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Wiring Switches

It is time to get into the next phase of wiring this 1967 Mustang with our Infinitybox 20-Circuit Kit.  We got the cells mounted, mounted the Mega fuses, wired primary power from the battery, ran the CAN cable and wired the outputs to the POWERCELLs.  It’s time to start wiring switches to the MASTERCELL inputs.

Here’s a quick refresher.  Our Infinitybox system is different than any other wiring harness on the market.  Instead of having one central box full of fuses and relays with wire running everywhere in the car, our system is broken into smaller modules.  Our POWERCELLs are mounted in the front and rear of the car.  They contain the fuses and relays to turn your accessories on and off.  The MASTERCELL connects to the switches.  You mount the MASTERCELL under the dash and wire your switches to it.  The MASTERCELL sends commands to the remote POWERCELLs through our CAN cable to control your lights, fans, fuel pump, horns, ignition, starter solenoids and other switched functions.  This is going to be the first in a series of posts talking about wiring switches.

Remember that all of your switches will connect to your MASTERCELL.  This includes switches for your ignition, starter, turn signals, brake lights, headlights, parking lights, high-beams, cooling fans, fuel pump, horn and anything else that you need to turn on and off in the car.  There is no direct connection between your switch and the output.  The MASTERCELL watches all of the switches.  When it sees a switch turn on or off, it sends a packet of data through the CAN cable to the remote cells in the car.  These cells could be POWERCELLs or inMOTION cells.  The remote output cells are what control the current flowing to your switched loads.

The MASTERCELL needs a simple trigger signal from each switch.  These triggers are a connection to ground.  Each trigger takes a very small amount of current to send the signal to the MASTERCELL, less than 0.001-Amp.  This picture shows a very simple switch wired to a MASTERCELL input.

Simple diagram showing how to wire a switch to the Infinitybox MASTERCELL

Simple diagram showing how to wire a switch to the Infinitybox MASTERCELL

In this diagram, the MASTERCELL input wire connects to one terminal of the switch.  The other side of the terminal needs to connect to ground.  When the switch is on (closed) there is a path through the switch to ground.  This is what triggers the input on the MASTERCELL.  This picture shows using one of the ground wires that is included in the MASTERCELL input harness.

There are lots of advantages to using this kind of input when you are wiring a car.  Ground switching the inputs means that you do not need to run a positive wire to each switch.  The MASTERCELL input harnesses have ground wires that you can use for your switches.  You can also use the chassis in the car as the ground reference for your switches.  You just need a good metal-to-metal connection to ground.

Another advantage is that it takes a very small amount of current to turn on an input.  This means that we can use a much smaller gauge of wire in the input harness.  We use 22-AWG TXL wire on the inputs.  This will reduce the bulk of harness behind your dash.  It also means that there is no high-current behind your dash.  All of the high-current control is at the POWERCELL.  It is always the small signal current through the MASTERCELL input wire regardless of what is being switched at the POWERCELL.  This means that you can use practically any switch to turn things on and off in your car.  You can use the original switches that came with the car.  You can use any aftermarket switch.  There is very little current flowing through the switch.

Just a quick warning:  The MASTERCELL inputs are designed to be switched to ground.  You must not wire your switches so that battery voltage can be applied to a MASTERCELL input.  Doing this may damage the circuitry inside the MASTERCELL and this will void the warranty.  Contact us with questions if you are uncertain about how to properly connect something to a MASTERCELL input.

Remember that your configuration sheet is your road map to wiring your car with our Infinitybox system.  Your configuration sheet will identify the wires by color for each of the switches in your car.  You can click on this post to get a refresher on your configuration sheet.

Every kit comes with a MASTERCELL A input harness.  This picture shows this harness.

MASTERCELL A Input Harness

MASTERCELL A Input Harness

All of your switches will connect to the wires on this harness.  The B connector socket at the bottom of the MASTERCELL must have the input dummy plug installed to keep the cell sealed.  This picture shows the MASTERCELL input dummy plug.

Sealing plug for MASTERCELL B Port

Sealing plug for MASTERCELL B Port

If you have a third POWERCELL as part of your system or if you have added inMOTION to your kit, you will get the MASTERCELL B harness.  This picture shows this harness.

MASTERCELL B Input Harness

MASTERCELL B Input Harness

Your configuration sheet will show which harnesses have the inputs for your different switches.  This picture shows which is the A & B input connector socket on your MASTERCELL.

