KiLLeR2001
05-25-2010, 06:38 PM
The time has come my fellow Zilvians... Lets blink those side markers correctly, once and for all. All the write-ups that I've seen involve cutting the black wire on the side marker and wiring it up to the turn signal pulse wire... WRONG! Sure, it works from the observer's point of view, but its the complete wrong way of going about things. So lets do it right, the first time.
Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for you if something happens to you or your car after doing this modification. If you're not somewhat knowledgeable in wiring do not attempt this, find someone that knows what they are doing and learn from them. This is not a project for inexperienced individuals, period.
After completing this write-up the following will happen:
- When your headlights/parking lights are off, the turn signals will blink in sync with your turn signals.
- When your headlights/parking lights are on, the turn signals will blink alternately with your turn signals.
- The same idea applies when your hazards are flashing as well.
Note: I've tried to conceptualize the idea of blinking the side markers in sync with the turn signals while the lights are ON, but it's not possible with a single filament bulb because there is no way for the side markers to "know" whether or not to stop blinking and continue staying lit, thus, why they must alternatively blink.
Here's a list of the supplies you will need to do this successfully:
- Soldering Iron (important)
- Fuse / Circle connectors
- Electrical Tape
- 12Gauge and 18Gauge Wire
- 6 Bosch Relays (5 lead) + Harnesses
- 10A Fuse
- Wire Cutter
Yes, you will be soldering. If you don't know how to solder, leave now and read some online tutorials. Come back to this thread when you have a little experience under your belt! Do not attempt this without soldering, no point in doing 4+ hours of work and then three months later you come complaining to me why your turn signals and side markers no longer function properly.
Disconnect your battery now!!!!
Disconnect your battery now!!!!
Disconnect your battery now!!!!
Alright, now that you've disconnected your battery we can continue.
The first thing we want to do is setup our relays. Put 6 in a block type setup and tape them together well. This is a picture of 4 relays taped together, you'll want to do the same thing, but with 6.
http://tehl33tsite.com/240sxdd/blinky/relayblock.jpg
Once taped together, attach the harnesses to them. You can make your own harness but I would suggest buying pre-made harnesses for these relays. You can find them on ebay or other websites.
If you don't know how relays work, google search, get a basic understanding first. It's very important you know how these relays work so you can understand exactly what you are doing.
Here's a quick breakdown:
left -> [85]: trigger (+/-)
right -> [86]: trigger (+/-)
top -> [87]: power source, switch on
middle -> [87a]: power source, switch off
bottom -> [30]: output
This is how our relays will be setup for this write-up.
Now you should have 2 rows of 3 relays taped together, the top 3 we will designate for the left hand side, and the bottom three will be for the right hand side. Now you will need to figure out where your relays will be placed within your car so you can calculate the amount of wire you will need. I bolted mine to the chassis directly underneath the wiper motor.
Once you figure that out, take the relays back to your work area, we will be doing the first set of connections away from the car, then we will bolt the relays to the car and then finish the process from there. It's very important you label your relays, if you can't do it in your head, write it down on paper so you don't confuse yourself because you will be dealing with a lot of wires in a small space. Let's label the TOP 3 relays [A], [b], and [C]. As I said earlier, these will control the left hand side. The BOTTOM 3 relays we will label [1], [2], and [3]. Alright cool.
http://tehl33tsite.com/240sxdd/blinky/relaysetup.jpg
---
http://tehl33tsite.com/240sxdd/blinky/altblink.jpg
---
Relay [A] Connections
---
Relay[A][87a] -> 10A Fuse -> Battery.
Relay[A][87]
-> Chassis Ground
Relay[A][85]
Relay[A][86] -> (t) Wire from LEFT turn signal
Relay[A][30] -> Relay[b][87]
---
Relay [b] Connections
---
Relay[b][87] -> Relay[A][30]
Relay[b][87a] -> Relay[C][30]
Relay[b][85] -> Chassis Ground
Relay[b][86] -> (T) Wire from LEFT turn signal
Relay[b][30] -> To Bulbs
---
Relay [C] Connections
---
Relay[C][87]
-> Chassis Ground
Relay[C][85]
Relay[C][87a] -> (t) Wire from LEFT side marker
Relay[C][86] -> (T) Wire from LEFT turn signal
Relay[C][30] -> Relay[b][87a]
---
You apply the same connections to Relays [1], [2], [3] but the only difference is you connect the RIGHT turn signal wires instead.
