Perimeter lighting - Video Demo
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,578
Likes: 8
From: Charleston SC
Well, guys, I talked to another company at work (work as a defense contractor) and they recommended a local company to produce these for us. This company has worked on this for several hours to find a solution, his comments are below:
I would propose just one double pole breaker. The breakers are rated for 30A and you are fused at 15A. Between the double poles and the diodes, your circuits are very well isolated.
I have selected the lowest cost approach to the diodes, two high current Power supply diodes. They can each survive a short circuit long enough for the 15A fuse to blow and can each supply 15A continuous. The axial 6A diodes you used would blow long before the 15A automotive fuse.
The two fuse blocks use standard blade automotive fuses. The relay is a standard automotive form-C relay.
All are sealed automotive packages and the diodes will be sealed with two layers of glued heat shrink.
The assembly can happily survive exposure to the elements for many years.
The components will be mounted on a ~7 inch long aluminum plate.
His product is almost Mil-Spec; it will look professional, and be much more weather resistant than anything we can build ourselves. It would be VERY nice to be able to mount his unit under the hood, and save long wiring runs to the interior where I have mine mounted.
Mounting it under the hood, you would just tap into the battery B+, one of the many ground lugs by the battery, and fog light & reverse harness. The only wire to penetrate the firewall would be the Bed cargo light on the A pillar.
His product will be ~$125 plus shipping, and a minimum order of 10 is required, so I would have to pony up $1250 to get this ball rolling.
Do I have enough interest to do this?
I would propose just one double pole breaker. The breakers are rated for 30A and you are fused at 15A. Between the double poles and the diodes, your circuits are very well isolated.
I have selected the lowest cost approach to the diodes, two high current Power supply diodes. They can each survive a short circuit long enough for the 15A fuse to blow and can each supply 15A continuous. The axial 6A diodes you used would blow long before the 15A automotive fuse.
The two fuse blocks use standard blade automotive fuses. The relay is a standard automotive form-C relay.
All are sealed automotive packages and the diodes will be sealed with two layers of glued heat shrink.
The assembly can happily survive exposure to the elements for many years.
The components will be mounted on a ~7 inch long aluminum plate.
His product is almost Mil-Spec; it will look professional, and be much more weather resistant than anything we can build ourselves. It would be VERY nice to be able to mount his unit under the hood, and save long wiring runs to the interior where I have mine mounted.
Mounting it under the hood, you would just tap into the battery B+, one of the many ground lugs by the battery, and fog light & reverse harness. The only wire to penetrate the firewall would be the Bed cargo light on the A pillar.
His product will be ~$125 plus shipping, and a minimum order of 10 is required, so I would have to pony up $1250 to get this ball rolling.
Do I have enough interest to do this?
Registered User
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 6,259
Likes: 1
From: Utah
Well, guys, I talked to another company at work (work as a defense contractor) and they recommended a local company to produce these for us. This company has worked on this for several hours to find a solution, his comments are below:
I would propose just one double pole breaker. The breakers are rated for 30A and you are fused at 15A. Between the double poles and the diodes, your circuits are very well isolated.
I have selected the lowest cost approach to the diodes, two high current Power supply diodes. They can each survive a short circuit long enough for the 15A fuse to blow and can each supply 15A continuous. The axial 6A diodes you used would blow long before the 15A automotive fuse.
The two fuse blocks use standard blade automotive fuses. The relay is a standard automotive form-C relay.
All are sealed automotive packages and the diodes will be sealed with two layers of glued heat shrink.
The assembly can happily survive exposure to the elements for many years.
The components will be mounted on a ~7 inch long aluminum plate.
His product is almost Mil-Spec; it will look professional, and be much more weather resistant than anything we can build ourselves. It would be VERY nice to be able to mount his unit under the hood, and save long wiring runs to the interior where I have mine mounted.
Mounting it under the hood, you would just tap into the battery B+, one of the many ground lugs by the battery, and fog light & reverse harness. The only wire to penetrate the firewall would be the Bed cargo light on the A pillar.
His product will be ~$125 plus shipping, and a minimum order of 10 is required, so I would have to pony up $1250 to get this ball rolling.
Do I have enough interest to do this?
I would propose just one double pole breaker. The breakers are rated for 30A and you are fused at 15A. Between the double poles and the diodes, your circuits are very well isolated.
I have selected the lowest cost approach to the diodes, two high current Power supply diodes. They can each survive a short circuit long enough for the 15A fuse to blow and can each supply 15A continuous. The axial 6A diodes you used would blow long before the 15A automotive fuse.
The two fuse blocks use standard blade automotive fuses. The relay is a standard automotive form-C relay.
All are sealed automotive packages and the diodes will be sealed with two layers of glued heat shrink.
The assembly can happily survive exposure to the elements for many years.
The components will be mounted on a ~7 inch long aluminum plate.
His product is almost Mil-Spec; it will look professional, and be much more weather resistant than anything we can build ourselves. It would be VERY nice to be able to mount his unit under the hood, and save long wiring runs to the interior where I have mine mounted.
Mounting it under the hood, you would just tap into the battery B+, one of the many ground lugs by the battery, and fog light & reverse harness. The only wire to penetrate the firewall would be the Bed cargo light on the A pillar.
His product will be ~$125 plus shipping, and a minimum order of 10 is required, so I would have to pony up $1250 to get this ball rolling.
Do I have enough interest to do this?
I would rather have a "how to" on how to build it myself.....
I'm sure the pre built unit's are nice but $35 in parts to $125+S=
It's still a really cool idea tho.
