Time for wiring tips and tricks, got any?

I'll add a little tip for the cheapskates in this crowd!
Hope I didnt post same thing last year when this was new.......
A good way to wire Lights on a simple hot rod with few accessories ,is to do this......
Go to the Farm store or Wal Mart and buy one of those TRAILER wiring kits -usually from 9.99 to 28 dollars depending on whether they include taillights ot just the wire.....
It usually comes with a FLAT 4 wire tape style wire loom and can even be had in a 6 wire of this flat style.
These are color coded to match taillights on the towing vehicle.
I suggest running this frt to rear[think they are 26-30 ft long] and then allow enough length to reach the turn signal switch on column.
this will be enough wire to do all the rear and all the front[turn -park] light circuits. also it would be seperated at the stop light switch so that way they will work seperately from the park/turns on the front.......
also the taillights are nice to mount UNDER the rear of a T or A when you are using those DIM 48 chevy or 39 ford taillights that dont show up well at night.
Just mount them UNDERNEATH to the trunk floor facing DOWN - and at night they will REALLY light up the rear and highway and can be seen as well as a late model!

 

That's not a good idea, especially if you have a radio or engine management computer that requires constant voltage.

If you put the kill switch in the negative battery cable you still have to run the ECM and radio grounds (earths, for you Aussies) back to the battery.

In doing so, you've just byp***ed the kill switch with the internal circuitry of your radio and ECM and those wires aren’t anywhere sufficient to carry the load of the starter motor which WILL operate when you turn the key regardless of the position of your kill switch.

The whole idea of installing the kill switches in the negative lead stems from their original application i.e. positive ground/earth construction equipment. With positive ground, you're installing the kill switch in the “live” wire when you put it on the negative side .

Install your kill switch in the live cable and as close to the battery as possible.

 

GREAT POST and very timely for me.

 

This post is one of the BEST tech posts Ive seen on the HAMB, full of great tips and do's and dont's. Esp since Im 3/4 of the way through wiring my Deuce and believe me, I hated wiring but Im quite happy with how this is turning out. Simply put, Im a cheep ******* and cant afford to pay a sparkie for his time where I could use the money to go into my 4-71 blower.

Im using am EZ wiring harness....so far so good. Im also going overkill on the grounding of the car (block to ch***is, batt to ch***is, ch***is to body front and rear and each component individually grounded to clean, fresh unpainted metal. Most of my connections have been crimped with a proper crimper, soldered and heat shrunk too.

I have the starter solenoid/fuel pump and brake lite switch under the floor and am wondering if I should use die electric grease to keep corrosion off the connections that are exposed to the weather?? Do you just put the stuff on the connections and thats it? How does this stuff work?

Some things I learned? Well....

i. Always leave enough wire to allow for bends etc....
ii. Only take on one section at a time till its completed PROPERLY.
iii. You can label wires with written masking tape attached to the wire to
identify each wire down the track if required.
iv. Take your time and try to make it as sano as possible.
v. Use the proper tools and materials
vi. Study up to learn a little about what you are doing
vii. Use male/female plugs so that you can remove components easily down
the track ie: dash or gauges.
viii.Ground everything properly esp on a gl*** car.
ix. Plan where youre gonna run the wires...try and hid'em for a sano job.
x. Carry a fire extiguisher (In case I screwed up lol)!

Anyway...thats what Ive picked up wiring my ride from scratch....I just ihope it all works ok. I couldnt bear chasin down **** to find out where its went wrong.

Rat

 

Haven't time to read all this yet, but some good stuff. Not much to add, just a small tip. When running wire in an area where it can be caught/snagged by a sleeve/tool or other like at the coil on the firewall or the rear of the alternator, I leave like 6" extra, and wrap this tightly around a long socket to match the wire. Like a 3/8" round for 12-16, or a 3/4" for 8-10. Now when yanked on it stretches. Plus it looks kinda trick. and heat shrink heat shrink heat shrink...

 

For those who use crimp on connectors. When crimping put the dimple from the crimping tool on the side of the connector with out the split. When you crimp the split side the split can fold and the wire can easily pull out.. And what everybody else said use good crimpers.

 

DO NOT USE ELECTRICAL TAPE!! The adhesive oozes everywhere. This stuff is pretty nice for wrapping harnesses


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...&item=7957376412&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MESE:IT

 

I seem to wire alot of highboys with removable lights. I like to use the old Ford "bullet" connectors. (they look old and don't look bulky like spade connectors) For 2 wire tail lights, I make one wire male and the other female. You can't make a mistake connecting them. On the 3 wire head lights, I make one wire connection about an inch farther down the harness than the wire with the same connector. Stevie Wonder can hook up my lights or a fat old man (me) in the dark.

One side benefit, you can wire up different H/lights (stockers, Guides or E&Js) and change them like a woman and her shoes...whatever mood you are in.