(t) Wire is the red wire from your side marker on the engine harness side once you cut it.
(T) Wire is the toggle green wire from your turn signal that pulses on and off.
At this point of the write-up, if you're good with wiring and understand the connections with the wiring diagram, you should be able to write it out on paper and finish everything on your own.
For the rest of you, lets go through step by step on what needs to be done.
=====
The first connection we are going to make involves Relay [A] and Relay [1]. Take the [87a] wire from both relays and a 12Gauge wire that is long enough to reach the battery area (or any other reliable 12V source). Twist all three of these wires together and then solder them accordingly. After soldering, tape them up nicely. After every solder its very important to remember to tape it up good (so that there is no chance of the tape unraveling). So as of right now you should have 2 wires from both Relays combining into one wire that is long enough to reach the battery from your relay mounting point.
The next step is the crimp a little fuse connector at the end of this wire, later on we will be connecting this to a 10A fuse. The picture below is just to show the type of connectors I'm talking about. Not the step you've just completed.
http://tehl33tsite.com/240sxdd/blinky/fusecircle.jpg
Ok, now that we've got our constant 12V source situated, it's time to establish our grounds. There are 5 ground wires per set of 3 Relays, so 10 ground wires total. What I did was, combine three ground wires into one 12Gauge wire, then the other two ground wires into one 12Gauge wire, then joined those two wires into one wire.
http://tehl33tsite.com/240sxdd/blinky/grounds.jpg
You can do it however you want, but its imperative that all these wires are grounded otherwise your relays won't function at all.
The next connection is a simple one, connect the [30] from Relay [A] to the [87] of Relay [b]. Do the same for Relay [1] and [2]. By now you should be getting the hang of doing a step for one set of relays, then doing it again for the other set. Essentially you're doing the left side first, then the right side.
Another simple connection to make, take the [87a] wire from Relay [b] and wire it directly to [30] from Relay [C]. Apply the same step to the right side, [87a] from Relay [2] into [30] of Relay [3]. Done and done.
The next part of this write-up will focus on preparing your car for this new setup. So put the relays down for a while and lets focus on the car...
Pull out the side marker on the LEFT side and look at the harness. You should see a red wire and a black wire. We need to cut the red wire so that there is enough slack to work with on both ends. So cut the red wire now. Now, the wire that goes back into the engine harness needs to be extended to the relay area. So solder in a new 18Gauge wire and route it all the way to your relay area. This will now be called the (t) Wire. Go to the right side and do the same thing. Now you should have two new wires in your relay area, (t) Wire LEFT, and (t) Wire RIGHT. Don't worry about the other cut end of the red wire right now, we will get back to that in the few steps.
Now the annoying part of the installation, We have to route a wire from the rear to the front to accept the cool new blinking action. Go the back of your car and locate the side marker harness and pull it out like you did for the fronts. Now again you'll see a red wire and a black wire. Cut the red wire. But this time, the side that goes into the body harness will need to be taped up, we won't be using this anymore. And the wire that goes into the bulb needs a new 18Gauge wire spliced into it, and long enough to reach the location of your FRONT side marker. From there you will join the two wires together into one 18Gauge wire that will route to your relay area... label this wire "LEFT BULBS".
http://tehl33tsite.com/240sxdd/blinky/wireroute.jpg
Sweet, now do the other side! Then label that wire "RIGHT BULBS" This will take a bit of time if you want to conceal the wires perfectly. Because you'll have to remove the floor piece and run the wire to the back behind the interior panels. If you've installed your own alarm system you might familiarize this step with wiring your trunk light to the alarm.
All of this will be in vain if you forget the most important wire to the install. The turn signal wire that blinks! Go to your turn signal, and pull out the harness. You should see three wires. Black is ground, red is constant 12V when lights are on, and the middle one, a green wire is your blinking wire. We will call this the (T) wire. We do NOT want to cut this wire, we simply want to tap into it. So tap it into it however you like, I slid back some of the wire casing and twisted another 18Gauge wire into it and soldered it in nicely. The (T) Wire needs to be long enough to reach your relay area so make it lengthy. Don't forget to do this for the other side too! Label it (T) Wire LEFT and (T) Wire RIGHT, respectively.
