| Author | Message | ||
     Todd Phenneger (Toddp) Member Username: Toddp Post Number: 82 Registered: 10-2002 |
I've been meaning to do some re-wiring on my disco. A few weeks ago a filled the cabin with water (oops) so I figured I'd wash the carpets and get it ready for summer. Well, Seats are out, carpet is mostly out but clean and drying. Might as well do that rewiring. I am trying to identify some points in the factory harness I can tap into for stuff. I will be running a lenghth of 8ga Power wire down each side of the car for future upgrades in the rear "stereo, backup lights, AC Inverter, DC Sockets, Etc". As well as running Speaker Wire and Stereo Interconnect Cable. But for easy stuff in the dash I want to tap into existing plugs if possible. There are Three plugs under the dash above the passengers feet I found that do nothing.1) White 6-pin Connector that has 4-wires in it. Located directly by Passenger Fuse Box. This goes into the main wiring harness that all the "other" white connectors from the fuse box go into. Wire colors are Black - Ground Blue/Yellow - No power const or switched Red/brown - No power const or switched Red/orange - No Power const or switched. Not sure where those wires lead to. Does anyone know? 2) White 4-pin Connector with 3 wires Directly Above Brake Pedal. (US Disco). The wires dive into a Yellow Harness with Yellow Plastic Split Tubing around it. Wire Colors are.... Black - Ground Yellow/pink - No power const or switched Yellow - No power const or switched. 3)!!!!! YAY. A plug with Power! This is an Odd Shaped Blue 5-pin connector that only is using 4-pins. Each pinis a Barrel shaped pin that would insert into another plug making it highly directional. Plug Colors are..... Black - Ground "duh" White/Red - +12v Constant Power. Blk/pink - 10.5v switched power White/pink - 10.5v switched power Does anyone know what these connectors are. My Wiring Diagrams are wholly inadequate. THere is not even a diagram of what goes into/out of the Fusebox. Lastly on the Passenger Fusebox itself there are 4 empty individual spade connectors out of 5 total. Number #4 has a Green wire coming out of it into a Yellow Split lume harness (where does green wire GO!) and the other 4 emply with #3&5 having a cover over them that would have to be removed to use them. 1-switched 12v 2-no power ever 3-no power ever 4-used "green wire" 5-+12v Constant. Does anyone know what fuses these are associated with and what they are for? Can I tap into them for things like GPS/CB Etc? How much power can they provide without danger of melting something? Thanks Todd | ||
| Paul T. Schram (Paulschram) Senior Member Username: Paulschram Post Number: 1481 Registered: 02-2002 |
Todd: STAY AWAY FROM THE YELLOW CONVOLUTE HARNESS, IT IS YOUR AIRBAG WIRING!!! Consider yourself fortunate you did not blow an airbag while doing your probing around. The blue pin you were probing around in is the ABS diagnostic connector. Jumpering various pins will allow you to read codes that will diagnose problems with ABS (or so I'm told, it didn't work for me). In order for you to avoid anything unfortunate happening, I strongly suggest you consider running a fused power line directly fromt he battery. There are numerous opening in the bulkhead to run the wires through. Peace, Paul | ||
| Todd Phenneger (Toddp) Member Username: Toddp Post Number: 84 Registered: 10-2002 |
Paul, Thanks for the Warning. Ron Beckett from the RRO List was kind enough to point this out as well. My experience is that simply looking for voltage on wires will never trigger an Airbag or similar. Jumpering wires in a connector or connecting multiple wires to ground at the same time or putting power to wires can cause problems though. SO that connector for the SRS must be the Test Connection. Thanks Where did you find the info on reading codes from that Blue Connector? My ABS light is on and I'd love to dump the codes as the light is annoying and my Cruise doenst work. Id much rather have ABS but have a defeat Switch like in my Audi 5000 Turbo Quattro. Has anyone done this???? ABS for tooling arond town and towing the Boat. NO ABS for Off Road or driving in the SNow/Dirt. Paul, I do plan to run fused wire from the BAttery for my High Current equipment. But for things like my Built In Radar Detector, CB, GPS, map lights, etc I would like to tap into the Fuse Box as its a clean way to do it. I'm thinking those two terminals #1 & #5 will work nicely for these things. Any comments on those terminals from the Fuse Box? Thanks for the Input. I appreciate it. Todd 94' D1. | ||
| Lawrence Tilly (L_tilly) Member Username: L_tilly Post Number: 153 Registered: 02-2002 |
Todd, Maybe you could pick up a small fuese box from a good autosound shop (probably won't find them at Best Buy). This will let you directly connect to the battery, then go just a few inches / feet to wherever you mount the box. These boxes will then give you between 4 - 12 fused connectors to tap into to run your wires to your accessories. You have everything fused in an easy to use package. As a side advantage, these often have quick-open designs to them making it very easy to replace a fuse without having to mess around (designed for autosound competitions where power limits are pushed, fuses blow, and you only have a couple minutes to get it fixed or be disqualified). I'm going to use two of these (one for exterior and one for interrior accessories) to keep things fused, safe and looking clean. The only trick is they're probably not very water-proof, so some extra tweaks may be needed. A company called Phoenix Gold used to make some good ones, but I've been out of the autosound competition circles for many years so you'll probably want to do some research if you go this route. Lawrence 96 Disco "Beowulf" NH, USA | ||