 

If you switch the battery at the ground, you effectively remove it from the circuit in every possible way. It's the battery with it's wild power output potential that turns a wiring job south in a hurry. The ECM and Radio will reset to their base state when you reapply power. The only other source of power will be the filter capacitors in the car stereo and the ECM. those capacitors will discharge very quickly into the car's wiring if they aren't internally diode protected (which they are so you don't shock yourself when unhooking the devices or destroy your ecm or radio when you short something out in the wiring harness). Even if they don't have this failsafe, Stero and ECM filter caps will not have the power to actuate the starter unless you have a stiffening capacitor rack in your trunk. I think that's a non-issue in any structured wiring consideration. If you do have a filter cap rack, it should be ganged with the battery cutoff switch no matter where you put it. It should also be noted that there is no 'live' wire in DC. Both positive and negative are required to complete a circuit and therefore they are both equivalent to an ac live wire. My reasoning for wiring it this way is that the less wires you need to gang together, the better. With a single lead being cutoff, you don't run into reliability issues with your starter and main wiring leads which are usually soldered to the positive battery post on negative ground systems. I've attached an image with this post.

-Richard


In doing so, you've just byp***ed the kill switch with the internal circuitry of your radio and ECM and those wires aren’t anywhere sufficient to carry the load of the starter motor which WILL operate when you turn the key regardless of the position of your kill switch.

 

Rat, something to consider.

When I put together a wiring harness; I use a # 10 gauge wire that runs from front to back and COLLECTS ALL the grounds. (light sockets, any device that needs a ground) The #10 is attached to the ground post of the battery. It even runs to the dash. (***uming electric gauges; or at least for dash lights)

The two battery cables run from the battery; the ground attached to the block. (I use one of the starter bolts) The hot to the starter solinoid.

Although it's common practice to ground everything to the frame; that means at every place a ground connection is made, the paint (or worse yet, powder coat) must be ground away to make a good connection, and is now a point where corrosion can start and make a POOR conection.

But eliminating ground connections to the frame or the body the paint (or coatings) doesn't need to be damaged.

The dialetric grease is used (sparingly) between the connection and the point of connection. It has a degree of condutivity and prevents oxidation from forming in the connection.

Taillight sockets are probably the worst components to get a good ground at.
If you check some of the auto supply stores, they have replacement sockets with a ground lug comming off the side. Look at some of the newer cars in the bone yards, because of all the plastic panels that are used, they have taillight sockets with ground lugs.

 

It is not a good idea to tin then crimp as the wire is now solid and cannot be squished into every crevice of the crimp joint

By all means solder afterward but not before

 

This approach is based on the fact that the terminal end WILL be soldered after the crimp is made. Pre tinning the wire allows for a faster solder joint.

If the crimp joint is done with the proper tool (the one intended for the terminal ends being used) a good joint can be made, even with solid wire.

 

Skip, I have been a long time user of AMP* terminal ends and almost all of them have the ribbed pattern on both sides.

After reading your response, I wandered out to take a closer look at some of the ground connections on my 2000 Dodge Dakota.

Seems Chryco doesn't totally agree with GM; found star washers at a number of ground points!!

* For those that want one of the best line of terminal ends, AMP (Aircraft, Marine Products) make ONE PIECE terminal ends; they don't have the split on one side.
And their crimp tool is the best in my experience.

 

This is a great post.

Does Streamline have a website? Where can I get one of their catalogs?

 

looms man - use that cool pink plastic stuff with the slit you get from autozone

I have also run all my wires in that nice tarred cotton wire loom - it is a mother to pull the entire branch through a 3/4" loom sometimes, but it is worth it - it protects the wires, looks factory and old timey.

haywire has different sizes by the foot. I bought a ton of it at the lst swap I was at.

 

Tudor, a trick for pulling wires through the tarred loom.
First; arrange the wires that are going in the bundle to be as parallel as you can.

Tape the bundle at about 6 inch intervals.

Push a piece of welding rod through the loom with a loop on the end. Using the longest wires in the bundle; hook them through the loop of the welding rod, bend them over, and tape them tight. Tape the shorter wires so they form a bullet nose.

This next step goes best if you have a helper.

Holding the entrance end of the loom, Put a liberal amount of dishwashing detergent on the wire bundle and have your helper start pulling the welding rod through the loom as you guide the bundle into the loom.

 

But that's the point. Resetting the ECM back to it's base state means that you have to go through the entire learning process all over again before the engine will run correctly and you have to reset all of your radio station presets every time you re-apply power.

To prevent this disruption in these two systems, both sides of the circuit must be connected to the battery at all times.

If you connect these two critical devices permanently to the battery and put the battery kill switch in the negative (earth) side of the circuit, the whole vehicle is now earthed/grounded through the cases of the radio and ECM. As soon as someone turns the ignition key to the start position without, first, switching on the kill switch, all the current drawn by the starter moor will be shunted to earth through the radio and ECM.

the only way around this delima is to isolate the ECM (impossible, by the way because it's connected to the engine) and the radio from ch***is earth.

