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Defender ignition switched power supply

lozzd

lozzd

Trekker
Hey,

I need an ignition switched power supply in my 1989 90 (So it's not a Defender, but close!)

This will only be used for
1) Lighting up 5 LEDs in my new switches
2) Triggering a relay
3) Voltmeter reading

So it's not high current stuff. What can I tap off of? Either in the fuse box or the dash, I'm not fussed.

Thanks
Laurie
 
Whats the relay for? Any if you only want the switches to come on with the lights then there are spare connections for that. Where are the switches going?:D
Not sure about a voltmeter, but I think you have to wire that directly over the +ve and -ve of the battery for a reading.

Cheers, Ben
 
Hey..

Okay, so I need the 12v for a switch which triggers a kenlowe fan.. And kenlowe says it has to be ignition switched, so you know... :)
I know I *could* use the light circuit to turn the lights on on my switches, but I'd prefer to have them on all the time the engine/ignition is.. They're pretty ;)

I thought the voltmetre could be taken from anyway.. Because the battery voltage is going to be the same anywhere, right? Or am I being really dense? :D

Thanks!
 
Nothing 'HAS' to be ignition switched, it just helps if your a bit forgetful about turning things off:D But you'd hear a fan. You gonna have it on a temperature sensor or just manually on/off?
Where are your pretty switches gonna be? Would help to know to see what power there is around that area:p
I guess your right about the voltage going everywhere, but it would only tell you the voltage thats going down that wire, and not in the battery:D

Cheers, Ben
 
True, cos of resistance.. Okay, might just run a wire from the battery then. I've got enough of it :eek: spent £100 at Vehicle wiring products! Oops.

Anywho, the kenlowe instructions say, either ignition switched or in the bottom hose.. Why?! I was assuming because the warm water might rise, switching on the fan and draining the battery when the engine is off? Still, the idea is, I have a nice three way switch which will allow me to do Perm off, perm on, or temp controlled. SO if the switch's (and therefore the relays) 12v is from an ignition switched supply, voila!

The other use is literally just to light up the "symbol" leds in the switches, which are going in my new Mud Dash.

Now that I think about it, if there is an ignition switched source with 5-10 amps spare I could do with wiring up the CD player properly with the two seperate power supplies. So, wheres the nearest one of them? :D
 
lozzd said:
True, cos of resistance.. Okay, might just run a wire from the battery then. I've got enough of it :eek: spent £100 at Vehicle wiring products! Oops.

Anywho, the kenlowe instructions say, either ignition switched or in the bottom hose.. Why?! I was assuming because the warm water might rise, switching on the fan and draining the battery when the engine is off? Still, the idea is, I have a nice three way switch which will allow me to do Perm off, perm on, or temp controlled. SO if the switch's (and therefore the relays) 12v is from an ignition switched supply, voila!

The other use is literally just to light up the "symbol" leds in the switches, which are going in my new Mud Dash.

Now that I think about it, if there is an ignition switched source with 5-10 amps spare I could do with wiring up the CD player properly with the two seperate power supplies. So, wheres the nearest one of them? :D
Click to expand...

Not sure about 90's but the cigarette lighter socket in my disco1 is ignition switched as is the radio.
 
I find it alot easier wiring stuff from the battery though anyway, dont have to mess about with finding wires!
Would make sence what you said about the fan, would thought it was unlikely for the hot water to go all around the engine and rise to the higest point but hey, its a landy, anything can happen! Wiring it of the ignotion switch would be easiest in my view. You wanna wire it into the white wire in the ignition switch (I'm pretty sure), which would allow it on only when the ignition is on. Run that wire to a relay, then the relay to the swtich, switch to fan and fan to earth. Get power for the relay straight off the battery and put a fuse in in the battery compartment, you can get inline blade fuse holders. Earth the realy and then a wire from the sensor to the switch, that should be it.
Theres a whole heap of spare wires behind the fag lighter/ window wiper panel. I think there might be a few live ones, most are for gauges to illuminate them for when the lights are on. Have a fiddle with a leccy tester to see whats live permantly. If you find one it would be fine for the cd player. If not just run a feed from the battery, thats what I did on mine, and I know I've got 10ish amps spare on that feed too if I need it.
As for lighting up the switches all the time, run a feed off the ignition white wire that your breaking into for the fan and run it to the switches, that should illuminate them permantly when the ignitions on.

Cheers, Ben
 
Brilliant, white wire behind the ignition. Hopefully that won't be too hard to find! Do you know how many amps there are on that wire? I ask because the radio has two inputs; one permanent live, and one ignition. Currently, they're both wired in permeantly, but I would prefer to set it up correctly as this means the radio turns off (and on again) with the ignition.