| Roland Kutasi (Disco1) Member Username: Disco1 Post Number: 151 Registered: 10-2002 |
Todd, FWIW it seems to me that you do not have a lot of auto electrical experience. Without trying to offend, my advice is stay right away from trying to fiddle around with your wiring, because, here's the cruncher.....if you get it wrong you will probably set fire to the main harness (if your lucky), which will cost you around $5000 plus to replace, or (if your unlucky) burn your truck to the ground. If you want to run wires to the back of your truck for accessories, fine, but get a professional to connect them when your done. With regards to running speaker wires to the rear or where ever, never run them alongside the power cable or else you will get static/engine noise. | ||
| Paul T. Schram (Paulschram) Senior Member Username: Paulschram Post Number: 1498 Registered: 02-2002 |
"putting power to wires can cause problems though." Todd: Do you know how an ohmmeter works? In my day-job, I work for one of the largest tier one automotive suppliers in the world as an EH&S manager. I am forced to attend air bag deployment safety training every year. Disagree if you wish, but those damned things cannot be trusted to not deploy when you least expect it. I usually read a report of one going off unexpectedly each week at one of our factories. When in storage in the factories, they are kept in locked cabinets with blast resistant walls (glorified chain-link). I strongly suggest that you consider either having someone else do this work for you, or not do it. When you put the probes of your ohmmeter on the wires in that yellow loom, you are applying anywhere from 3-9 volts DC on the circuit, depending upon the meter. This represents a significant difference in potential and could easily cause your airbags to deploy, or fry the controlling circuitry. The same goes for your ABS. I know many will argue about the safety of airbag deployment devices and I've kept quiet, but it looks as though you are walking on thin ice, and stomping hard on that ice. Peace, Paul | ||
| Todd Phenneger (Toddp) Member Username: Toddp Post Number: 86 Registered: 10-2002 |
Paul, I NEVER used an Ohm Meter. I know full well that an Ohm meter applies power to a wire. It HAS to inorder to measure the resistance of the wire. Anyhow, I know the Yellow Harness is SRS now so I plan to stay away from it and have no desire to mess with it. I wired up AirBag Defeat switches in the past with no problems but this is not my goal now and I would not attempt such a thign without a full understanding of the Rover SRS system. Roland....As for my electrical experience, re-read my message. My problem stems from not having the ETM manual. NOt lack of experience. I have wired cars from scratch, remplaced entire wiring harnesses (sure didnt' cost me $5,000 but I did everythign myself and improved the weak Audi circuits at the same time). I'm not sure what gives you the idea that I have no experience. I'm simply looking for info on what two pins coming out of a fusebox do. I dont have access to a manual that shows that and I dont want to "PROBE Around" any more than necessary. I dont think that is an unusual question. I'm simply trying to tap into the factory electrical system in a professional way and not just splice wires in everywhere. MOST factory Wiring Systems have provisions for additional accessories that may not be used in the model you have. OR even out of another vehicles itself. FOr Instance, HOw would I know if possibly the RRC uses the same fuse box and one of those terminals is for the Air Suspension System. If so it would be wired to take a decent load and could be tapped into to run accessories with no worry of overloading any circuit or "MELTING" the entire harness. If you dont know the answer to my questions thats fine Roland. I'm hoping someone does. But my wiring experience is not the problem. Its lack of a decent wiring Diagram and I was hoping a list/forum such as this would have someone that could read one and let me know what they do. So far I have had almost ALL my questoins answered by knowledgeable people such as Paul and Ron Beckett from the RRO list who has been very helpful as well. Thanks guys. Now if someone has any clue what pins #1 & 5 do on the Main Fuse Panel that would be great. One is Const Power, the other Switched but I'm not sure what circuit they get power from. I'm hoping they can safely supply a 10-15amp load. Probably less than 10amps but I want to make sure before I tap into one. THanks Todd | ||
| Paul T. Schram (Paulschram) Senior Member Username: Paulschram Post Number: 1500 Registered: 02-2002 |