If the kill switch is placed in the positive (live) lead, the radio and ECM power sources can be tied to the battery side of the kill switch and nothing will happen when the ignition switch is turned on before the kill switch is turned on but the radio and ECM will not have to be reset every time the kill switch is turned back on.

 

Come on Skip, Radio? ECM? What are the spaceage things you speak of? I have made it a point in the last week to ask the kill switch question to several other guys in the know. I am leaning towards the Negative side, this is on a bare bones car, no computers.

 

I have to aggree with Skip.

Another thing that can happen if the ground (-) is used for switching battery power OFF.

If it isn't turned ON, and you try to start the engine, the ignition curcuit can become the ground and with the load of the starter trying to p*** through; it WILL fry points and possibly the coil. (and it won't take more than a couple of milliseconds!)

I would put the Master Cut-off Switch in the HOT (+) battery cable.

 

Yeah Digger - all that does the ticket, It is hard sometimes, but worth it. - I remember I didn't have a helper, I think I ended up using a long piece of rebar tie wire to pull the wire with. I made the tie wire longer than the loom had to be for that run, then you run the wire through the loom and tie it off to something sturdy. Then pull like hell to get the loom over the wire.

The soap would have helped!

You really only have two lpng runs - 1 to the front and 1 to the back..

 

This might not be the time to mention it; but the loom IS available in different sizes.

The soap will actually dry up after a while, and the harness you created will hold its shape.

I remember pulling one bundle through the loom that was tied to the work bench, wasn't paying attention and pulled the bench over!!

 

Okay, I am confused. If you have one ground wire from the battery and you put a switch in that wire to disconnect the battery. How will current flow anywhere in the circuits with the switch in the disconnect position?

 

Because some components contain their own grounds. Some components ground through their mounting brackets, case, etc. Some even have their own ground wire. The component would create the ground for the circuit. The component's ground would be, more or less, replacing the negative battery cable. This would allow the circuit to complete itself virtually by-p***ing the shut off.

I look at the shut-off as eliminating power, not eliminating ground. If I am messing with something electrical I certainly don't want power getting to it. Shutting off power via the + battery cable will not allow power to the vehicle and after all isn't that really what we want that switch to do; Eliminate power.

There is no way I would put a shut-off on the negative side of the battery. Too many ways for that to **** up your whole campaign.

 

It still seems like the circuit would have to go back to the battery to be complete. You seem to be saying that the circuit could somehow work without the negative side of the battery hooked up if I am understanding correctly. If you have one positive battery cable and one negative cable to your battery, I think you could put the switch in either the positive or negative cable. Either way you are eliminating the battery and shutting off all power. If you have additional wires besides your main cables attached to you battery, then I would agree that the positive cable is the place for a shut off switch, but I can not imagine making extra connections directly to the battery.

 

The problem occurs when any device that is normally grounded, ignition points as an example, which are grounded on one side, TRY to find the other side of the battery. (negative side)

When the starter is engaged without a ground (it becomes a floating ground) it throws a HUGE amount of current via the POS connection through the smaller components. They aren't able to handle the "inrush" current and get destroyed.

 

Agreed John. Using their same logic would mean you couldnt touch the positive post at all, you would get shocked

 

To paraphrase your thought, you mean that even if the negative battery cable is unhooked and no other circuits are hooked to the negative side of the battery, and I hit the starter switch, there is current flow. I do not think we are talking about the same thing. Sometimes typing out our thoughts do come out exactly what we mean. Of course I have a bad cold today, who knows what I am thinking. I have great respect for your knowledge in this area, it is just a new line of thinking or logic for me.

 

....and, with a spanner laid across the battery terminal to the frame, I can make your car fully functional. A battery jumper cable can make it a permanent jury-rig. Can't do that with the swtch in the positive cable, though. (unless you can get to the kill switch and jump the contacts.

I've been wiring cars since the mid sixties and the only time I've ever put a kill switch on the negative cable was in a 6 volt, positive ground, system.

A kill switch in the ground circuit is the easiest thing to get around. All you need to do is run a jumper from the negative post to ANYTHING that's part of the ch***is.

A kill switch in the live side is a lot tougher to byp***. If you can't get at the kill switch, you have to run a cable from the positive lead all the way up to the starter-end of the battery cable.

 

I understand your reasoning for theft. My touring is an open car, if they want to pull the tonneau cover off they can get to the whole damn thing!

Lets change the direction here a bit. Which side is the best side to attatch the kill switch if all you are worried about is a quick switch in case of fire?

 

If either side of the battery is COMPLETELY disconnected, no current will flow PERIOD. You’re not going to burn anything up if EITHER side of the battery is COMPLETELY disconnected.

If you put in a device that requires constant power, you should NOT put the kill switch in the ground cable, otherwise you’ll burn out the device that you have connected to the battery via a byp*** circuit.

If you need to byp*** the kill switch, put the kill switch in the live lead, not the ground lead.

Byp***ing a hidden kill switch is a no-brainer if the switch is in the ground circuit. You can do it with ANY piece of metal that will bridge the gap between the battery and the ch***is/steel body.