So why not use a fuse?

 

I'll give you the short version of how a relay works.

Basically, a relay is a plastic box, with four spades for connections. Inside the relay is an electromagnet. A relay has two independant circuits, which protects your wires from being melted.

The first circuit is your power. This could come from you flicking on a switch to close a circuit. The power flows into the first circuit, closing the circuit, and activating the electromagnet. By activating the electromagnet, it attracts the other circuit to close. This second circuit is for what you are trying to power, along with it's power source.

In short, you can keep all your stock wiring, and when you turn on your lights, the power wire that originally told your lights to turn on activates the relay instead. The relay in turn activates the lights (which require more power than your stock wires, remember?) directly from a power source.

You could really think of a relay as a remote switch, which is exactly what it is. If you didn't understand that (it is 1am here, so...), I'll post my wiring diagram tomorrow.


In short, your stock wiring can only hold so much power before they fail. You can't put a fuse on it because the fuse would burn out everytime. So, the lights are now powered directly from the battery (that line, however, is fused for safety), and the switch that turns them on is the relay (by way of your lights switch).

Get it?

 

TTT for Larnach, in case he didn't see.

 

TByrne sells HID upgrades for all 4th gen f-cars. However be prepared to pay the price.

Has anyone installed a set of these?

 

Hey I appreciate it a lot man, just got home from work so I couldn't reply sooner.

Thanks again.

 

So you understood my 2am ramblings?