connect to the POWERCELLs. There is no connection between the switch and the load. That connection comes from a data command sent from the MASTERCELL to the POWERCELLs. When you turn on a switch, the MASTERCELL tells the POWERCELL to turn on an output.

Your kit includes an A & B output harness for each POWERCELL. If you have our 10-Circuit Kit with one POWERCELL, you have one each of the A & B harnesses. If you have our 20-Circuit Kit with two POWERCELLs, you will have two of each.

This picture shows you the POWERCELL A output harness. It has the wires for outputs 6 through 10.

POWERCELL A Output Harness

This picture shows you the POWERCELL B output harness. It has the wires for outputs 1 through 5.

POWERCELL B Output Harness

Yes, we get that it seems that the A & B designations are reversed for these harnesses. That designation came from the original layout of the POWERCELLs from our early beginnings. These designations have stuck and changing over a decade of documentation would be tough.

Please note that the A & B connectors are interchangeable in the POWERCELL output sockets. A lot of initial problem calls that we get from customers come from the fact that they have these harnesses reversed. Make sure that you are plugging the correct harness into the correct socket. The manual that came with your kit shows you the correct orientation. This picture also shows which connector socket is A & B.

Illustration of Infinitybox POWERCELL labeling output connectors

Once you get the connectors plugged into the correct sockets, you need to properly ground the POWERCELLs. Each of of the output harnesses have a black wire. Both of these black wires need to get grounded to the chassis. This is to properly ground the electronics in the POWERCELL. Make sure that you have a good metal-to-metal connection between these ground wires and the chassis. You must make sure that you remove all dirt, rust, oil, grease, paint and powder coating from this connection.

Next, it is time to start connecting the POWERCELL output wires to the loads in the car. Remember that your configuration sheet is your road map to do this. You can review our previous blog post about the configuration sheet as a refresher by clicking this link. The configuration sheet is going to identify the specific POWERCELL output wire by color for each load in the car.

You are going to run the POWERCELL output to the load. From there you must connect the POWERCELL output wire to the wiring on your light, fan, horn, fuel pump, etc. There are many different ways to do this. People will argue advantages of one method over another. If done correctly with the right tools, they are all good methods.

One of the easiest ways is to butt splice the POWERCELL output wire to the wire on your load. For example, you cooling fan will probably have two wires coming from the motor housing. You can use a butt splice connector to connect the POWERCELL output wire to the wire on the fan motor. This picture shows an example of a butt-splice.

Picture showing example of splicing wires in our 1967 Mustang Install of the Infinitybox wiring system.

The team at Waytek Wire have a great post on their blog called “Splice Connectors 101”. In this article, they walk you through the basics of splicing wires together. Click here to read this article.

What is important is that you use the correct crimp tool and you properly seal the joint. This seal can be done with heat shrink tubing or you can use butt crimp connectors that already have a heat-shrink jacket over them. Companies like Waytek and Del City are great sources for the right tools and materials.

Another option is to solder the wires together. A lot of customers swear by this method or a combination of butt-splicing and soldering. The advantage is that you get a metallurgical connection between the copper strands of both wires. Some will argue that this is stronger and more reliable than a pure mechanical crimp of a butt-splice. Just like the butt-splice mentioned above, this joint must be sealed preferably with heat shrink. The only warning with soldering is that if too much solder is applied to the joint, it can wick up the strands of the wire flowing away from the joint. This wicking can make the wire more rigid and susceptible to fatiguing if the joint is stressed mechanically. Just watch the amount of solder that you are applying to the joint.

The last is to put connectors on both ends of the connection. This is the most time consuming and costly, but it has advantages down the road if you need to remove the load for maintenance. There are many different options for connection systems. Deutsch connectors are very popular in racing. They are rugged, durable and proven. Delphi Weatherpack connectors are another option. They have been proven in the field for decades and are a cost effective option. You can purchase Weatherpack kits from many different sources that include the proper tools to crimp the terminals. Here is an example of a Weatherpack kit that includes the tool.

If the POWERCELL output harnesses are not long enough, you can easily extend them using any of the connection methods mentioned above. You must make sure that you use the right size of wire and the right insulation type. We use 14-AWG wire for all of the POWERCELL outputs. This will carry 32-amps continuously, which is very conservative for most aftermarket and racing applications. We use wire with TXL insulation. This is a cross-linked wire designed for the automotive environment. It is oil, dirt, chemical and abrasion resistant. You can source extra 14-AWG TXL wire at this link. We can also create custom harness lengths. Contact our sales team for details.

Just a few last comments about wiring the POWERCELL outputs. Stay away from Home Depot. We say this as a joke but it is important. The same materials that you’d use to wire a house have no place in the car. That means no wire nuts, extension cords or electrical tape to make connections. Use only tools and materials that are designed to handle the automotive environment in your car.

