In our Vanagons, all the power for the headlights goes thru the headlight switch from the battery, to the headlights. The switch is the problem, as it has too much resistence in it to the power, and when the happens, the power to the lights is reduced by the switch. The switch internals will also tend to get hot when this happens, and the heat often makes the situation worse. A relay, also called a contactor, is a remote control switch, it is a heavy duty switch, that can pass high power, without getting hot, and without power getting used up going thru it. It is remote control, becuase you will use an other "lower quality" switch to remote control it to turn on or off. The power needed to remotely turn on or off your relay is only a very small amount, hence you can use a cheap light duty switch to activate the relay. The relay will allow more power to pass. The Vanagon headlight switch is a "cheap" light duty swithc, and really is not a good choice for running the headlights. Install the relay for the headlights, and use the stock switch to remote control the relay, and you will have brighter stock lights, be able to install higher power aftermarket lights (which would kill the stock swith quickly if no relay), and your stock switch will last maybe longer than you r Vanagon. dave ----- Original Message ----- From: "The Shaws" <mindthegap01@COMCAST.NET> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2004 9:47 PM Subject: What does a relay do?
> I hope you experts don't mind me asking this question but I have read about > this several times on the list and would like to understand the idea. > > I have read 2 relay situations: > > 1. Installing headlights with greater intensity. Use a relay... > > 2. Install a relay in the fan switch to prevent the switch from burning > out... > > So my understanding is that the addition of lights with a greater energy > demand draws more power than the wires can handle... so what does the relay > do? > > thanks > > peter > |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.