alright i have a couple quick questions i hope some of you can help me out on. i just bought my led's i have the resistors for them also. i got like 20 led's and 20 resistors. my question is i want to wire up the toggle switch and the lights so that when the switch is on the led is on and when the switch is off the light is off.

anyone have any idea's for me? i know it is probably fairly simple but i have never been told how to do it. i dont know a whole lot about electronics.

so if anyone can help me out i would really really appreciate it. thanks again guys.

 

This is a schematic for a switch to turn on an LED. This is if you use a 2 terminal switch or if you use only 2 of the terminals on the switch. This is also if you are using +12V through your switch(to turn something on).





((I borrowed the pic below from this website: Light Emitting Diodes -- Technical Notes))
If you have a normal style LED, This will help to explain how to connect it:

 

Here's an example if you don't use +12Volts as your source:
Say for your amp, you want it to be able to turn it off by a switch but you are using the remote wire to turn on your amp. So you want the remote wire switched but you don't want the remote wire to power anything else. Here is one way to do that:

Pretend the "source" in the pic is the remote wire coming from your cd player.

Add a relay to the circuit. The coil in the relay will energize when +12Volts is sent to it and ground is hooked up on the other end of the coil in the relay. When it energizes, it magnetically closes the switch inside of the relay.



Other examples where you could use this would be turning on/off a knock sensor, or manually turning on the tcc. Anything that you need a switch on but can't run a LED/resistor off of.

 

hey man thanks for the help. i wired up some horns in my car and i wired them very similar to that and i used a 20 amp, i think relay, will that be big enough for say my fans or tourqe converter also? and in those schematics it showed no inline fuses... will i be alright with out a fuse.

also in the second picture what does the wire #5 go to coming out of the relay?

 

#5 is part of the switch. It is whatever the source is when the relay isn't on. When the relay is on, the switch is open for #5(off).

Always fuse everything because electrical fires are bad. For the +12V, you could splice into the back of the fusebox and use one of the fuses there. Make sure you're on the side of the fuse after the fuse, so it is fused. Like the radio fuse or the power accessory fuse. Then you could choose whether you want 12Volts when the key is on or not. I wouldn't think you would draw that much electric current from those fuses/circuits. A LED or relay won't take too much power.

For the relay, they sell them at most auto stores. I think they are rated 20 or 30 amp. Either one should be fine.

 

hey thanks for the info i really appreciate it.

one more question. would if be easier if i just got three terminal switches? b/c i know where i can get some but i wasnt sure about them b/c ive never used them b4 but i would guess i just wire the switch like i would a regular switch and then wire the power to the third terminal and put the led and resister inline with the power? am i correct on that?

 

I dont think you'll need a 3 terminal switch. Could use them but only 2 of the terminals would be used. It only connects 2 terminals to each other at one time.

 

A horn draws around 5 Amps and the torque converter draws around 0.5 Amps.
A three terminal (changeover) switch can be used just as well but it doesn't make anyting easier, you'll just have to leave one terminal unconnected.
If by inline you mean in series; that would defeat any usefulness, or if you meant to avoid using ground; no it could only make the LED light when the switch is off.
The three terminal switches with a built-in lamp uses one of the terminals for ground.

 

ok thanks guys i really appreciate it.

 

alright guys i have one or two more questions. i just started looking for the switches and they have two different types of switches. SPST, DPDT, OR SPDT. what do those abbreviations stand for?

also i looked on parts express for the relays and they are out of stock. can i wire up the fuel pump and tourqe converter with just a switch and no relay? if so would i need a heavy duty switch or something?

 

SPST = Single Pole Single Throw = one switch with two terminals.
DPDT = Dual Pole Dual Throw = two switches with three terminals each.
SPDT = Single Pole Dual Throw = one switch with three terminals.
Torque converter = 0.5A = very light duty.
Fuel pump = 1-2A? = light duty.
Almost any switch will cope with these requirements, and you need only use the SPST.
If you connect the negative side of the torque converter to the switch, and the other side of the switch to the brake light circuit, the converter will release when you apply the brakes. But there are things to watch out for if you do this.