Illustration of Infinitybox MASTERCELL labeling output connectors

Illustration of Infinitybox MASTERCELL labeling output connectors

In the case of this 1967 Mustang project, the MASTERCELL is mounted under the dash, to the left of the pedals.  The input wires will run from the MASTERCELL to all of the switches.  This is a great location for this because all of the wire runs will be short.

We will be going through wiring switches in much more detail over upcoming blog posts.  Please keep watching our blog for updates.  You can click on this link to contact a member of our team with any questions.

 

 

Horn

This is a really easy one.  It’s time to wire the horn on this 1967 Mustang project.  This post is going to talk about how to connect the horn output on the POWERCELL to the terminals on the horn.  It is pretty straight forward.

There is a dedicated output in your 10 or 20-Circuit Wiring Kit for the horn.  In the standard front-engine configuration, it is the orange wire on the front POWERCELL.  This is output 9 on the A connector.  Check the configuration sheet that came with your kit to verify this output.  When the MASTERCELL sees the horn input wire grounded, it sends a command to the front POWERCELL to turn the horn output on.  This applies battery voltage to the horn which makes it sound.  When the horn button is released, the MASTERCELL sees the input wire come off of ground.  The MASTERCELL sends a command to the POWERCELL to turn the horn output off.  Pretty simple.

You are going to run the horn output from your front POWERCELL to the horn mounted in the car.  Most horns have two terminals on them.  One is the switched battery power.  The other is ground.  This picture shows an example horn.  This is the Wolo 315-2T.  The 2T stands for two terminal.

Example of a Wolo Horn

Example of a Wolo Horn

You can see the two terminals in the upper right of the picture.

Most horn terminals are 1/4″ male Quick-Disconnect connectors.  You simply strip the POWERCELL output wire and crimp on a female Quick-Disconnect connector.  Some companies refer to these terminals as Push-On.  Others call them Fast-On terminals.  This picture shows an example of these terminals.

Fast-on female terminal

Fast-on female terminal

You can source these terminals from companies like Del City or Waytek Wire.  Make sure that you are getting the right width of terminal.  You also have to make sure that the terminal is the correct size for the gauge of wire.  Our POWERCELL outputs use 14-AWG wire.  Terminals to mate with 14-16 Gauge wire are usually blue.  Pink or Red terminals are usually for 18-22 Gauge wire.  We recommend using these insulated crimp connectors.  You can use un-insulated terminals but we suggest applying heat-shrink tubing over the terminal to insulate the joint.  You do not want to risk the terminal connected to the POWERCELL output accidentally touching the chassis.

Also, make sure that you are using the correct tool to make this crimp.  As noted in other blog posts, you want to stay away from Radio Shack and Home Depot for car wiring.  This includes for tools.  Also, don’t just use a pair of pliers to crimp these terminals.  A good crimp tool is an important investment and will save you problems down the road.  This link will take you to a good quality crimp tool for these types of connectors.

The other of the two terminals on the horn needs to go to ground.  There is no polarity on a horn so you can connect the POWERCELL output and the ground wire to either of the two terminals.  Use the same Quick-Disconnect connector that you did for the POWERCELL output to connect the ground.  Remember that the size of the ground wire should be the same as the size of the wire feeding the horn.  That is good practice for any electrical connection.  On the other side of the ground wire, crimp on a ring terminal and use a bolt to attach this to the chassis.  Make sure that you have a good, metal-to-metal connection from your ground wire ring terminal to the chassis.  You must remove all dirt, rust, paint, powder coating, oil and grease from the connection.

The example that we used above was for a two-terminal horn.  You connected the POWERCELL output to one of the terminals on the horn.  The other connected to ground.  There are some horns that only have a single terminal on them.  That terminal connects to the POWERCELL output.  The horn grounds to the chassis through its mounting bracket.  The same rules for grounding apply.  You must have a clean metal-to-metal connection between the horn bracket and the chassis.

That’s it for this one.  We’ll talk about wiring the MASTERCELL input wires in upcoming posts.  If you have questions or comments about this post or any of the other steps in wiring this 1967 Mustang, please click on this link to contact our team.

