ignition on power source

[dairieman36]

hi all i am finally hooking up my gauges decided to go with the iequus performance... anyways they are electric and i need a power source when the ignition is on.. is there one in the fuse box? or another that i could use? Thanks Brian

 

[ghunt]

I used an "add a circuit" on the fuse for the radio, but that's also because only my pyrometer needs power.

If you have more than a couple gauges, it's not a bad idea to run a separate power source that's switched through a relay.

 

[redneckaggie]

i jumped a wire off the ip ignition to a relay and went from there

 

[Agnem]

Ford has used a standard wire color of Red with a green stripe for Key On power for I believe the whole F series family this board covers. You can tap into this anywhere, but as was mentioned, I like the idea of running just one relay with it, that then powers a terminal block fed from the battery. It would be a shame for a user added accessory to shut down a running truck by eating a fusible link.

 

[dairieman36]

yea i finally found the wire color id. yesterday i think i will get a relay as suggested i wouldnt have thought of that is there a specific relay you all would use? thanks Brian

 

[ghunt]

On my Thunderbird I ran relays for my gauges...I'm trying to rememeber exactly how I ran them...I believe I ended up using standard 30 amp relays for both the 12V switched signal (I have all electric gauges in there except the boost) and the gauge lighting. I just ran one wire for both through the relays, then through a fuse, then split it to the individual gauges. The relays are switched via a wire from the headlight switch (for the lighting) and one off the coil, for the 12V signal.

 

[dairieman36]

yea the lighting i just ran a wire from the headlight switch to a fuse then to the gauges whichs is cool cuz i can dim the lighting of the gauges with the factory ones. but i didnt know if there was something in the fuse box i could tap into but i like the relay idea alot better... thanks for the help guys i hope to put some pics up of the gauges and the rest of the truck after i get the radiator back in

 

[ghunt]

If you tap into the radio fuse it will dim with the dimmer switch.

My Thunderbird has a weird dimmer and I couldn't figure out how to wire into it- not that it really matters, all the gauges in the car have LED's in them and they don't really "dim" correctly anyway.

 

[sootman73]

make sure you dont put too much lighting extra on the wire from the headlight switch. it already runs 12-14 amps stock and this is very close to pushing the limits. the guy before me had 12 extra running lights along the bottom of the cab and i kept melting switches if the dimmer wasn't just right. not fun watching smoke pour out of the dash and not being able to get to it! then i relayed the headlights and running lights separately and no problems.

you can get relays from autozone or advance that will fit into open relay ports in the fuse block under the hood. thats where my headlight relays are.