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Reply to "New Layout vs. Old (Build Thread)"

Before going any further I decided I better check that I wired everything correctly. I'm glad I did. My digital multi-meter, like most of them, acts as continuity checker when you select the lowest Ohms setting. Out of 74 circuits, two were wired improperly. In one, I had mis-marked the leads themselves so the green throttle leads were marked as red and vice versa. In the other, I had just screwed the leads to the wrong buss. If I hadn't rung out each side, those track blocks would have been dead or a different voltage than their neighbors and would have been a pain in the butt to troubleshoot. Now they're all correct. I also checked those circuits that would be controlled by the interlock and they too were in good shape.

 

So with that out of the way, I started wiring the hot side to all the LED indicators. I'm installing the single current-limiting resistor in this line which feeds either the red or green LED. I then joined five of them with one other lead into a larger ferrule. This lead will ultimately be joined with a few more going into the DC+ distribution block. Since the block only has 17 positions so combining them is a good idea. The wire is 26 AWG which can handle 2.5 amps. The LEDs only draw .02 amps so there's no change of overloading anything.

 

I had started bundling groups of wires with tie wraps, but when I ran into the first toggle's problem, I clipped all of them off. I'll wait until all the wires are correct and powered up before making everything pretty(ier).

 

LED Install 02.

 

I'm using heat shrink tubing as much as possible to insulate all the splices. In one of the first ones I did, I picked a size that was too small and had to resort to electrical tape.

LED Install 01

 

In my last iterations, I took great pains to adhere the wiring to the panel so it would stay in place when the panel was open for service. In this case, the panel opened upwards. In this version, the panel opens downwards and the wire naturally lays in place. In this case, I'm more concerned about shaping the cables so they don't foul the hinge when the panel is raised.

 

Here's the latest wiring diagram modified from the incandescent version. I must say that LED did add a level of complexity. If I had enough of the incandescents, I would have used them. They worked on AC from the 10 volt tap on the transformer. But the LEDs are going to look very good once they're all installed. Not shown is the LED voltage = 12 fed through a Laptop power supply.

 

Block Toggle Wiring Diagram

Attachments

Images (3)
  • LED Install 02.
  • LED Install 01
  • Block Toggle Wiring Diagram

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