I got the switch with a light from Radioshack and its got 3 outputs...2 silver ones and 1 cooper one (neutral)...the switch works ...but the light wont come ON

I ran the blue/white cable from the unit (radio) in the car to one of the silver ones in the switch...and the other silver to the amp...That makes the subs work with the switch...

but when I ground the cooper (neutral) one to the car's chassis...the light wont come ON when switch is ON ...yet the subs DO work with the switch....Any ideas???

Am I connecting this wrong??
Could it be that the blue/white unit from the radio does not support the light?? would I need to wire it directly to the battery to make this work (any problems with this wire melting or getting to hot exposed to the battery the whole time??)??

Please reply your input/IDEAS!!!

THANKS

 

The remote turn on put's out a lower voltage than 12 volts, that may be why the light isn't coming on

Just make sure the switch is a 12vdc switch and not something for home use.

You can make this work but you'll need to add a 12vdc relay to allow a full 12 volts to go to the light.

Here's a diagram, you would replace the postive feed wire with your rem wire



Another thing you can do is just replace the rem wire with a ignition switched source wire, bypass the rem wire alltogether. This should make the light come on and the amp still come on. The only drawback is that the amp will be on regardless if the radio is off (providing the switch is turned on)

 

Try switching out the rem wire with a positive feed into your switch first and see if the light comes on before you do anything else.

 

The REM wire will not handle to much draw. It's only meant as a signal, not a load.

 

First off, the REM wire can handle a lighted switch. I had one (don't right now, but will when I put the stuff back in along with my iPod controller which is currently running off of the wire), and I installed another in a buddy's car.
Second, use a DVOM or the packaging and figure out where the wiring goes. I think you have it wired backwards. The way I usually work with them is that I figure out which way the switch is supposed to orient when off, and from top to bottom the terminals are power out, power in, and light to ground, IIRC... I'll have to grab mine and check for you.

 

OK buddy, whatever you say

The REM wire can usually carry about 300mA at 12V DC. Just enough for a signal, not any sorta load a light would require.
Even what you posted indicates you realized this, because you have 12V going into the switch, besides the REM wire.

 

 

Don't okay buddy me. The switch runs ENTIRELY off of the REM wire. Don't believe me? Too bad. It works. That's all I can say. That little light don't pull anywhere near as much current as you think it does.
The 12V going into the switch is provided entirely by the REM wire coming off of my Eclipse headunit, and a Panasonic before that, neither of which have had any problems with the setup, in either car, the other of which had a switch running off of a Sony headunit I removed to swap in my Eclipse when I had the car for a short time. And, like I said, my iPC-106 iPod controller is run ENTIRELY by the REM wire as well, as it was the only wire available under there at the time. The iPC-106 CHARGES my iPod, FYI...

 

Your powering your ipod controller off the remote turn on wire from your head unit?? Why not tap into the power wire coming from your harness?

The remote wire isn't designed to support a full load, if that was the case we would be wiring power antennas straight off the wire, instead of a relay as they were designed.

Good luck with that

 

Actually, I'm going to have to rewire it so that it uses an IGN ON source instead of the full-time 12VDC battery source they want it to have so it's not a constant drain on the battery when it's not in use, but that's beside the point.
The point is that the lighted switch, WITH the light, works off of the headunit when it's properly installed. When I had my Camaro console installed, I had the switch inside the glove box, but with the Bird console (because I finally nabbed a 5-speed shift plate for it), I have no place for the switch, so I removed it for the time being until I figure something out.

If someone wants pics on how to get it working, let me know. It won't be too hard to pop the console cover off and figure things out under there.

BTW, like I said before, the next time you get a switch like that, the wiring diagram/instructions are on the back of the packaging.

 

It MAY work, but that does not mean it's the right way to do it. The REM wire is designed to be used just as a signal (300mV max), not carry a load. It is possible to damage your equipment. Just because you haven't had any equipment damage, does not mean that you should encourage others to do the same.

Everybody else: If you want to run 12V using the REM wire, do it the right way and use a relay! A few extra bux to protect your expensive equipment, it's worth it for the added piece of mind.

 

or use a switch with an LED light source. They won't pull nearly the 500mA most remote circuits are rated for.