Solenoid current draw?

How much current do the NX fuel and nitrous solenoids draw? The reason I am asking is I had a 20 amp fuse going to the relay for the solenoids and after activating them 1 time the fuse blew. I don't just want to stuff bigger fuses in there without knowing. I was hoping someone could tell me so I don't have to pull the nozzle out while I do a current test.

Anybody know?

From the book "How to Install and Use Nitrous Oxide" by Joe Pettit:

The nitrous solenoids are the most current hungry devices in a basic nitrous system. For example, the Cheater and Pro Shot nitrous solenoids pull 12 and 16 amps each; the Power Shot and Super Power Shot pull about 4 and 5 amps each. The fuel solenoids demand far less, somewhere on the order of one to 1.5 amps each, because they don't have to overcome the high pressures of the nitrous line.

Let me know if you want to borrow that book sometime. It has some good info, and even includes an LT1 camaro specific install.

I know this may be a dumb question, but have you double checked all the relay connections? Accidentally switching a ground and load connection on the relay would pop a fuse pretty quick :)

i put a 30 amp fuse inline with my kit, and everythings well so far...

Originally posted by asianice25
i put a 30 amp fuse inline with my kit, and everythings well so far...

Thanks, that is what I was looking for.

Timberpup, I will double check my wiring tonight when I get home.

id run both nitrous and the fuel selenoids off the same 40 amp relay, and put a 30 amp fuse inline with that. that way, if the fuse/relay goes out, you wont have anything still working. this is the way i set mine up, but you can do whatever you want. i just would make sure you dont use seperate relays/fuses for each selenoid...you dont want the nitrous selenoid open when you blew a fuse on the fuel.

That's the way that I have it wired right now is both solenoids through one relay and a fuse feeding the relay. I just had a 20 amp fuse in there and that blew, so I wasn't sure how big of a fuse to put in there. I was getting ready to put my DVM in line and activate the solenoids and see what is the current draw.

i know it's better to have a fuse, but does the actual nitrous install sheet for the kit say to use a fuse?? just curious, i'm pretty sure mine said to wire up the relay directly to the battery....... I'm just wondering if i'm correct.

BTW, it's better to have a fuse whatever they say anyway........

My instruction sheet says to wire it directly to the battery, but I always like to use fuses.

Originally posted by asianice25
id run both nitrous and the fuel selenoids off the same 40 amp relay, and put a 30 amp fuse inline with that. that way, if the fuse/relay goes out, you wont have anything still working. this is the way i set mine up, but you can do whatever you want. i just would make sure you dont use seperate relays/fuses for each selenoid...you dont want the nitrous selenoid open when you blew a fuse on the fuel.

I was planning on running mine on seperate relays, but you make a good point. :scratcheshead:

Time to rethink a bit... Basically I wanted to lessen the current draw through a single relay. Both mine are 30 amp relays. What about using the fuel relay as the trigger (switched input) for the N2O relay? There would be minimal added draw to the fuel relay which has plenty of room to spare anyway, and if the juice to the fuel relay shut down, the spray couldn't happen...

Mine are run off a single relay and fuse as well. I think I tried a 20-amp fuse and it blew. 30-amp has been working fine.

Why would you run a fuse in line with a relay? The relay acts like a fuse and will blow if the draw is over the rated amperage of the relay. Running a fuse in line with a relay is redundant.

BTW - NX shipps a 30 Amp relay with their kits so I would not use anything less than that. No big suprise that your 20A fuse blew.

Relays don't blow like fuses, the contacts melt or weld together when they are overloaded. This could potentially cause your solenoids to always be on if the contacts welded closed. That's why you want a fuse, more or less for a safety measure.