 

hey man thanks for the info i figured out what the abbreviations meant in my auto class today. i think im just going to hardwire the converter. my dad did it this way on his chevelle and it does just fine. i can simply switch it off when needed instead of wiring it through the brakes b/c i dont want to mess anything up. but thanks again for the info that really helps me out.

 

The reason production cars has the lockup wired through the brake switch is that if you slam the brakes locking the wheels you might stall the engine loosing the power steering which could make a difficult situation even harder.
But you'd need a diode in series with this connection in order to make sure current doesn't flow in the reverse direction under certain circumstances.

 

im bout to do this this weekend but i have another questions i have searched for awhile about the torque converter and from what i understand i can run power directly to the electrical plug in my 700r4 is this true? will it hurt the transmission with the power applied all the time?

also on the fuel pump if i remove my computer will the pump work or is it wired to the ignition? i would like to just make a manual switch for that too just to be safe but idk how soon i can pull out my computor and i need the fuel pump to work lol.
----------
firebat in that diagram the switch provides power to whatever i am trying to power on and the led and resistor are on the ground side. do they have to be on the ground side or can i put them just after the switch but b4 whatever it is i am trying to power then just run a regular ground after whatever i am trying to power?

 

I dont know about the 700r4 or the fuel pump.

Having a little hard time trying to follow what your saying. For the LED to work, it has to be wired up that way otherwise the LED and resistor will cause a voltage drop and you will have less than 12 volts or have a short.

"just after the switch but b4 whatever it is i am trying to power" - thats how its wired up right now in a sense, i think. To be more correct its wired right now as 'Whatever you are trying to power up and the led' together are right after the switch. Whatever you power up will have to have a ground too, it may already have one.

The LED and resistor can be swapped around though but the LED must have its cathode towards the ground side.

 

I think there's a diode across the solenoid in the tranny, so you'll need to give it the correct polarity or it'll fry. Apart from that it'll stand up to being activated continously. Same goes for the fuel pump I guess.
But you don't want to take power from a constant source anyway, take it via the ignition switch or you could find your battery flat one day if you forget to switch off one of them switches.. Check out a wiring diagram for your car to identify wire colors.
What is it about that diagram you are so desperately trying to simplify? It is as simple as it can get, you can't avoid the ground point for the LED, and you cannot put the LED in series with the load if that was what you were thinking about (the load wouldn't get enough juice, or the LED would fry)..

 

the diagram is not a problem i was asking if i could run them like you said in series to cut done on some wires and simplify wiring it. im new to led's and just started going over wiring in general so sorry about the questions but i appreciate the help. thanks alot guys.

but what your saying about the diode across the solenoid in the tranny? i guess what i should be asking is how i can wire up the tranny so that i can flip the switch and the torque converter lockup? i was goign to just run a wire from the battery to the connector and then ground it also but from what you just said if i do that i will mess up the solenoid.

 

Well, I'm sorry but if the wiring could have been simplified, it would have been done to begin with. The LED is a low current device, and it has a voltage drop. There actually is a way to wire the LED in series but it involves more parts (are you ready for that?), heat, and introduces a couple of Volts loss to the load, which would be undesirable in most instances.
As for the tranny, you just make sure to hook the (purple?) wire that was originally connected to the brake switch, to ignition (pink/black?) and not to battery, as this would risk draining the battery if the switch was accidentally left on.. (Or if you already have a dual brake switch with those color wires on then just leave it connected as it is.) Then ground the other wire (tan/black?) via a switch. Notice that you'll have to wire the LED between (pink/black?) or (purple?) and (tan/black?) in order to make it light in this kind of connection (ground side switching).. If you connect the (tan/black?) wire to the (dark green/white?) wire from the tranny instead, you'll get automatic lockup in 4'th gear.