does anyone know where to get a bosch 30amp ISO relay to do the headlight relay? and can i get the self resetting circuit breaker from any RV place. i have 2 near me.

 

Buy the relays online here: http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=330-073

Or you can buy them like I did at Napa for $13 each

 

You can get Bosch Relays at most any Heavy Truck Parts, Truck Stops that have parts and also Most Stereo Shops that install Alarms.

Also any of the relays that you find with Bosch on them are what was remaining in their stock, Bosch was acquired by Tyco a few years back so a Bosch Relay is now a Tyco Relay, the quality is the same.

What you do not want to use are the Generic looking relays you can get carded at most Auto Parts and Wally World because they are grossly inferior, you do not want your headlights to fail while driving at night on some winding mountain road.

I would recommend using only Bosch, Tyco, and Potter Brumfield relays on your truck.

Another good source for Bosch relays is to go to the junkyard and pull all of the ISO relays from German, European and Scandinavian cars because they are loaded with them.

Look for VW, Volvo, and Saab; also most of the Asian cars will have a good substitute. But if you use these please check and verify the pinout because there are some variations.

Also while you are there get the distribution panels they mount into so you can make yourself a clean setup.

Be aware that if you get an unknown relay that some will have a Quench Diode across the coil so you need to observe the polarity, reversed will cause a dead short.

An easy to check is to test them using a headlamp bulb in series when you test the coil, if it is backwards, no problems because the light will simply light up instead of blowing out the diode.

I hope I have not totally confused you.
Jim

http://catalog.tycoelectronics.com/c...76,16354,22827

 

jim theres 230 different kind of relays on tycos website what exact one do i want?

 

and where can i get the self resetting circuit breaker?

 

You can get all that stuff at advance or autozone... don't have to be bosch... I used "whatever" at advance, and still going.

 

Sorry to confuse you, the Tyco website was just to show you how they took over the Bosch line.

I get most of my relays from BPS Truck Parts and he brings out a box and I can pick through them and take either Bosch or Tyco, the only real difference I can see are the markings on the case, I haven’t burned one out yet so I could open it up yet to check out the insides.

This is what the inside of each relay looks like, the Bosch is on the Left side while the generic is on the Right.

I had found these at Wal Mart a while back in the Automotive section and they were on sale for $1.00 each they were carded and had the brand name Blazer on them.
I had used these on my headlight system when I was first experimenting with them.

If you look closely at the plastic base you can see it is melted from excess heat from the contacts, it had gotten so hot that the armature came in contact with both the Normally OPEN & Normally CLOSED contacts at the same time meaning the lights were stuck on.
Luckily it was the lights and all I had to do was to pull the breaker but imagine if it would have been on my Starter and I could not stop it from cranking?



Like I said before, I got mine at a truck parts where I also bought the mating Heavy Duty socket where compared to the ones they usually sell, on mine the Term#30,87 &87a are a 10-gauge wire instead of a 16-gauge.

I paid around $5.00 for the relay and about the same for the socket.

Also self-resetting circuit breakers to can get at Truck Parts, Napa or an RV parts store.

They also have racks that you can mount on your fender and the breakers snap into them for a neat package.

You can also get these at Napa. Under the Echlin name.

You want to use a circuit breaker over a Fuse on your headlights because if you have an overload you will not loose all of your lights at night when you need them most, it will cycle intermittently until you can repair the problem but do not over fuse them, add up your total current and use the next higher breaker and make sure your wiring can handle the current.

I have 4 relays on my headlights, one for each filament and 2 breakers, one for the High and one for the Low so I should always have lights.

Jim

 

I got a pack of 10 relays on ebay. They're kind of cool, because the pigtails the relays plug into have little tabs on the side so you can join 2 or more together. I mounted 4 by the battery (2 for headlights, 2 for driving lights and a spare) and 5 in the bed for my rollbar lights.

I got the 30 amp circuit breakers at Kragen.