Maybe thats the way things are supposed to work, but i just had a melt down. I took my car in to have some neons put on, and i went to pick it up that night. The guys couldnt even pull it out of the garage before huge clouds of white smoke started pouring out of my hood. it was minutes away from starting a car fire. one of the wire i ran for the nitrous was red hot. I had to pull every wire i ran out of the aux battery post. it cut the hell out of my hand and melted all my wires together. paint was actually burnt off the sstrut tower. and one of my relay that was "supposed" to blow didnt and the wires were still live. theres no point in taking chances with something like that. what if i wasnt there? the car might be gone. id rather have the peace of mind knowing that i have fuses in there as redundant as it may be. i think a couple 4 dollar fuses is better than the pain of trying to claim a total lose. agree? do whatever you want though. and i know what im doing with wiring pretty much anything. and those guys blamed it on me...and i just spent about 100 bucks on crap that i had already bought, not to mention the lost time! And time is money!

And dont ask why my fuses didnt blow before because i dont know. those guys at Buzz-Off auto in troy really messed up my car and did nothing to fix it. They just went home. thats great and all, but thats the last itme i go there. he drilled a hole in my firewall and left it bare metal with a wire through it. he said he did that all the time. talk about some ghetto A$$ $hit. i hate stupid ignorant people. i shouldve kicked his A$$!!!

Scott

As Grover said, relays and fuses serve two very different functions. It's NEVER a good idea to run power directly to a relay without a fuse. When I was installing my kit, I called John Stewart (RIP) @ The Nitrous Warehouse and he gave me some recommended ratings. I don't have them handy, but I remember the solenoid one was 25 or 30 Amps. Another thing is DON'T separate the N20 and fuel solenoids...if one fuse/relay fails, you don't want the other to be able to activate.

Is there a max distance the relay should be away from the solenoid? Also, does the purge solenoid need a relay since it is very short duty-cycle?

Also what about my question on using the fuel relay as a switch for the n2o relay? This way both are on relays lessening the total current draw on just one, and yet the juice can't fire without the fuel relay operating. I would still have the FPSS after the fuel relay and before the solenoid as a second fail safe, and the window and WOT switches before EVERYTHING...

This is exactly what i did. I have one 40amp relay running both fuel and nitrous selenoids with a 30 amp fuse on the power. Then a 15 amp fuse on another 40 amp relay for the purge. The ignition fo rthe radio is running another 30 amp relay in the car that has a 20 amp fuse on it. this 30 amp relay i run to a 15 amp fuse that goes to 2 gauges, my radar, and from the fuse to my mast arm switch. the master goes to the purge switch and to my switch on my hurst t-handle. and then the purge switch goes straight to the purge relay under the hood. and the t-handle switch goes to the FP safety switch to the fuel/nit relay. confusing, but it seems to work like a charm.

the fuses should be as close to the battery as possible. you want to catch the short asap so it doesnt melt down. like what somehow happened to me. I just put two fire extinguishers in my car too. just to be safe. you never know. i saw a g-body burn to the ground last year at the cruise, and it wasnt that bad at first. he had to watch his car burn to a crisp...total lose. there was nothing left at all. maybe the wheels...

i wonder why NX doesn't specify for a fuse to be run from the relay then??? Seems like a common sense thing. Well, maybe thats the same reason they don't specify to use a window switch either...........................

Originally posted by Timberwolf
Is there a max distance the relay should be away from the solenoid? Also, does the purge solenoid need a relay since it is very short duty-cycle?

Also what about my question on using the fuel relay as a switch for the n2o relay? This way both are on relays lessening the total current draw on just one, and yet the juice can't fire without the fuel relay operating. I would still have the FPSS after the fuel relay and before the solenoid as a second fail safe, and the window and WOT switches before EVERYTHING...

No there is no max distance that the relay can be away from the solenoids. But asianice25 is correct that the fuse should be as close to the battery as possible.

You could use 2 relays, but it would be simplier wiring wise to just have 1 relay with both the nitrous and fuel solenoids off of that. And use your window and WOT switches to switch the 12V and the FPSS to switch the ground to the relay.