Thanks for your help
 
lozzd said:
Brilliant, white wire behind the ignition. Hopefully that won't be too hard to find! Do you know how many amps there are on that wire? I ask because the radio has two inputs; one permanent live, and one ignition. Currently, they're both wired in permeantly, but I would prefer to set it up correctly as this means the radio turns off (and on again) with the ignition.

Thanks for your help
Click to expand...

As long as your not running an amp + cd changer you'll be fine.
 
Run a wire direct from your battery through a relay to the radio.

Use a feed off this white wire to switch the relay. That way you won't be adding much load to the ignition circuit and your radio will get it's supply from the battery.

The best of both worlds.

My two cents worth would be that the thick white wire in question runs up from the fuse box and is easily visible under the dashboard tray.
 
There is know need to come off the battery for the small amount of power your going to be using, the white wire will be plenty good enough. But if you want to come off the battery DON'T put a fuse in the battery compartment, if the fuse blow's it could ignite the gases given off when charging.
 
G7TZZ said:
There is know need to come off the battery for the small amount of power your going to be using, the white wire will be plenty good enough.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry but I don't agree with your advice. Assuming we are talking about the same wire: That white wire isn't there for our entertainment. Land Rover use it for their own purposes. It already carries a large load - hence the extra thickness. I wouldn't put anything more than feeds for a relay or two onto it. Electrical fires aren't fun, but even worse than the fire is the cleanup afterwoods.

G7TZZ said:
But if you want to come off the battery DON'T put a fuse in the battery compartment, if the fuse blow's it could ignite the gases given off when charging.
Click to expand...

This is very good advice.

If i can add something else to this. Get one of those nice VWP fuse boxes and locate it on the front bulkhead someplace (Possibly that spot where the old Series II's had their little two fuse fuse box). Run 2 x 4.5mm red wires from the battery to the fuse box. One wire terminates at the top and one at the bottom of the fuse box (redundancy). Then either use the supplied brass ferules or some welding wire to make one side of the fuse box "live". What you've now done is given yourself a nice power distribution point that you can drive items from without hassle.

You can then use one fused circuit to run one 2.5mm wire to be switched through a relay (use the infamous white wire to do the switching). If you use a 30A relay you will have enough juice for your LEDs, your voltmeter, your radio and then some. Use a second fused circuit for the radio "battery" and use the third one for the relay for the Kenlowe. Again switching it with the white wire from the ignition.

You'll have five spares fused circuits. The thick input wires mean you will be able to run spotlights or worklights off the circuits if you want to.
 
Oh man I wish you'd told me that before I bought all this stuff from vehicle wiring products. I never knew about the whole fuse in the battery compartment thing! I've even blown fuses which are in the battery compartment before! :(

Anyway luck would have it i bought a spare relay, so that's perfect, i can switch it using the nice white wire. Just have to try and find it now..

Thanks for all your advice.
 
Wouldn't worry about it, I've got 3 20A fuses in the battery compartment powering 200W of spots a piece! If you didnt wanna do that then you can just wire the fuse inline somewhere else other than the battery compartment:)
Is your truck a Tdi conversion or a propper Tdi? I seem to remember reading somewhere that it was originally a TD, but I might of made that up:D

Cheers, Ben
 
lozzd said:
Oh man I wish you'd told me that before I bought all this stuff from vehicle wiring products. I never knew about the whole fuse in the battery compartment thing! I've even blown fuses which are in the battery compartment before! :(

Anyway luck would have it i bought a spare relay, so that's perfect, i can switch it using the nice white wire. Just have to try and find it now..

Thanks for all your advice.
Click to expand...

Your battery compartment would have to be pretty air tight for enough gas to build up to the point where it became a fire hazard.
 
Airtight?! Hahaha. Okay I won't worry about that then! :)

Ben, yes its a TD conversion, hence its not technically a Defender but
a) It's the year they changed and
b) its now got the 200TDi in
So i pretend it is sometimes ;)

Just finished dremel'ing my new Mud console dash to pieces, brilliant fun. Never used a Dremel before, they certainly are dangerous! I only ruined 3 cutting disks :D
 
lozzd said:
Airtight?! Hahaha. Okay I won't worry about that then! :)

Ben, yes its a TD conversion, hence its not technically a Defender but
a) It's the year they changed and
b) its now got the 200TDi in
So i pretend it is sometimes ;)

Just finished dremel'ing my new Mud console dash to pieces, brilliant fun. Never used a Dremel before, they certainly are dangerous! I only ruined 3 cutting disks :D
Click to expand...

Try to keep the speed down if possible and it's better to clamp the dremel and manouver the work piece round the cutter as opposed to trying to hold the dremel while cutting. Or if you can control the depth of cut on the dremmel. Scribe round the area you want to cut first the then cut deeper in stages. (rather like you would with a router) less chance of breaking the cutting bit. that way
 
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