Turn Signals & Brake Lights

We’re making good progress on wiring the outputs on our 1967 Mustang.  We’ve made it though headlights, high-beams and parking lights.  Now, let’s wire the turn signals and the brake lights.  Just like the parking lights, there are turn-signals in the front of the car and the rear.  Your 20-Circuit Kit is set up with dedicated outputs on the front & rear POWERCELLs to make wiring these easy.  We’re going to talk about wiring the POWERCELL outputs in this post.  We’ll get to wiring the inputs in a later post.

Our Infinitybox system has a few advantages over traditional wiring harnesses when it comes to turn-signals and brake lights.

  1. The flashing is done inside the POWERCELL.  You don’t need a separate flasher module to actually blink the turn signals.
  2. The wiring to the turn signals is much shorter than a traditional wiring harness because you’re connecting the bulbs to the POWERCELL located in the front and rear of the car.
  3. It doesn’t matter if you are using incandescent bulbs of LEDs.  Since the POWERCELL is doing the flashing, you don’t need a load-resistor for LED’s.
  4. We can manage any different type of turn signal configuration.  That is done by picking different MASTERCELL input wires.

For the brake lights, there are two different options.  We’ll be the first to admit that this can be a little confusing.

In some cars, you have a separate bulb or filament on a light bulb that is for the brake lights.  When you step on the brake light pedal, that switch controls its own light.  We call this a multi-filament configuration.  There are multiple bulb filaments that handle the turn signals and the brake lights.  In this configuration, there is a separate POWERCELL output for the brake lights.  This picture shows you the wiring for the multi-filament configuration.

Diagram showing how to wire turn signals and brake lights with the Infinitybox system.

Diagram showing how to wire turn signals and brake lights with the Infinitybox system.

In other cars, the rear turn-signals also work as the brake lights.  In this case, you have a single filament that works as both the turn-signal and the brake light.  This function was usually managed within the steering column mechanism.  We call this a 1-filament configuration or a single-filament configuration.  That means there is one bulb filament on the left side and one on the right side of the rear of the car that works as the turn-signal and brake light.  If you use our 1-filament configuration, the rear left and right turn-signals will flash when you turn on the left or right turn signal.  If you step on the brake pedal, both the left & right turn-signal outputs will turn on together for the brake lights.  If you have a turn-signal on and you step on the brake lights, the turn signal will over ride the brake light on that side of the car.  This picture shows you the wiring for the 1-filament configuration.

Wiring diagram for 1-filament brake lights and turn signals for the Infinitybox system.

Wiring diagram for 1-filament brake lights and turn signals for the Infinitybox system.

Here’s a good rule of thumb to figure out which brake light configuration you have in your car.  If your turn signals are amber, you probably have the multi-filament configuration.  There are separate red lights for the brake lights.  If your turn-signals are red, you probably have the 1-filament configuration.  Those red lights in the corner of the car are both the turn-signals and the brake lights.

Once you figure out the brake light configuration that you have in your car, go to your configuration sheet and pick the POWERCELL output wire colors. In most configurations, the left turn-signal is the brown wire on the front & rear POWERCELL.  The right turn-signal is the violet wire on the front & rear POWERCELL.  Connect these wires to the left & right turn signals in the front & rear of the car.  The POWERCELL output wire goes to one wire on the turn signal bulb.  The other wire on the turn signal bulb goes to ground on the chassis.  If you are using LED’s make sure that you have the polarity of the bulbs correct.  The bulbs will not light if the wires are backwards.

If you are using the multi-filament configuration, you need to splice the brake light output to the brake light bulb on the left & right side of the car.  Follow the instructions that we gave in the headlight post for making these splices.  If you have a third-brake light or a CHMSL in the car, you can splice off of this same brake light output to power the extra light.

In our customer’s 1967 Mustang, they are using a sequential tail light assembly made by Mustang Projects.  You can see the details on that at this link.  Their system comes with a very simple manual that shows how to connect the wires for the left turn, right turn and brake lights.  This one was wired using the multi-filament configuration which meant that there was a separate output for a brake light.  It was very easy.  This picture shows the tail light assemblies mounted in the car.

Rear LED tail lights on a 1967 Mustang Restomod wired with the Infinitybox system

Rear LED tail lights on a 1967 Mustang Restomod wired with the Infinitybox system

The last step in wiring the turn-signals and the brake lights is to wire the indicators on the dash.  You simply splice off the POWERCELL outputs in the front of the car and run 22-AWG wires to the dash indicators.  This customer tied into the outputs for the left & right turn-signals, ran these wires to the indicators and grounded the other side of the indicator.  They were using LEDs for the indicators so they had to make sure that they had the polarity of the bulbs correct.