I wan't planning on using a relay for the purge. I was going test the current draw on the purge solenoid and run it off of a fused switch. Looking at the size of that solenoid compared to the others, I don't think it's going to draw much current. I will find out and let you know.

You don't absolutely have to, but you SHOULD use a fuse and relay for the purge solenoid as well. My experience is that they can draw up to 3A, and depending on what type of manual switch you use to activate it, that may not be enough. Lots of the Radio Shack type switches are only rated around 2A. In any case, what I've found is that people tend to tap the button quickly and that can cause large current spikes as the coils field collapses. Even better would be to put a diode across the leads like most relays have. I've got a 7A fuse on mine. If I tapped it quickly numerous times it would occassionally blow the 5A that NX originally recommended.

Originally posted by BlownF1
You don't absolutely have to, but you SHOULD use a fuse and relay for the purge solenoid as well. My experience is that they can draw up to 3A, and depending on what type of manual switch you use to activate it, that may not be enough. Lots of the Radio Shack type switches are only rated around 2A. In any case, what I've found is that people tend to tap the button quickly and that can cause large current spikes as the coils field collapses. Even better would be to put a diode across the leads like most relays have. I've got a 7A fuse on mine. If I tapped it quickly numerous times it would occassionally blow the 5A that NX originally recommended.

I have the pushbutton that comes with the NOS purge kit...

Originally posted by Timberwolf
I have the pushbutton that comes with the NOS purge kit...

I'd hope that it's properly rated then...but couldn't tell ya, don't have an experience with NOS stuff. Even so, over time I wouldn't rely on it without a relay. Relays and fuses are cheap insurance and easy to install for a nice robust installation.

Originally posted by asianice25
Maybe thats the way things are supposed to work, but i just had a melt down. I took my car in to have some neons put on, and i went to pick it up that night. The guys couldnt even pull it out of the garage before huge clouds of white smoke started pouring out of my hood. it was minutes away from starting a car fire. one of the wire i ran for the nitrous was red hot. I had to pull every wire i ran out of the aux battery post. it cut the hell out of my hand and melted all my wires together. paint was actually burnt off the sstrut tower. and one of my relay that was "supposed" to blow didnt and the wires were still live.
Fuses are put into a circuit for the purpose of protecting the WIRING not the device. If the device goes bad a fuse will not help it. The best thing to do is to fuse each solenoid separately(according to how much current it draws)(Keep in mind that it takes a lot more current to pull in a solenoid than it does to keep it pulled in too). And try to set up your system so that if you loose fuel pressure the nitrous relay will not energize. And if the nitrous solenoid takes a dump on you, the car will just run RICH. This will be an indicator that you have a problem on the nitrous side .
Keep it Safe!
Skip

Originally posted by asianice25
This is exactly what i did. I have one 40amp relay running both fuel and nitrous selenoids with a 30 amp fuse on the power. Then a 15 amp fuse on another 40 amp relay for the purge. The ignition fo rthe radio is running another 30 amp relay in the car that has a 20 amp fuse on it. this 30 amp relay i run to a 15 amp fuse that goes to 2 gauges, my radar, and from the fuse to my mast arm switch. the master goes to the purge switch and to my switch on my hurst t-handle. and then the purge switch goes straight to the purge relay under the hood. and the t-handle switch goes to the FP safety switch to the fuel/nit relay. confusing, but it seems to work like a charm.

Explain something to me please. At 10:54 you said your wiring burned up because the fuses didn't blow. Now you state it works like a charm:confused: :confused:
Skip

well i wired my nitrous 3 different times. I had to take it out once becauyse i had to take it into the dealership. then i put it back in and it worked fine for a year until i took it into this shop by my house for some neons. There, in their own garage it melted down for some odd reason. I think those guys messed with my wiring and fudged it all to hell. and then i just re-wired it like a week ago and it works fine...like acharm. so, im just not going to take my car in anywhere for any type of electrical work. if you want something done right...youve gotta do it yourself.