I am trying to follow these directions to hook up 2 LED lights -

"I did it by running wires from either side of the pump to a second relay. The relay has to have a normally closed contact. I connected the normally closed contact to a red LED, and the normally open contact to a green LED. The power for the LEDs comes from the radio fuse. The relay switches the ground for the two. This way, when the pump is on, there is power to the warning relay, making the green light come on. Conversely, when there is no power at the pump, the relay stays closed, and the red light comes on. I could also put in a flasher or buzzer."

I went to Radio Shack and Auto Zone and picked up the following items:
red LED
green LED
15A inline fuse
2x Pilot power relays
wiring, tape ,etc...

The guide above mentions that for the lights a relay w/ a normally closed circuit is needed. The one I got for the lights is an ordinary relay like to power the WP, do I need something special or is it all in how it's wired?
When I wire up the relay for the lights, do I need something to reduce the power going to the lights? The lights have a real thin wire and I don't want to fry them. Do I need a diode or resistor? If so where does it go and what exactly do I need? The people at Radio Shack and Auto Zone actually know less about this than I do, if you can believe it.

Any help or tips would be VERY helpful. I am only really confused on how to wire the relay for the lights.

TIA

 

I'm not sure where you got that guides, but try looking over this guide and see if that clears stuff up. It's very complete.

http://ken.lowrance.com/Projects/CSI...mp/Default.htm

It sounds like your trying to get a little too fancy with multiple lights. They aren't really going to give you any more information than a single light would. If you want a higher level of protection you have to switch to a current sensing indicator light instead of just a voltage sensing one. If your motor burns out and creates an open circut it will still have voltage and your indicator light will be falsely on. If it burns out and shorts it should blow the fuse which would kill your light(ok). A current sensing indicator can be done using a transistor circut and would only indicate an OK condition if the motor is drawing the right amount of amperage.

You can email me if your interested in doing it that way but since I haven't actually wired mine up yet i don't want to be passing around flawed information. I'm getting new front tires on tuesday and then probably starting on my cam/csi install.

And yes you should probably have a resistor inline with the diodes. What are the diodes rated at?

 

maybe THIS thread will help out some.

 

Thanks. I am still in need of exact info on what parts to buy and how to hook it up. I know next to nothing about resistors or diodes. This is going to be a PITA.

 

As soon as you get more info on this current sensing circuit, please post a diagram if you could. I am very interested in how this works.

 

I am the one who did this wiring setup. It's not overkill. If you want a red light that comes on when power fails, you'd do it the same way. All you need is the right parts. I have a diagram that I scanned, but it's at work. If anyone wants it, please e-mail to llafro@yahoo.com. I will send it as an attachment on Monday.

BRAD

 

Your right, it's not overkill. But with two lights you still only have two conditions. GO light and NO light, same as light ON, light OFF. You didn't actually provide any additional information to the user, just made it slightly more visible or attention getting.

I have the transistor circut figured out at work so i'm not gonna try to redo it tonight after a couple beers. Tomorrow i should have a chance if i go in a little early.

 

HeadFL, you've got mail.

Whoops, i can't upload any pics to my site from work. DOH! I do have a schematic that I can email if anyone else is interested.

 

I think the email that I have registered with the site is one I can't access at work either, doh!

Shoot me a mail at binnsr@mail.palmbeach.k12.fl.us thats my work address Thanks man.