Keep watching for the next posts that will detail wiring POWERCELL outputs to some of the specific systems in your car. If you have any questions, please click on this link to contact our team.

Configuration Sheet

June 13, 2016/15 Comments/in Wiring /by admin

The Configuration Sheet is your road map to wiring the car with the Infinitybox 20-Circuit Kit. It it included in the box and tells you the wire colors that connect to your switches and to your switched outputs. This is a really important document so let’s spend a few minutes reviewing it.

All of the MASTERCELL input wires and POWERCELL output wires are color coded. The same is true for the inMOTION output harnesses. You are going to use the Configuration Sheet to pair these input and output wires to their switches and the outputs.

Depending on the kit that you ordered and the accessories that you have, your configuration sheet is going to be unique to your system. Likewise, you’ll have a configuration sheet that is specific to you if we did custom programming for your system. We also have different configuration sheets for where the engine is located in the car. The Front-Engine configuration is our most common and is probably the most self-explanatory. This is used for cars where the engine is in the front of the car. The outputs for the ignition and starter are on the front POWERCELL.

If you are building a mid-engine or rear-engine car, you’d use the Rear-Engine configuration. The outputs for the ignition and starter are on the rear POWERCELL.

We also have specific configurations for component cars made by Factory Five. These include kits specifically configured for the Hot Rod, the GTM and the 818. These are based on things that we have learned from hundreds of systems that we sold into guys building these cars. If you’re building the MK4 Roadster or the Type 65 Coupe, you’d use the standard Front-Engine configuration.

This link will take you to the different configuration sheets for our Infinitybox system.

If you have lost your configuration sheet and need help locating the correct one, click here to contact our team for support.

Let’s take a look at an example. This picture from a configuration sheet showing the details for the Headlights. Click on this image to blow it up to see the detail.

Example of headlight wiring details from the Infinitybox configuration sheet

The first column is Function. This describes what is being controlled. You’ll see that there are rows for your ignition, starter solenoid, head lights, parking lights, high-beams, horn, cooling fan, turn signals, 4-ways and brake lights. There are also rows that marked as OPEN. These are generic and can be used for any other accessory that you have in your car.

The next column is Switch Input. This is the number that we use to identify the MASTERCELL inputs. There are 48 inputs on a MASTERCELL. Please note that the input number does not line up with the cavity marking on the input connectors. Click on this link to get a document that connects the MASTERCELL input number to the cavity marking on the connector. The MASTERCELL input wires are going to connect to the switches in your car. We’ll talk about that in a later post.

The next column is MASTERCELL Connector. There are two input connectors for a MASTERCELL, each has 24 inputs. The majority of your inputs will be on the A connector which plugs in the socket above the MASTERCELL screen. For systems with accessories like inMOTION and additional POWERCELLs, you will be using the B connector which is located below the MASTERCELL screen. Some kits do not come with this MASTERCELL B harness.

The next column is POWERCELL Address. This tells you which POWERCELL has the output that will turn on with that input. In the case of our headlight example, the POWERCELL address is 1. This means that the headlight output is on the front POWERCELL. You will see that there are some rows with POWERCELL address that say 1:2. This means that outputs on both POWERCELL 1 and POWERCELL 2 will turn on with this input. Examples include parking lights, turn signals and 4-ways. This link will show you how to set your POWERCELL addresses.

The next column is POWERCELL Connector. Just like the MASTERCELL, there is an A & B output connector on the POWERCELLs. In the case of our headlight example, the headlight output is on the B POWERCELL connector. Your manual will show you which output harness plugs into which socket on the POWERCELL.

Next you get the Personality column. This describes how the output will act when the input is turned on. This separate blog post will get you more information on output personalities. Click here to see it. In the case of the headlight example, the output will track the input and it will soft-start.

Next you get the POWERCELL Output column. This describes the number of the output on the POWERCELL that is turned on with the input on that row. For our headlights, that is output number 5.

The last two columns are the most important and most practical. Ignoring everything to the left, these two columns tell you the MASTERCELL input wire color and the POWERCELL output wire color. For the headlights, you are going to connect the White wire with the Green tracer to the headlight switch. You are going then take the White wire from the POWERCELL and connect that to your headlights. When you turn on the headlight switch, the White-Green wire will get grounded by the switch. The MASTERCELL sees this input turn. It sends a command to the POWERCELL to turn on the headlight output. This is the white wire.

This is one of the areas where our Infinitybox system is dramatically different from a traditional wiring harness. Your switches connect to the MASTERCELL. Your lights, fans, pumps, ECU’s, starter solenoid and other outputs connect to the POWERCELL.

There is a video on our YouTube channel that goes through the configuration sheet in more detail. You can catch this video below.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to our team with questions about the configuration sheet and how to read it.