The Machine

I'm wiring up 8 switches & relays & someone just clued me in on daisy chaining & was wondering if there's a downside to wiring this way or if it's better to have one wire branch off into 8 seperate wires for each switches ground, positive, etc.



Also wondering if I can lump my relays like this or if I might have problems with the magnet from one coil interfering with the one next to it when activated.



Thanks !

Alcoloco

The downside could be to much current draw depending on how many are in the circuit, voltage slump/drop when turning multiple relays on. Although the mag fields won't effect one another, it is a good idea to have some spacing for cooling or a good heat sink.

The Machine

Im using 14g wire with a 15a fuse coming into the console off of a larger 12g wire that runs to the tail of the truck that has a 20a fuse on it. The 14g coming into the console will only be running about 12a total if I have all the separate circuits/switches on at the same time. I should be covered to daisy chain then, correct?

Alcoloco

12 amps is starting to run close to the 15 amp fuse, but if you are not running all the relays at the same time should be fine.

The question is, what is the 20 amp fuse running, what's the current draw on that line without the relays?

Chaining the relays won't be a problem, but if it creates to much draw with the with main draw for the 20 amp fuse you just may have to run a separate power line to your setup.

You most likely will be running dedicated separate power for the accessory side so it would probably be just as easy to run a dedicated power wire for your relays at the same time. Just a thought.

The Machine

First of all, thanks for your help Alcoloco, I've had quite a bit of help to get this far and I appreciate those who are helping me to not burn down my truck I am very new to wiring and just want to make sure I have a solid game plan as this is all very ambitious.

I am running the 12g 20A line from the battery to the tailgate to power multiple circuits rather than running several lines to the battery. Here is the overall wiring schematic showing my runs and connection. I figured my loads to be:
Grill lights-0.87A
Rev. Lights-3A
Bed Lights-4.8A
Rock Lights-3.7A
Footwell Lights-5A
Console & lid light-0.54A
Total Amps: 17.91A

Just about all the switches you will see here are spdt on-off-on switches configured a few different ways to be able to choose a power source or a switch preference. I plan to use 18g for my switch wires & 14g for the power/ground wires to the accessories. Any help or advice is always appreciated!

The Machine

also worth mentioning, I tapped into the dome/cargo light wire from the door sill and the parking lights wire from behind the headlight cluster and am using those as signal wires to their own relays, powered off of the 14g line into the console in order to set up some of the circuits to be able to use either with the parking lights or the dome/cargo lights as a power source option.

The Machine

Does it all look kosher? If I add an aluminum plate to the flat side of my relay block, would that be a sufficient heat sink?