Our Infinitybox Splice Saver Kit is a really simple accessory that can be used to make splicing your turn signals indicators into their respective outputs easy.  This picture shows how you can create a sealed junction point with the Splice Saver for your turn signals and their indicators.

Wiring turn signals and dash indicators with the Infinitybox Splice Saver Kit

Wiring turn signals and dash indicators with the Infinitybox Splice Saver Kit

That is it for turn-signals and brake lights.  Stay tuned for the next posts talking about wiring this 1967 Mustang with our Infinitybox 20-Circuit Kit.  If you have questions or comments, please contact us at this link.

 

Parking Lights

In our last post, we talked about wiring the headlights and high-beams to the front POWERCELL in your Infinitybox system.  Now it is time for you to wire the parking lights.  What we call parking lights can be called a few different things.  Some guys call them marker lights, some call them running lights or driving lights.  We call them parking lights.  These are the amber lights on the front of your car and the amber or red lights on the rear of your car.  Essentially, you are going to wire them the exact same way that you did for your headlights and high-beams with a few important exceptions.

There are parking lights on the front of your car and on the rear of your car.  Instead of running wire from the front to back of your car to power these lights together, we have dedicated outputs on the front and rear POWERCELLs for these lights.  In the case of our 1967 Mustang project, we power the front parking lights from the POWERCELL in the driver’s fender.  The rear parking lights come from the rear POWERCELL mounted in the trunk.  In both cases, the runs of wire are very short.

Remember that the switch does not connect to the lights.  The switch connects to the MASTERCELL.  We’re going to get into wiring the switches in upcoming blog posts.

In configuration that we are using for this 1967 Mustang, the parking lights are on outputs 6 on the front and 6 on the rear POWERCELL.  These are the yellow wires.  Click here to read the blog post that talks about the configuration sheet.  Run your parking light output wire to the the closest parking light on that side of the car, then splice off of that to go to the second parking light on that side of the car.  The parking light output is going to connect to both the left and right parking light bulbs.  These are wired in parallel.  The other wire in the parking light harness needs to get connected to ground.  Check the documentation that came with your lights for the proper wires for power and ground.  If you are using LED parking lights, the polarity is very important.  LED lights will not work if they are wired backwards.  You can see the headlight blog post to talk about ways to tap between the left and right lights on the car by clicking here.

You are going to use the parking light outputs from the front & rear POWERCELLs to power the lights.  You are also going to tap off of these POWERCELL outputs to power other illumination in the car.  Each POWERCELL output has capacity for 25-amps.  Most parking lights draw about one amp so you have lots of room to spare.

In the front of the car, you are going to tap off of your parking light output to power the gauge illumination and your dash illumination.  That way, you have lights on your gauges and dash when your parking lights are on.  In the rear of the car, you are going to tap off of the parking light output to light your license plate light and any other running lights on the back of the car.

This illustration shows you how the front & rear parking light outputs connect from the two POWERCELLs in the car.

Diagram showing how to power your parking lights from the Infinitybox system.

Diagram showing how to power your parking lights from the Infinitybox system.

We wanted to add a few comments about splicing and tapping off wires in your harness.  We do not recommend products that pierce the wire insulation for making taps.  This is a decent way to make splices in low current applications in sealed enclosures for telecom systems.  We do not recommend these types of taps or splices for the automotive environment.  Vibration, temperature, oil, dirt and grease will cause these taps to fail over time.  We recommend that you use crimp connectors or solder these splices.  If you used either of these methods, the joints should be protected and covered with heat-shrink tubing.

Another great option for creating a sealed junction point is to use our Infinitybox Splice Saver Kit.  This is a simple way to join multiple wires together in a sealed connector.  This pictures shows you an example of how to splice multiple lights to your single parking light output on your front POWERCELL using the Splice Saver Kit.

Wire diagram showing how to wire front parking lights and illumination with the Infinitybox Splice Saver Kit

Wire diagram showing how to wire front parking lights and illumination with the Infinitybox Splice Saver Kit

This picture shows you how you can use the Splice Saver Kit to wire your rear parking lights.

Wiring diagram showing how to wire parking lights and brake lights with an Infinitybox Splice Saver

Wiring diagram showing how to wire parking lights and brake lights with an Infinitybox Splice Saver

Click on this link to contact our team with questions or comments about wiring your parking lights with our Infinitybox system.