So now if you've followed the diagrams and pictures, you should have a bunch of wires in your relay area ready to be hooked up! So lets get down to the final step!!!
Bring your relay block to your car and mount it appropriately. The first connection we will be doing is the ground wire. Find a spot on your car with a clean contact of bare metal and cut a 12Gauge wire that is long enough to reach the relay area. Crimp down a circle connector on one side of the wire nice and tight, and bolt it to the car. Then bring the wire to the relay area. Now take your ground wires from your relays, and combine them with the ground wire you just bolted to the chassis. Solder it up well and then wrap it up nice with tape.
So lets move onto our 12V power source. You'll need to cut a 12Gauge wire about 2 feet long. At one end of this wire you will crimp down another fuse connector. At the other end you will crimp down a circle connector. It'll look just like this...
http://tehl33tsite.com/240sxdd/blinky/fusecircle.jpg
The circle connector end will bolt up to your battery. The fuse connector end will connect to the fuse. Remember at the beginning of the write-up I had you crimp down a fuse connector at the end of the wire coming from the relays? Now we need to join them together with a 10A fuse...
http://tehl33tsite.com/240sxdd/blinky/thefuse.jpg
Alright, now we've got the grounds done, and the 12V source done. Time to wire the relay functions! Yay.
I really hope you've labeled all your wires at this point otherwise you're going to be looking at a bunch of wires and saying to yourself.... "Damnit! Which one is which!??!"
We will start with the left side connections first, then finish with the right side. Take the wire labeled "LEFT BULBS" and wire it into the [30] of Relay [b]. Now take the (T) Wire LEFT and wire it into the [86] of Relay [b] AND the [86] of Relay [C] as well. So you're combining three wires together. Solder and tape. Last step, take the (t) Wire LEFT and wire it into the [86] of Relay [A] and the [87a] of Relay [C]. TA DA!!!!
Now do the wires for the right side in the same way, except you'll be using your RIGHT labeled wires and Relays [1], [2], and [3].
You've now completed the official and legit way of blinking your side markers. Not as simple as cutting one wire now is it?
Sorry for a lack of pictures, I kinda did this project without thinking about doing a write-up, then later on I realized a few people might find this useful. Let me know if something is unclear and I'll try to clear it up as best as possible.
Happy blinking :)
Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for you if something happens to you or your car after doing this modification. If you're not somewhat knowledgeable in wiring do not attempt this, find someone that knows what they are doing and learn from them. This is not a project for inexperienced individuals, period.
After completing this write-up the following will happen:
- When your headlights/parking lights are off, the turn signals will blink in sync with your turn signals.
- When your headlights/parking lights are on, the turn signals will blink alternately with your turn signals.
- The same idea applies when your hazards are flashing as well.
Note: I've tried to conceptualize the idea of blinking the side markers in sync with the turn signals while the lights are ON, but it's not possible with a single filament bulb because there is no way for the side markers to "know" whether or not to stop blinking and continue staying lit, thus, why they must alternatively blink.
Here's a list of the supplies you will need to do this successfully:
- Soldering Iron (important)
- Fuse / Circle connectors
- Electrical Tape
- 12Gauge and 18Gauge Wire
- 6 Bosch Relays (5 lead) + Harnesses
- 10A Fuse
- Wire Cutter
Yes, you will be soldering. If you don't know how to solder, leave now and read some online tutorials. Come back to this thread when you have a little experience under your belt! Do not attempt this without soldering, no point in doing 4+ hours of work and then three months later you come complaining to me why your turn signals and side markers no longer function properly.
Disconnect your battery now!!!!
Disconnect your battery now!!!!
Disconnect your battery now!!!!
Alright, now that you've disconnected your battery we can continue.
The first thing we want to do is setup our relays. Put 6 in a block type setup and tape them together well. This is a picture of 4 relays taped together, you'll want to do the same thing, but with 6.
http://tehl33tsite.com/240sxdd/blinky/relayblock.jpg
Once taped together, attach the harnesses to them. You can make your own harness but I would suggest buying pre-made harnesses for these relays. You can find them on ebay or other websites.
If you don't know how relays work, google search, get a basic understanding first. It's very important you know how these relays work so you can understand exactly what you are doing.
