Hey guys,
So I have been using a cigarette lighter to ground the solenoid on my Shocker 240 kit (solenoid connected to battery and (-) contact completes the circuit http://s909.photobucket.com/user/danwat1234/library/Shocker%20240%20hornblasters%20kit%20on%20Honda%20Civic?sort=3&page=1), but I want something more professional and easy to control.
I have a feeling that you will recommend relays so the switch will last a long time but aren’t there some switches that can handle the feedback from the solenoid (voltage spike, inductance?)? I’d prefer one with not bare terminals but prewired so I just butt connect the 2 wires (but no big deal) and looking for one that maybe has a cover so I can’t accidentally activate it.
Any ideas? Thanks. At first I tried old 486 computer reset switches but each one wore out quite quickly as you can imagine.
PS: Mods or Ear2Ear I sent you a PM a while ago but you might not have gotten it. My account got it’s signature wiped and i have no PM inbox or sent box (or drafts if I had one) for months now. It appears that I can send PMs but haven’t gotten any responses yet. My post count has been reset too. Oh, and I can’t find any posts I made before September 1st of this year
Sorry - when I got your email I assumed it was a notification for a PM and automatically deleted it. Then logged on to read the PM which obviously wasn’t there…
I wouldn’t worry about a relay for the valve’s solenoid. But then again, I don’t know about voltage spikes and whatnot.
Those must be some really wimpy switches…
It’s a bit unclear what you’ve done. When you say you’re grounding the solenoid, can I ask:
which solenoid - the air solenoid for honking the horn or the blue combined relay/pressure switch?
Which wire are you grounding through your cigarette lighter?
The HB switch contains both a relay and a pressure switch:
The black ground needs to be wired permanently to a good ground source (e.g. chassis or back to the negative battery terminal). The blue is a relay trigger and yes, it’s subject to back EMF (the voltage spike when the electrical field inside the relay coil collapses). I’m guessing that you’ve wired this directly into your cigarette lighter. It’s OK if you have.
If you want to manually en/dis-able the compressor relay you do not need another relay - just a normal ON/OFF switch… like this for example:
. Wire the switch into the blue line (not the black) as the switch will stop any voltage spikes from flowing into your lighter socket.
@ear2ear, thank you! I didn’t know I created another account and why I did. Was thinking you guys had a server crash and didn’t have backups.
@DBO; The Black Widow 1/2" air valve in the 240 Kit. I have it permanently hooked to power (the battery) and to activate the valve I ground that circuit to let current flow. The ground is the cigarette lighter. This way I don’t need to push the cigarette lighter adapter in all the way to activate the horns, I just barely touch it to the outer part.
I want to replace this with a reliable push button switch. Not that interested in making a toggle switch so I can use my stock steering wheel horn buttons but I’d like a separate button for the horns. Maybe something with a cover like what you showed except a momentary button. Might look at Radio Shack some more. Maybe Mcmaster Carr?
–On my blue pressure switch I have the trigger wire tied to power all the time, so it can come off with the key out of the ignition. I know it could run down the battery if the system springs a leak but it hasn’t happened yet and I’ve had it for years. Although one time the pressure dipped enough sitting overnight in 15F temperature that it turned on but the check valve couldn’t oscillate so the compressor wasn’t able to do anything. It would have run the battery down but I caught it.