 

Headlights

In our last post, we hit the high-points of wiring the outputs on our Infinitybox POWERCELLs.  Over the next few posts, we are going to go into detail on wiring some of the specific loads in your car.  This post is going to talk about headlights.

Headlights are usually the easiest output to wire and we use them as an example when we’re helping guys wire their cars over the phone.  On the front POWERCELL, there is a dedicated output for the headlights.  Check your configuration sheet for the exact wire color.  This blog post will show you how to do this.  In the case of our 1967 Mustang project, the POWERCELL output wire for the headlights is the white wire.  This is output 5 on the B connector.

From the front POWERCELL, you are going to run the white output wire to your headlights.  It is usually easiest to run the wire to the closest headlight, then splice from there to go to the second headlight.  Essentially, you are wiring the two headlights in parallel.  You can use our Splice Saver Kit to make this connection easy and reliable.

In the previous post about wiring POWERCELL outputs, we talked about ways to connect wires together.  These options include butt-splicing, soldering and connectors.  You can built the splice between the two headlight bulbs in this splice.  This picture shows a simple schematic for wiring the two headlights off of a single POWERCELL output.

Picture of a simple schematic showing how to wire your headlights to the Infinitybox POWERCELL

Picture of a simple schematic showing how to wire your headlights to the Infinitybox POWERCELL

There are going to be two wires on each of your headlights.  One is the 12-volt power coming from the POWERCELL output.  The other is ground, which needs to be connected to the chassis.  If your high-beams are integrated into the same headlight housing, there may be multiple connections.  You need to consult the paperwork or instructions that came with your headlights.

If your headlights are incandescent bulbs, the orientation of the power input and ground wires do not matter.  The current will flow through the filament in the bulb in either direction.  If you headlights are HID or LED, the polarity will matter.  You need to consult the manual for the HID or LED headlight kit.

The standard headlight output on the front POWERCELL is designed for an incandescent bulb.  We can do things with a POWERCELL output that you can’t do with a relay.  Because we are using solid-state relays, we can do something called Pulse-Width Modulation.  That means that we can gradually ramp up the power to an output.

Incandescent bulbs have a high in-rush current.  When the bulbs are cool, the resistance of the filament is relatively low.  When you first turn on the bulb, it will draw a lot of current.  As the bulb and filament heat up, the resistance of the filament increases significantly, which limits the current to its steady-state draw.  This inrush current can be 4 to 10 times the steady state current.  You need to size you wire and the fuse to work with this inrush current.  We have done that for you in our choice of output harness wire.

We soft-start the standard headlight and high-beam outputs on the front POWERCELL.  This essentially smooths out the inrush, which causes less stress on the fuse, the wiring and the light bulb.  You get this feature automatically if you use the standard MASTERCELL input.

You can use this same soft-starting output for LED (Light Emitting Diode) headlight kits.  If you are using HID (High Intensity Discharge) headlights, you need to use a different input to the MASTERCELL.  There is a dedicated input to the MASTERCELL for HID headlights.  If you use this input, the headlight input turns on instantaneously without the soft starting.  We’ll talk more about MASTERCELL inputs in later posts.

While we’re at it, you are going to wire your high-beams exactly the same way as the headlights.  In the case of the configuration that we are using for this 1967 Mustang, the dark-blue wire from the front POWERCELL is for the high-beams.  This is output 7 on the A connector.  You are going to run the high-beam output from the POWERCELL to the first high-beam bulb then splice over to the second high-beam bulb.  Check the documentation that came with your bulbs for proper wiring.  The ground wire on the bulb should connect to the chassis of the car.

Keep watching our blog for more posts on wiring the different outputs on your Infinitybox wiring system.  Click this link to contact our team with questions.

Configuration Sheet

The Configuration Sheet is your road map to wiring the car with the Infinitybox 20-Circuit Kit.  It it included in the box and tells you the wire colors that connect to your switches and to your switched outputs.  This is a really important document so let’s spend a few minutes reviewing it.

All of the MASTERCELL input wires and POWERCELL output wires are color coded.  The same is true for the inMOTION output harnesses.  You are going to use the Configuration Sheet to pair these input and output wires to their switches and the outputs.