Given the propensity for Lucas electrics to surprise you I repeat my comment that you'll be better off running a new lead from the battery. As for wiring diagrams, they are available, but in the true LR image, they run you around the barn and are confusing at best. You may find some unused power sources beneath the driver's seat for the CD changer. Also, there is a plug for auxiliary lighting adjacent to the clock. This is a low current connection intended to trigger a relay for the fog lights. Also, in the back, you MIGHT find an unused harness for powering the rear air conditioner. Remember, fuse the hot lead on both sides of any bulkhead you penetrate and do not fuse the ground as it can form a return path if one of the fuses blows. Don't know if you truck has the sunroofs, but that is another possibility. Lastly, there is always the old "Tap into an existing fuse" idea. I have made some harnesses to allow this that carried some fairly heavy current. I however, use a separate fuse holder, solder three wires to the connector. One each side, I solder spade lugs that mimic the existing fuse, and on the output side of the fuse, the third wire can be used to power whatever yo need. It's a lot better than those goofy little pieces of brass that you slide over the fuse lug and proceed to destroy any elasticity of the fuse holder. PEace, Paul | ||
| Todd Phenneger (Toddp) Member Username: Toddp Post Number: 87 Registered: 10-2002 |
Paul, Thanks for the Input. I hope I didn't come off to Testy in my last message. It just frustrated me. Anyhow, back to wiring. I'm new to the LUCAS Wiring Diagrams. I see what you mean already though. I do like how in the Haynes manual each circuit is diagramed seperately, however a traditional running diagram is always helpful with terminals from the Fuseblock labeled. I do have the Rear Trailer Power lead which I may use to tap into for my 12v sockets. And I will DEFINATELY be runing a 4ga wire to the rear for my AC Inverter and compressor. I have the rear AC so I have wires back there but they are not as beefy as I had hoped. Thanks for the tip on your method of tapping into a harness. I know what you mean about those piggyback spade connectors. I hate those things. Solder and shrink Wrap are wonderful inventions. :-) THanks Todd | ||
| Paul T. Schram (Paulschram) Senior Member Username: Paulschram Post Number: 1501 Registered: 02-2002 |
Be very careful about tapping into the trailer harness as you can fry things easily that way too. | ||
| Todd Phenneger (Toddp) Member Username: Toddp Post Number: 90 Registered: 10-2002 |
THats my worry with it. I'd prefer to leave it alone for the trailer I'll someday have. I actually just ran an length of 8ga wire down that side of the Rover for my 12v Sockets and whatever else I'll someday need. I will be running the 4ga down the Driver Side (US Vehicle) tonight after I buy it. I'm waiting to hear from Ron Beckett on what PIN 1 does. Besides offering switched +12v power out of the fuse box. :-) Thanks Todd | ||
| Roland Kutasi (Disco1) Member Username: Disco1 Post Number: 155 Registered: 10-2002 |
Todd: As I said, I didn't wish to offend, my assumption was based on warnings by Ron and Paul and your quote "but for easy stuff in the dash". Trying to tap into all sorts of connections and fuses without an adequate set of wiring diagrams can lead to problems. Its like trying to get around a suburb your've never been to using a 1960 street directory. I agree that splicing is not the way to do things and an auxillary fuse box as Lawrence suggests would make more sense because from the number of assessories you want to install its doubtfull that you will find sufficient spare connector plugs or fuses to tap into. | ||
| Todd Phenneger (Toddp) Member Username: Toddp Post Number: 91 Registered: 10-2002 |
Roland, Thakns for the reply. I guess I dont really consider wiring under a dash "hard". Just time consuming. The more wiring I do, the more I realize it truly is like plumbing. Not only is the flow the same, but you have leaks, and taps that you really dont want to mess with. :-) Seriously though. I'm really only wanting to run a few accessories off the the factory wiring that are switched. As mentioned, I'm runnign a 4ga Power Cable rearwards to run the high current stuff. But there are just a few little things that I would like to have switched. I can do a relay and draw main power from my 4GA Wire or a Piggyback wire and fire the relay with a signal from a switched "hot" wire. But I still need a "switched source" to fire the relay. Hence the questions. Of course, the easiest soluton would be if that Pin #1 which is switched Power is adequate to run no more than 10-15 amps of current (which I would be very surprised if it was not capable of that). IF so I can forgo the trouble, just run a spade connector to it and off with power to my CB and stuff. Thanks Todd | ||
| Roland Kutasi (Disco1) Member Username: Disco1 Post Number: 159 Registered: 10-2002 |
Airbag deployment can be a nasty experience $$$$$$$$. It would be nice if they made them like this............  | ||
| Todd Phenneger (Toddp) Member Username: Toddp Post Number: 92 Registered: 10-2002 |
Indeed, Dang, I had a Great pic to send back to you but I lost it. :-( Oh well. Now I'm gonna have that image in my mind all day. |