Here's a quick breakdown:
left -> [85]: trigger (+/-)
right -> [86]: trigger (+/-)
top -> [87]: power source, switch on
middle -> [87a]: power source, switch off
bottom -> [30]: output
This is how our relays will be setup for this write-up.
Now you should have 2 rows of 3 relays taped together, the top 3 we will designate for the left hand side, and the bottom three will be for the right hand side. Now you will need to figure out where your relays will be placed within your car so you can calculate the amount of wire you will need. I bolted mine to the chassis directly underneath the wiper motor.
Once you figure that out, take the relays back to your work area, we will be doing the first set of connections away from the car, then we will bolt the relays to the car and then finish the process from there. It's very important you label your relays, if you can't do it in your head, write it down on paper so you don't confuse yourself because you will be dealing with a lot of wires in a small space. Let's label the TOP 3 relays [A], [b], and [C]. As I said earlier, these will control the left hand side. The BOTTOM 3 relays we will label [1], [2], and [3]. Alright cool.
http://tehl33tsite.com/240sxdd/blinky/relaysetup.jpg
---
http://tehl33tsite.com/240sxdd/blinky/altblink.jpg
---
Relay [A] Connections
---
Relay[A][87a] -> 10A Fuse -> Battery.
Relay[A][87]
-> Chassis Ground
Relay[A][85]
Relay[A][86] -> (t) Wire from LEFT turn signal
Relay[A][30] -> Relay[b][87]
---
Relay [b] Connections
---
Relay[b][87] -> Relay[A][30]
Relay[b][87a] -> Relay[C][30]
Relay[b][85] -> Chassis Ground
Relay[b][86] -> (T) Wire from LEFT turn signal
Relay[b][30] -> To Bulbs
---
Relay [C] Connections
---
Relay[C][87]
-> Chassis Ground
Relay[C][85]
Relay[C][87a] -> (t) Wire from LEFT side marker
Relay[C][86] -> (T) Wire from LEFT turn signal
Relay[C][30] -> Relay[b][87a]
---
You apply the same connections to Relays [1], [2], [3] but the only difference is you connect the RIGHT turn signal wires instead.
(t) Wire is the red wire from your side marker on the engine harness side once you cut it.
(T) Wire is the toggle green wire from your turn signal that pulses on and off.
At this point of the write-up, if you're good with wiring and understand the connections with the wiring diagram, you should be able to write it out on paper and finish everything on your own.
For the rest of you, lets go through step by step on what needs to be done.
=====
The first connection we are going to make involves Relay [A] and Relay [1]. Take the [87a] wire from both relays and a 12Gauge wire that is long enough to reach the battery area (or any other reliable 12V source). Twist all three of these wires together and then solder them accordingly. After soldering, tape them up nicely. After every solder its very important to remember to tape it up good (so that there is no chance of the tape unraveling). So as of right now you should have 2 wires from both Relays combining into one wire that is long enough to reach the battery from your relay mounting point.
The next step is the crimp a little fuse connector at the end of this wire, later on we will be connecting this to a 10A fuse. The picture below is just to show the type of connectors I'm talking about. Not the step you've just completed.
http://tehl33tsite.com/240sxdd/blinky/fusecircle.jpg
Ok, now that we've got our constant 12V source situated, it's time to establish our grounds. There are 5 ground wires per set of 3 Relays, so 10 ground wires total. What I did was, combine three ground wires into one 12Gauge wire, then the other two ground wires into one 12Gauge wire, then joined those two wires into one wire.
http://tehl33tsite.com/240sxdd/blinky/grounds.jpg
You can do it however you want, but its imperative that all these wires are grounded otherwise your relays won't function at all.
The next connection is a simple one, connect the [30] from Relay [A] to the [87] of Relay [b]. Do the same for Relay [1] and [2]. By now you should be getting the hang of doing a step for one set of relays, then doing it again for the other set. Essentially you're doing the left side first, then the right side.
Another simple connection to make, take the [87a] wire from Relay [b] and wire it directly to [30] from Relay [C]. Apply the same step to the right side, [87a] from Relay [2] into [30] of Relay [3]. Done and done.
The next part of this write-up will focus on preparing your car for this new setup. So put the relays down for a while and lets focus on the car...