Depending on the kit that you ordered and the accessories that you have, your configuration sheet is going to be unique to your system.  Likewise, you’ll have a configuration sheet that is specific to you if we did custom programming for your system.  We also have different configuration sheets for where the engine is located in the car.  The Front-Engine configuration is our most common and is probably the most self-explanatory.  This is used for cars where the engine is in the front of the car.  The outputs for the ignition and starter are on the front POWERCELL.

If you are building a mid-engine or rear-engine car, you’d use the Rear-Engine configuration.  The outputs for the ignition and starter are on the rear POWERCELL.

We also have specific configurations for component cars made by Factory Five.  These include kits specifically configured for the Hot Rod, the GTM and the 818.  These are based on things that we have learned from hundreds of systems that we sold into guys building these cars.  If you’re building the MK4 Roadster or the Type 65 Coupe, you’d use the standard Front-Engine configuration.

This link will take you to the different configuration sheets for our Infinitybox system.

If you have lost your configuration sheet and need help locating the correct one, click here to contact our team for support.

Let’s take a look at an example.  This picture from a configuration sheet showing the details for the Headlights.  Click on this image to blow it up to see the detail.

Example of headlight wiring details from the Infinitybox configuration sheet

Example of headlight wiring details from the Infinitybox configuration sheet

The first column is Function.  This describes what is being controlled.  You’ll see that there are rows for your ignition, starter solenoid, head lights, parking lights, high-beams, horn, cooling fan, turn signals, 4-ways and brake lights.  There are also rows that marked as OPEN.  These are generic and can be used for any other accessory that you have in your car.

The next column is Switch Input.  This is the number that we use to identify the MASTERCELL inputs.  There are 48 inputs on a MASTERCELL.  Please note that the input number does not line up with the cavity marking on the input connectors.  Click on this link to get a document that connects the MASTERCELL input number to the cavity marking on the connector.  The MASTERCELL input wires are going to connect to the switches in your car.  We’ll talk about that in a later post.

The next column is MASTERCELL Connector.  There are two input connectors for a MASTERCELL, each has 24 inputs.  The majority of your inputs will be on the A connector which plugs in the socket above the MASTERCELL screen.  For systems with accessories like inMOTION and additional POWERCELLs, you will be using the B connector which is located below the MASTERCELL screen.  Some kits do not come with this MASTERCELL B harness.

The next column is POWERCELL Address.  This tells you which POWERCELL has the output that will turn on with that input.  In the case of our headlight example, the POWERCELL address is 1.  This means that the headlight output is on the front POWERCELL.  You will see that there are some rows with POWERCELL address that say 1:2.  This means that outputs on both POWERCELL 1 and POWERCELL 2 will turn on with this input.  Examples include parking lights, turn signals and 4-ways.  This link will show you how to set your POWERCELL addresses.

The next column is POWERCELL Connector.  Just like the MASTERCELL, there is an A & B output connector on the POWERCELLs.  In the case of our headlight example, the headlight output is on the B POWERCELL connector.  Your manual will show you which output harness plugs into which socket on the POWERCELL.

Next you get the Personality column.  This describes how the output will act when the input is turned on.  This separate blog post will get you more information on output personalities.  Click here to see it.  In the case of the headlight example, the output will track the input and it will soft-start.

Next you get the POWERCELL Output column.  This describes the number of the output on the POWERCELL that is turned on with the input on that row.  For our headlights, that is output number 5.

The last two columns are the most important and most practical.  Ignoring everything to the left, these two columns tell you the MASTERCELL input wire color and the POWERCELL output wire color.  For the headlights, you are going to connect the White wire with the Green tracer to the headlight switch.  You are going then take the White wire from the POWERCELL and connect that to your headlights.  When you turn on the headlight switch, the White-Green wire will get grounded by the switch.  The MASTERCELL sees this input turn.  It sends a command to the POWERCELL to turn on the headlight output.  This is the white wire.

This is one of the areas where our Infinitybox system is dramatically different from a traditional wiring harness.  Your switches connect to the MASTERCELL.  Your lights, fans, pumps, ECU’s, starter solenoid and other outputs connect to the POWERCELL.

There is a video on our YouTube channel that goes through the configuration sheet in more detail.  You can catch this video below.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to our team with questions about the configuration sheet and how to read it.

Express Drag Kit

We just got a few pictures from one of our customers in the United Kingdom.  He just finished wiring his 1991 Honda Civic as a drag car.  He used our Express Drag Car wiring kit.  From the picture below, you can see how simple and easy it is.