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,578
Likes: 8
From: Charleston SC
53 - agreed, it is a jump. the weather tightness of the assembly is greatly improved, and the parts are better quality than what we can buy at Radio Shack.
had a few guys PM me that were interested, go ahead and post your thoughts up here.
I sent the manufacturer of the board a link to this thread, he has been excellent in working with me and building it to fully isolate and protect the circuits (the fog and cargo lights are Logic controlled - back feeding those could be a big problem)
he found the special diodes needed to flow enough current to operate the fog lights, and never burn up. he said the Radio Shack diodes would fry before the fuse, and then your board would be bad, his board will last the life of the truck, no worries.
it is an AWESOME mod, i use it to:
--un hook trailer
--illuminate yard at nite when dogs bark
--shine across church yard while trying to unlock door to class room.
--light up dark parking lots
--run this while idling - looks like "remote start" that you can't drive away.
--stopped & talked to kids walking last nite, was nice to have lite behind truck, where they were.
had a few guys PM me that were interested, go ahead and post your thoughts up here.
I sent the manufacturer of the board a link to this thread, he has been excellent in working with me and building it to fully isolate and protect the circuits (the fog and cargo lights are Logic controlled - back feeding those could be a big problem)
he found the special diodes needed to flow enough current to operate the fog lights, and never burn up. he said the Radio Shack diodes would fry before the fuse, and then your board would be bad, his board will last the life of the truck, no worries.
it is an AWESOME mod, i use it to:
--un hook trailer
--illuminate yard at nite when dogs bark
--shine across church yard while trying to unlock door to class room.
--light up dark parking lots
--run this while idling - looks like "remote start" that you can't drive away.
--stopped & talked to kids walking last nite, was nice to have lite behind truck, where they were.
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,578
Likes: 8
From: Charleston SC
well, i never heard back from the $125 fellow. I offered to pay him for his time, but he never said boo
i am going to buy some parts, and build the kits, and will send the kits, along with pics and PDF's of truck wiring, and you guys can install it.
i see these guys possibly wanting one:
Luvn
NoChrome
Fisher
SubSpeed
TxMeds
so I will do 10 (or 12, depends on where quantity is for price break) and see how it pans out.
gimme week or 2 to order parts, get them in, and make the kits.
i am going to buy some parts, and build the kits, and will send the kits, along with pics and PDF's of truck wiring, and you guys can install it.
i see these guys possibly wanting one:
Luvn
NoChrome
Fisher
SubSpeed
TxMeds
so I will do 10 (or 12, depends on where quantity is for price break) and see how it pans out.
gimme week or 2 to order parts, get them in, and make the kits.
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,578
Likes: 8
From: Charleston SC
*****, i Got you!!
went and bought majority of parts today....very $$ to buy parts for a dozen at a time
i have everything except the diodes.
the diodes are important because everything is logic controlled, and you don't want +12vdc to back feed thru the system:
Like if you used the cargo lite button while idling in the morning like i do, and then put it in reverse, without the diodes, you would have 12vdc running amok.
not much chance for that to hurt anything, but there's no reason to take the chance.
today, i got:
-fuse holders for the battery supply line
-20 amp fuses (15 for fogs - 5 reverse lamps)
-relays - 50 amp
-butt splices
-wire for signal & output.
-shielded / hooded crimp on terminals
-large ring terminal for battery post connection & ground post.
went and bought majority of parts today....very $$ to buy parts for a dozen at a time
i have everything except the diodes.
the diodes are important because everything is logic controlled, and you don't want +12vdc to back feed thru the system:
Like if you used the cargo lite button while idling in the morning like i do, and then put it in reverse, without the diodes, you would have 12vdc running amok.
not much chance for that to hurt anything, but there's no reason to take the chance.
today, i got:
-fuse holders for the battery supply line
-20 amp fuses (15 for fogs - 5 reverse lamps)
-relays - 50 amp
-butt splices
-wire for signal & output.
-shielded / hooded crimp on terminals
-large ring terminal for battery post connection & ground post.
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,578
Likes: 8
From: Charleston SC
here is the reason for the delay:
stupid woman is pregnant for 9 months, and don't have enough sense NOT to start auctions around the time she will be having A KID....
and the worst part? she just reproduced..
They did actually go out on Wednesday. We have a 7:30pm drop off place. In any case, you are one of the very lucky ones right now.
We have been extremely behind since the birth of our son and a 3-day turn around time right now is rare!
We have some longer orders that are 2 weeks old right now.
Did you tell us you were in a hurry? We *TRY* to help people that are
in a hurry. For example, a customer paid for his order yesterday and asked
us to ship today. Because it is a fairly easy order, we will have it out
today. 3 days is certainly not an unreasonable time to wait for something to
be shipped.
Writing emails like this really just slows down the whole process.
Thanks, Rebekah
stupid woman is pregnant for 9 months, and don't have enough sense NOT to start auctions around the time she will be having A KID....
and the worst part? she just reproduced..
They did actually go out on Wednesday. We have a 7:30pm drop off place. In any case, you are one of the very lucky ones right now.
We have been extremely behind since the birth of our son and a 3-day turn around time right now is rare!
We have some longer orders that are 2 weeks old right now.
Did you tell us you were in a hurry? We *TRY* to help people that are
in a hurry. For example, a customer paid for his order yesterday and asked
us to ship today. Because it is a fairly easy order, we will have it out
today. 3 days is certainly not an unreasonable time to wait for something to
be shipped.
Writing emails like this really just slows down the whole process.
Thanks, Rebekah