Upper Console DPDT Rocker Switches

I got my DPDT Rocker switches from Knight Rider World a few days ago. Took a little while to find a spec. sheet but with dome help from some of the Facebook Knight Rider community I was able to download one on line. After doing some testing with my Multimeter it seems like the lights in the switch are independent of the switch wiring which is consistent with the spec. sheet details. It also looks like the switch can operate four different devices, two should be more than good enough for anything I can think of using them for so I have come up with a wiring scheme to allow me to activate two different devices, one on at any given time per DPDT Rocker switch. In my wiring scheme I have it so as the switch bulbs will only be lighted when either device is turned on, Red for one device and green for another, middle position is off for both devices.

Fog Lights Relays Being Added

OK some of you may recall some of my past posts about my work on the Fog Lights install. Now I was rather surprised that no one chimed in and let me know that the way I had it wired would not work or at the very least be a potential fire hazard.

Now here was the issue. I picked up two sets of Fog Lights from Canadian Tire made by Pilot Automotive, and of course like a good little newbie I followed the wiring instructions to the letter. Well not long after my scanner had arrived and I wired that up, then waited for the Marine Speakers to arrive so I could hook those up before going to all the trouble of re-hooking up the battery to test out what I had done.... well as it was my scanner worked fine but my Fog Lights did not work. What The Heck!! I thought, I followed the damned instructions to the letter, what gives!!?? I thought possibly a bad ground, so I checked my grounds, nope not the grounds. The Rocker switches for the Fog Lights was lighting up, in fact they were on all the time which I thought was a bit odd considering over time they would drain the battery unless I hooked up some kind of battery kill switch. Was it bad switches I thought.? Somehow I could not see two switches going at the same time, brand new switches at that. So I thought OK lets experiment and move my connections to the other Rocker Switches I had added to my upper console....

Well this time the switch remained unlighted but when I flipped the switch my Fog Lights came on!! What The Heck!! This makes no sense I thought. So off to the Internet and the forums to try and find some answers.

YouTube videos were indicating that my Rocker switches were wired up correctly so what the heck is going on here?!?

Much to my surprise I was to learn that what was needed here were "Relays" to be installed! 

Now why the heck would the instructions from Pilot Automotive mention that anywhere?? Especially considering that without Relays you run the risk of melting your switches and causing a fire!!

So anyways, I go out and pick up a couple of Car Relay wiring kits with 40 Amp Relays, my Fog Lights are only 55 W Halogens so I realize it's a little over kill but that's OK in my book. So I have them currently mounted onto my dash in that area where the dash documents pocket used to be mounted. The Knight Rider dash sticks out quite a bit in that area from what I understand so there should be plenty of room to utilize the space and that way my relays are not under the hood in the engine bay where they are subjected to the elements more.

So far I have just the power wire (+) Positive fused line from the battery connected to the number 30 terminals of each Relay. I have my ground wires connected I only need to add a ring terminal to the end of the wire and connect it to the ground on the side of the Fuse Block panel.

Now onto another bit of confusion I was having. In my original diagram that came with my Fog Lights kits it showed the Rocker Switch wired with the power wire ( [+] Positive)  connecting to the first or number 1 terminal on my switch, but yet the wiring diagram I was trying to follow for the relays hookup showed the (+) Positive from the battery connecting to the middle terminal??? What the Frack!! Why are all of the YouTube video stating that the middle terminal goes out to your accessory, Lights, motors.... whatever you are trying to power??? Now this was REALLY beginning to bake my little "Cat-Like" brain. lol

Anyways after much help from some awesome people on the Face Book Knight Rider groups I was to learn that the discrepancy is due to the fact that we now have a relay added into our wiring scenario. Case Solved!! lol at least we hope so. I still need to switch my rocker switch connectors to match the diagram above, and make sure I snip my power wire from the switch and add some wire to make a connection to the Relay's terminal 85 and the other part of the wire connect to terminal 87 of the Relay. Everything else is basically done, the Fog Lights are grounded as are the Rocker Switches so if all goes well it should work.

Now my last and only concern is that I get some mixed opinion about connecting wired directly to the battery. Some say it's bad and that you should connect from the power distribution centre or Fuse Block and other say it makes no difference so long as your wires have a fuse such as an in-line fuse. I can't see there being a difference outside of it being less wires running around in your engine bay... but I have run my wires along the side and have done my best to keep them as far away from other engine components. I have wire protected them, added extra insulation to any potential area that could come in contact with sharp metal edges and possible ware through due to vibration over time, cable tied them securely so I'm not worried about that happening... I went over kill on that stuff lol

I'll follow all of this up with a nice 2 parter video for all you cool cats and we'll see how this plays out for me once I have this all wired according to that last diagram with the Relays... Wish me luck :)

Upper Console Installed

I have the upper console pretty much installed. I have some tweaking to do and I want to see if I can add some more felt around the top edge to try and tidy up my install a little more. I also want to make sure my wires are tucked away neatly inside of the console, I did a pretty good job but there are a lot of wires in there so I just want to be doubly, doubly sure that there are not any pinched wires or wires that are not properly insulated that could cause a short, a short would be very bad! :(

I have the push buttons wires run down the drivers side windshield frame and under the dash to be plugged into the tone generator on the Knight Rider World Voice Box. They too can be hooked up to do things individually but that would be a whole load more wires to deal with so for now I'm OK with them just being hooked up to a tone generator when I put the Knight Rider 2 T.V. dash in. I have the rocker switches wired, the first two as mentioned before are for the front Fog Lights, the other four switches are not yet assigned for any purpose yet, not sure what I'll use them for just yet.

The headliner near the front will need some additional padding as I appear to have a gap there that needs to be filled, perhaps some 1/2" foam rubber under the headliner will do the trick? I'll see what I can do about that.

I'll follow up a little more on my install with a video as I know there are many out there who seem to like my videos.

Upper Console Update

Working a little more on my upper console. I made an aluminum switch bezel for some lighted rocker switches that I got from a local electronics supplier. I know they are not "authentic" but I like them and they will look good there in this location. I figured seeing how I already had two lighted rocker switches for the front nose fog lights and that they needed to be mounted somewhere that what better place than mix them in with a few more of the same type of switches in that side section on the upper console.

The stock aluminum I picked up from a local hobby shop. I used the hole in the plastic bezel that came with the fog lights switches to get the dimensions for the holes that would need to be cut into my aluminum bezel. Once cut out, filed and sanded my custom rocker switch bezel is ready for priming, painting and clear coating. I picked up some black nylon screw fasteners that will be perfect for securing the whole assembly of rocker switches and custom bezel onto the switch area of my upper console. I'm just waiting for the paint to dry and then I'll be able to mount my switches. I'm getting close to getting my upper console done, soon it will be time to install it into K.I.T.T.  ;)