The Express Drag Car Wiring Kit is a complete and universal wiring set up for any naturally aspirated car.  It includes one of our POWERCELLs, one 8-position switch panel, one of our IOX Input/Output expander modules and all of the harnesses and fuses required to finish the job.

The POWERCELL is our universal output cell.  It replaces all of the relays in your car.  It has 10-outputs, each fused within the POWERCELL.  Each output is rated up to 25-amps continuously.  The entire POWERCELL can supply 125-amps continuously.  All of the outputs are solid-state.  That means that there are no relay contacts to wear over time due to high-vibration or mechanical shock.  This also means that we can turn the outputs on and off 5 to 10 milliseconds faster than a conventional relay.

The 8-position switch panel is very simple to install.  The entire panel connects back to the POWERCELL through 4 simple wires.  All of the switches are back lit and indicate when the outputs are on or off.  The toggles have a very solid feel with a resonant click.  You know when they are on or off, even when wearing gloves.  Lastly, these switches come out of the marine industry.  They are designed to thrive in high-vibration, wet and dirty environments.  The switch panel is going to control the ignition, starter, fuel pump, water pump, cooling fan, lights and two additional auxiliary outputs.  These AUX outputs can be used to control extra fans, pumps, data acquisition, telemetry, cool suits or anything else that you need to switch in the car.

The IOX lets you connect other wired switches into the system.  This includes the line-lock, trans-brake and bump-start buttons.  The IOX is small enough to loom anywhere needed in the harness.  It has diagnostic LEDs on it to show you what is going on.  The inputs are ground switched which means you simply run the output wire from the IOX to your switch, then ground the other side of the switch.  It’s that easy.

This picture shows the cockpit of the car.  You can see the POWERCELL mounted in the passenger foot well.  This is a right-hand drive car from The United Kingdom, so flip things around in your head.  The switch panel is mounted in the center console below the heater vents.  The IOX is also mounted in the center console out of sight.

Interior of 1991 Honda set up for drag racing. This car is wired with the Infinitybox Express Drag Car Kit.

Interior of 1991 Honda set up for drag racing. This car is wired with the Infinitybox Express Drag Car Kit.

You can click this link to contact our team to learn more about the Express Drag Car Kit.  We also have versions of this kit for track cars and off-road racing.

Thanks to Stephen for sharing this picture.  We’re proud to be a part of your team.

Front shot of a 1957 MGA wired with the Infinitybox system.

Install in an MGA

We love to see our customers’ finished wiring jobs with our Infinitybox system.  We just got a set of pictures showing off an Infinitybox install in an MGA.  Leverett F. did an awesome job of restoring this car from 1957.  The overall job included a full rewire of the car.  As most folks know, British cars of this vintage are plagued with gremlins baked into the Lucas Electronics components.  Leverett wanted them all gone and wanted to start over with a fresh and reliable wiring system.  He wired this car with our 20-Circuit Harness Kit and inLINK.  The finished product is simple and clean.

He first mounted his Mega Fuse kit in the trunk of the car.  This fuse block takes in the primary feed from the battery and distributes power to the front and rear POWERCELLs.  Each of these feeds to the POWERCELLs is protected with a 60-amp fuse.  Here’s a picture of the mounted Mega Fuses.

Mega fuse block used to wire a 1957 MGA

Mega fuse block used to wire a 1957 MGA

Next, he mounted his MASTERCELL behind the dash.  This kept all of the wiring going to the switches short.  Here’s a picture of the MASTERCELL installed in the car.  As you can see all of the wiring is neat and tidy.

MASTERCELL used to wire a 1957 MGA

MASTERCELL used to wire a 1957 MGA

The rear POWERCELL is mounted in the trunk.  This is powering the fuel pump, the turn signals, brake lights and parking lights.  All of the wiring is short, clean and easy to troubleshoot.  Here’s a picture of the rear POWERCELL.

Rear POWERCELL used to wire a 1957 MGA

Rear POWERCELL used to wire a 1957 MGA

The front POWERCELL is mounted on the firewall under the hood.  It is powering the headlights, high-beams, ignition coil, wipers, turn signals, parking lights, fog lights and the horn.  This is a great location.  The wiring is short, the fuses are accessible and it is very clean.  Here’s a picture of the front POWERCELL.

