Ok, so now that the light bar has moved onto another life I need to re-wire the truck for the new lights. I have a constant duty solenoid in the truck for now but am thinking of using some relays. Here is what I want to do. I want to be able to contol my strobes front an back. What does the relay act as? When the power is applyed to activate the relay does it simplly compete a circuit or does it apply power? I would need to install the relays between the strobe supply and strobe tubes. They have 3 wires, power (from the power supply), ground and an unknown third wire (never bothered to look what it was for). I want something that when off does not let the 2 rear strobes funtion but when on makes the rear strobes come on. basically I need an on / off switch as the power to the strobe is not a 12v power, it is the signal that controls the flash patern and power of the strobe. Thanks, I am by no means an electrical genius so speak to me like I am dumb... b/c I am!

 

Most relay's have a 5 connections 85 and 86 ; 30 and 87 and 87a. 85 and 86 are the ends of the coil inside the relay that controle the switch inside. 30 is the common point between 87 and 87a. When no power is applied to the coil 30 is connected to 87a. When the coil turned on 30 is connected to 87.

Relay's are usually used to switch on higher amperage using devices, or switch power from one device to another.

As for the strobe part, aren't they wired into the strobe controller with special ends and then the controller is just powered on? That part I'm not sure on.

 

Holy Moley. DO NOT do that. You will be putting out your own car fire in short order. The three wires are Anode, Cathode, and Trigger. You can not put relays on any of these wires. They will go up in smoke the first time you engage the strobes. Your looking at about 800 volts there.

Before we go any further, tell me what the make & model of the power supply is. Once I know that, I can tell you exactly what to do down to the last wire.

 

Just the man I wanted to talk to... Thanks for the reply, this is why I ask before doing.. LOL I have a 6 outlet 90 watt power supply made by Gall's (part number said gr072, used to be a whelen but that died!). It is probably 4 or so years old. I have a code 3 master com to install. When I am done I will have 2 strobes up front and 4 to the rear (2 rear deck and 2 brake lights), headlight flasher and talon. The siren has a pursuit switch with 3 levels. I want to have the 1 slot turn on the rear lights only (4 strobes) and the 2 slot the front and rear strobes and then the 3rd all lights.
While I also have your attention I have two other questions... The box in your back seat, do you have dimensions? It looks very nice and I would like to do something similar to put the electrical stuff in and the powers supplies for the laptop, gps and the remote radio box.
Also along the same relay line, I want to put a "kill" switch in between the siren and speaker (I was going to just hide a simple switch under the dash) , a master kill for the all power to the radios and such (to be in the box) and I want to use a switch on the master com to turn on and off the laptop and gps power supplies. so I do not have to be worried about people using it when I am not around.. . Is this safe in your eyes?

 

Is this the power supply for your strobes. What you are saying you want to do with your strobes can be done using the power wires on the box. I am assuming that this is your box. There should be a power wire for outlets 1 and 2 then there should be a power wire for outlets 3,4,5, & 6.

As for the "kill" switch what purpose are you wanting to use that for.

Give me a call either on my cell (302) 293-6041 or if you have Nextel Hit me up on Direct Connect (Method I Prefer) 168*23579*3. I can pretty much answer any questions you have or get the answer for you in a short period of time.

P.S. Did you sell that bar already????

 

No it does not look like that more of just a plain looking power supply, no big G's or anything. It had the 6 slots for strobes, a connector with one red and one black wire and an unused connector labeled contol.
The 2 kill switches are for the siren speaker and main shut off. Obviously the main shut off is a basic master switch to kill all drain from that stuff on the truck for extended times of not running the truck. The speaker shut off is so I can disable the siren speaker if I choose. I have the siren locked out but the airhorn and PA still work. I want to be able to kill the speaker completely so if someone takes the truck for a spin they do not go around yelling at folks w/ the PA.
EDIT: I am waiting for a responce from someone about it... They better hurry though.. I am on vacation from the 4th til 12th! If nothing by then it will most likely be yours, or at least your buddies!

 

Sorry I disappeared. I spent the last several days moving and I haven't had time to do anything online other skim the active threads once a day.

Doc, describe this control connector. How many wires. Usually that is for enabling or disabling outlets. Can you double check the model # of the power supply, that one doesnt come back with anything.

 

Here you go...

 

OK. I'm really taking an educated guess here because Galls doesn't seem to have any of the paperwork on that model. However, the control method of Sound-Off supplies is rather common. Here is what I would be willing to bet those wires do:

Red: Main power (+)
Black: Main power (-)
Purple: Low power enable

Blue: Outlets 1 & 2
Green: Outlets 3 & 4
Yellow: Outlets 5 & 6

Applying power to each of those wires will enable the given pair of outlets in any combination. If you have none of them connected, none of them flash. You can have the red wire connected all the time without a switch. The blue/green/yellow wires are all low current control wires that would go to your switches.

 

Ok, well I did some snooping after our little discovery... The wires all control the flash patterns but the purple and green. Purple is hi low power and the green activates two outlets. and they happen to be the rear which is perfect! LOL So the other four operate together. THANKS!