Pull out the side marker on the LEFT side and look at the harness. You should see a red wire and a black wire. We need to cut the red wire so that there is enough slack to work with on both ends. So cut the red wire now. Now, the wire that goes back into the engine harness needs to be extended to the relay area. So solder in a new 18Gauge wire and route it all the way to your relay area. This will now be called the (t) Wire. Go to the right side and do the same thing. Now you should have two new wires in your relay area, (t) Wire LEFT, and (t) Wire RIGHT. Don't worry about the other cut end of the red wire right now, we will get back to that in the few steps.
Now the annoying part of the installation, We have to route a wire from the rear to the front to accept the cool new blinking action. Go the back of your car and locate the side marker harness and pull it out like you did for the fronts. Now again you'll see a red wire and a black wire. Cut the red wire. But this time, the side that goes into the body harness will need to be taped up, we won't be using this anymore. And the wire that goes into the bulb needs a new 18Gauge wire spliced into it, and long enough to reach the location of your FRONT side marker. From there you will join the two wires together into one 18Gauge wire that will route to your relay area... label this wire "LEFT BULBS".
http://tehl33tsite.com/240sxdd/blinky/wireroute.jpg
Sweet, now do the other side! Then label that wire "RIGHT BULBS" This will take a bit of time if you want to conceal the wires perfectly. Because you'll have to remove the floor piece and run the wire to the back behind the interior panels. If you've installed your own alarm system you might familiarize this step with wiring your trunk light to the alarm.
All of this will be in vain if you forget the most important wire to the install. The turn signal wire that blinks! Go to your turn signal, and pull out the harness. You should see three wires. Black is ground, red is constant 12V when lights are on, and the middle one, a green wire is your blinking wire. We will call this the (T) wire. We do NOT want to cut this wire, we simply want to tap into it. So tap it into it however you like, I slid back some of the wire casing and twisted another 18Gauge wire into it and soldered it in nicely. The (T) Wire needs to be long enough to reach your relay area so make it lengthy. Don't forget to do this for the other side too! Label it (T) Wire LEFT and (T) Wire RIGHT, respectively.
So now if you've followed the diagrams and pictures, you should have a bunch of wires in your relay area ready to be hooked up! So lets get down to the final step!!!
Bring your relay block to your car and mount it appropriately. The first connection we will be doing is the ground wire. Find a spot on your car with a clean contact of bare metal and cut a 12Gauge wire that is long enough to reach the relay area. Crimp down a circle connector on one side of the wire nice and tight, and bolt it to the car. Then bring the wire to the relay area. Now take your ground wires from your relays, and combine them with the ground wire you just bolted to the chassis. Solder it up well and then wrap it up nice with tape.
So lets move onto our 12V power source. You'll need to cut a 12Gauge wire about 2 feet long. At one end of this wire you will crimp down another fuse connector. At the other end you will crimp down a circle connector. It'll look just like this...
http://tehl33tsite.com/240sxdd/blinky/fusecircle.jpg
The circle connector end will bolt up to your battery. The fuse connector end will connect to the fuse. Remember at the beginning of the write-up I had you crimp down a fuse connector at the end of the wire coming from the relays? Now we need to join them together with a 10A fuse...
http://tehl33tsite.com/240sxdd/blinky/thefuse.jpg
Alright, now we've got the grounds done, and the 12V source done. Time to wire the relay functions! Yay.
I really hope you've labeled all your wires at this point otherwise you're going to be looking at a bunch of wires and saying to yourself.... "Damnit! Which one is which!??!"
We will start with the left side connections first, then finish with the right side. Take the wire labeled "LEFT BULBS" and wire it into the [30] of Relay [b]. Now take the (T) Wire LEFT and wire it into the [86] of Relay [b] AND the [86] of Relay [C] as well. So you're combining three wires together. Solder and tape. Last step, take the (t) Wire LEFT and wire it into the [86] of Relay [A] and the [87a] of Relay [C]. TA DA!!!!
Now do the wires for the right side in the same way, except you'll be using your RIGHT labeled wires and Relays [1], [2], and [3].
You've now completed the official and legit way of blinking your side markers. Not as simple as cutting one wire now is it?
Sorry for a lack of pictures, I kinda did this project without thinking about doing a write-up, then later on I realized a few people might find this useful. Let me know if something is unclear and I'll try to clear it up as best as possible.
Happy blinking :)