Front POWERCELL used to wire a 1957 MGA

Front POWERCELL used to wire a 1957 MGA

As you can see, this is a simple and clean wiring job.  It is a very simple car without a ton of electrical functions, but Leverett wanted a reliable wiring harness that would get him the functionality of a late-model car.  He did a great job of documenting the harness by creating this overall schematic for the electrical system.

Picture of an Infinitybox wiring diagram created by a customer for a 1957 MGA

Picture of an Infinitybox wiring diagram created by a customer for a 1957 MGA

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

If you have any questions about this install or how an Infinitybox system can cleanup the wiring in your car, give our technical support team a call.

Harness Connectors

Our Infinitybox 10 and 20-Circuit Kits, plus our Express Racing Kits come with universal harnesses that connect to our MASTERCELLs, POWERCELLs and inMOTION Cells.  We chose the Aptiv family of connector systems for all of our harnesses.  They are cost effective, they are easy to work with, they don’t require expensive tools and they are easy to get through distributors.  Most importantly, they are proven in the field.

Sometimes customers make changes to their harnesses.  Sometimes they damage them and need to repair them.  Sometimes a customer just wants to build their own custom harnesses using the right connectors for the job.  We get asked a lot about the part numbers for these connectors so we just put them up in our Resources Section.  There is a new heading called Connector Components.  That has a complete bill of material for all of the harness connectors used in our system.  You can also get these documents at these links below.

Here is the document for the MASTERCELL.

Here is the document for the POWERCELL.

Here is the document for the inMOTION Cell.

We also get asked where you can buy these harness connectors.  You can get them from many different sources.  We prefer Mouser or Waytek Wire.

Give our technical support team a call if you have any questions about how to work with these connector parts.

Picture of the Littelfuse Minifuse

Fuse Sizes

Here’s the answer to another popular question that we get from customers when they’re wiring their cars with our Infinitybox wiring system.

What size fuse should they use for the different outputs on the POWERCELL?

Remember why the fuse is there…  it is there to protect the wire not the end load.  There is no need to protect the headlamp with a fuse but you do need to protect the wire going to the headlamp.  A fuse is a thermally operating device that is intended to be the weakest point in an electrical system.  If the system is drawing too much current, you want the fuse to open intentionally, protecting the rest of the system.  You never want your wire to be the weakest point in your electrical system.

Fuses are designed to protect against two kinds of faults.  The most common is a short circuit.  Let’s say that the wire to your headlights gets pinched against the chassis and breaks the insulation.  You now have a very low resistance path to ground which will carry a lot of current.  You want the fuse to open before the insulation on the wire gets hot enough to cause damage.  The other scenario is a low-overload.  These are usually resistive connections to ground that will still carry enough current to damage the wire.

To properly select the size of the fuse that you need to consider two things.

First, what is the minimum gauge of wire that the fuse needs to protect?  All of the output harnesses on the Infinitybox POWERCELLs use 14-AWG wire.  But, if you spice our output wire to a wire with a smaller gauge, you need to size the fuse to protect the smaller wire.

Second, you must understand the current draw for your load connected to the output wire.  The fuse must be large enough to handle the steady-state current of the load plus any inrush that the load may have.  Anything inductive (motors, coils, solenoids, etc) have inductive inrushes that could be up to 10 times the steady-state current draw.  Incandescent bulbs also have inrushes.  Remember that the resistance of the filament in the bulb is a function of its temperature.  When the bulb is cold, the resistance is low so it can carry more current.  As the filament heats up, the resistance increases as does the current flowing through the bulb.  The inrush through a light bulb can be 5 to 10 times its steady state current.

For those who want to learn more, this link will take you to a good document from Littelfuse that talks about how to properly size a fuse for a specific application.

LED lights draw far less current than their incandescent brothers and have practically no inrush.  You can use a much smaller fuse.

Here is a simple chart to use as a reference for sizing your fuses.

Headlights- 20-amp
Starter solenoid- 20-amp
Ignition- 25-amp
Fuel pump- 25-amp
High-Beams- 20-amp
Turn-signals- 15-amp
Cooling fan- 25-amp
Power window regulator- 20-amp
Lock actuator- 15-amp
Parking lights- 15-amp
Horn- 10-amp

Use this chart as a guideline to pick your fuse sizes.  You may need to adjust depending on the gauge of wire connected to your load and the specifics of your load.  Remember, these are guidelines.  If you change the gauge of wire that is included in the kit, you have to reevaluate the size of fuse required.

Contact our technical support group at (847) 232-1991 for more details.