When hooking an acessory to a battery...

is it ok to hook a small accessory to the battery. Eliteconcepts told me it is but is that ok, i mean , its 12 straight volts. it would be cool to do that but when u hook something into say the parking light wires, at least its grounded, the only bad thing is tho that u can only turn them on when u have teh parking lights on.

 

[Robb]

What exactly are you trying to do? For any 12v accesory to work, it has to have a ground. And whatever it is, you probably want some sort of switching device or it will be on all the time.

 

[Rob_B]

well assuming u will have a switch hooked in somewhere so that the accesory isn't alway's on and draining your battery, it's still isn't very wise. I say this b/c there is no fuse, which it's possible to add one into the positive wire. If you don't have a fuse and there's a power surge from the battery it could blowup whatever the accesory is, fry the wire, or even worse overheat both and start a fire.

So you can if u have a switch and a fuse of some sort.

 

[X~FACTOR]

You could go straight to the battery but make sure to place an in-line fuse between the battery and the accessory. What are you trying to hook up?

 

[EliteConcept]

i think he's trying to do windsheild washer leds. and they should be 12v ready.

 

[jimbo74]

for windshield washer leds, i would do the ghetto thing and tap into the constant power wire off of the wiper motor..... its right there, is fused already, and doesnt need to be switched.... then just run yourself an extra switch to inside the cab......

 

[Robb]

Originally posted by jimabena74
for windshield washer leds, i would do the ghetto thing and tap into the constant power wire off of the wiper motor..... its right there, is fused already, and doesnt need to be switched.... then just run yourself an extra switch to inside the cab......

Your wipers run off a constant wire?

 

[jimbo74]

no, there is a constant wire that runs into the motor.... most people wouldnt know it, but there are actually like 5 wires that operate the wiper motor... i knew what all of them were before becuase i needed to trace them down.... but there is a ign switched constant power wire in the bundle somewehre... its how i have my aux. spotlight hooked onto.....

 

[Robb]

Originally posted by jimabena74
there is a ign switched constant power wire

Jim, that is a contradiction in terms. A power wire is either switched or constant........it can't be both.

If I were wiring in some external LEDs, I would run them off the parking lights. There isn't any reason to run them during the daytime.

 

[jimbo74]

it can be both.... there are several wires that go into the wiper motor itself.... when the ignition is on, one of those wires is always powered.. so in essence, it is constant when the ignition is on.... there are also several other power wires in that bundle that have different power readings according to the position of the wiper switch....

 

[Robb]

Originally posted by jimabena74
when the ignition is on, one of those wires is always powered.. so in essence, it is constant when the ignition is on

You mean it gets power when the ignition SWITCH is on? Therefore it would be SWITCHED and not constant.

Constant power wires and switched (via ignition or whatever) wires are two different things. Wiring up LEDs up to a constant supply means that the LEDs would CONSTANTLY be on. This would not be smart, as it would run down the battery. As I mentioned before, I think external LEDs would only be effective during dark, so tapping into a parking/running circuit would make sense.

 

[jimbo74]

i was actually refering to it as a constant as opposed to the others in the same bundle of wires......

technically they are all ign switched for power. but some must actually use the wiper switch before power gets distributed... the constant i was refering to was if the car was on, it had power, whereas the rest of those lines don't unless the car is running and the wiper switch is also used......

 

[Timmy]

red02x, why the hell have you made so many topics on some cheesy little windshield led's? it isn't THAT hard to do. check one of your 4 topics on it. I put a diagram up for a switch.

 

[explr1]

Just run the wires and splice them to your parking lights. 10 minute job. By the way, did they come as a prize in a box of UNCLE BEN'S???:thumbdwn: