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Wiring Russ Thompson Turn Signal System

Russ Thompson has been making high-quality turn signal assemblies for the full range of Factory Five Cars.  We have been getting a lot of requests for a wiring diagram to show you how to connect his turn-signal switch to our new Infinitybox IPM1 kit.  This blog post will get you those details.  Please note that this post details the wiring using our Next Generation System.  Please click here if you have one of our Legacy Infinitybox systems.

Russ Thompson made high-quality turn signal stalk assemblies for the Factory Five Roadster, Type 63 and the GTM.  You can learn more about his products at this link.

The new Infinitybox IPM1 kit includes the next generation of our MASTERCELL and POWERCELLs.  These products include numerous refinements and enhancements that our customers have requested.  You can learn more about the IPM1 kit at this link.  Turn signals and 4-way flashers have always been easy to wire with the Infinitybox system.  The addition of indicator outputs on the MASTERCELL NGX make this even easier.

The Infinitybox manages all the required functions for turn signals and 4-ways.  The MASTERCELL handles the patterns internally so you do not need a flasher relay.  You simply ground the inputs for the left and right turn signals to make them work.  We manage the rest for you.  The distributed architecture of the system makes running the wire through your car easy.  You have a POWERCELL output module in the front of your car and one in the rear.  Each of these POWERCELLs has outputs for turn signals.  That means that you are running the front turn signals from the front POWERCELL and the rear signals from the rear.  All of your wire is run locally.  This minimizes the total amount of wire needed in the car.

We also manage the 4-ways or hazards internally.  The MASTERCELL generates the pattern so no external flasher is required.  When you ground the input for the 4-ways, the MASTERCELL tells the front & rear POWERCELLs to flash all the turn signals together.

Wiring the turn signal switch and the hazard switch is very easy with the Infinitybox IPM1 kit.  You simply connect the left turn, right turn and 4-way inputs from the MASTERCELL to the switches in the Russ Thompson turn signal stalk.  Instead of connecting the other side of the switch to a flasher, you connect it to ground.  When you turn on a switch, that pulls the MASTERCELL input to ground, which triggers its function.  The following diagram shows how to connect the inputs to the stalk switches.

Picture of Infinitybox wiring diagram showing how to wire Russ Thompson Turn Signal Stalk

Picture of Infinitybox wiring diagram showing how to wire Russ Thompson Turn Signal Stalk

The wire colors for your MASTERCELL inputs are defined in the configuration sheet that came with your kit.  Click on this link to get to our standard front-engine configuration.

For the turn signal wires from the stalk, the black-red wire should connect to ground.  The red-white wire connects to the MASTERCELL input for your left turn signal and the red-yellow wire connects to the input for the right turn signal.

There is another great feature included with our MASTERCELL NGX.  In addition to the inputs, the MASTERCELL NGX has outputs to locally power things like indicators.  Since your MASTERCELL is located close to your switches, it is very easy to run these indicator wires to the indicator lights on your dash for your turn signals and indicators.  When the MASTERCELL is telling the POWERCELLs to flash the turn signals, it is also flashing the indicators.  See the wiring diagram above for details on wiring you dash indicators.

The last feature in the Russ Thompson kit is the button at the end of the turn signal stalk.  This is a momentary button intended to be used to control the high-beams.  With a typical wiring set up, you would need a separate relay or high-beam module to manage this.  With the Infinitybox IPM1 kit, you can control your high-beams from this momentary button internally.  Our high-beam input can be set to toggle the high-beams on and off.  See the diagram above to show how to wire this input to the switch in the Russ Thompson kit.  Both the wires for the button on the Russ Thompson harness are black.  Connect one to ground and the other to the MASTERCELL input for the high-beams.

You can also use this button to control the horn if you want.  Instead of the high-beam input, connect the horn input.  See you configuration sheet for details.

You can download a PDF version of this wiring diagram by clicking this link.

Contact our technical support team if you have any questions about wiring your Factory Five car using our Infinitybox IPM1 kit and the Russ Thompson turn signal stalk kit.

Control module for the Dakota Digital VHX Gauges

Wiring Dakota Digital VHX Gauges

Dakota Digital has been in the business of making advanced electrical products for the Automotive Aftermarket for a long time.  Their products include gauges, lighting, cruise control systems, gear indicators, linear actuators, climate control interfaces and other automotive accessories.  We’ve posted details before on how to wire their cruise control systems and their automatic door lock module.  Their VHX series of gauges has become very popular in the market and a lot of our customers have asked about how to connect their VHX gauge controller box to our Infinitybox system.  This blog post is going to walk you through the details of Wiring Dakota Digital VHX Gauges to our system.

If you are using the RTX gauges, you can click on this link to get to a wiring them.

Before we go too far, this post is only going to cover wiring primary power, ground, key-on power and the signals for the indicators on the dash.  Their manual will cover the details for the rest of the wiring.  Carefully read and understand all of the details of the VHX instructions before you go any further.  You can get their manual by clicking this link.

This diagram shows an overview of the connections to the Infinitybox system for the VHX controller box.

Picture of wiring diagram showing you how to interface your Dakota Digital Gauges with the Infinitybox 20-Circuit Kit

Picture of wiring diagram showing you how to interface your Dakota Digital Gauges with the Infinitybox 20-Circuit Kit

Their VHX controller needs constant power from the battery.  Connect the CONST. POWER terminal on their controller box directly to the positive terminal on the battery.  You must fuse this wire at the battery for safety.  You also have to connect the GROUND terminal on their controller box to a good chassis ground connection.  This must be a metal-to-metal connection that is free of paint, powder coating, dirt and debris.

Here are the connections that are specific to the Infinitybox system.

First, the VHX controller box needs ignition or key-on power.  This is what turns the gauges on when you turn the key in the car.  Your ignition output is going to provide this power.  In most systems, this output is number 3 on the front POWERCELL.  Check the configuration sheet that came with your kit to confirm.  This ignition output is going to power your engine management.  You are going to splice into this wire to connect to the ACC. POWER terminal on the VHX controller box.

Next, you need to connect your parking light output on the front POWERCELL to the DIM(+) terminal on the VHX controller box.  This will turn on the illumination on the VHX gauges when you have your parking or headlights on.  Just like the ignition output, splice into the parking light output on your front POWERCELL and connect this to the DIM(+) terminal.

Lastly, you need to connect the POWERCELL outputs for your turn signals and high-beam to their respective terminals on the VHX control box for the turn signal indicators and high beam indicator.  Just like the key-on power and parking lights, splice into the output wires for the left turn signal, right turn signal and high-beams and connect them to the LEFT(+), RIGHT(+) and HIGH(+) terminals, respectively.  When your POWERCELL is flashing the left turn signal, the indicator for the left turn signal will flash on the Dakota Digital gauges.  When you have your high beams on, your high beam indicator will light up on the gauges.

Our Infinitybox system can power any electrical system in your resto-mod, street rod, pro-touring build or race car.  Wiring Dakota Digital VHX Gauges is a great example of that.  You can download a PDF of this wiring diagram by clicking this link.

Our technical support team is available to answer any questions about blog post or any other topics about wiring your car with our Infinitybox system.  Click on this link to get in touch with our team.