DIY Wiring For Any Vehicle! (Almost)

I'm working on my Double Dually Mutt Truck project, and I need to wire the whole thing up. I decided to try the whole system on a table to make it easier to see and work out the bugs. That was a good idea, because not everything went as planned.

Part prices I show are the price at the time I bought them, it will probably change! Links for the Nilight stuff below:

Fuse Boxes:

LED Taillights:

Mini LED lights:

[The_Home_Pros]

If every school in America had a teacher like this guy to teach basic mechanical skills to our youth then this country would be much better. This guy would make an amazing shop teacher!! Awesome video!! Everyone should watch this!

[RobertFay]

*- Really good show and tell tutorial, James. Thank you.*
*- Being a good teacher comes naturally to you. That is a rare thing.*

[htownblue]

What a great simplistic lesson on how wiring works in most vehicles. Even modern vehicles use same principles.

[acalthu]

This is hands down one of the best informative videos I have ever seen on youtube. Excellent way to visualise the concept, you could adapt this to rewire a classic aircooled porsche easily.

[martinalan]

Still one of the best on YouTube . Great information well presented.

[jamesmccarl]

Great videos I am a 68 year old country boy pretty handy at fixing things but I love your videos easier for me to understand common problems, keep up the very informative videos.

[RTWGraphics]

This hands down the best automobile electric, diagnostic, video I've ever seen.

[richardphelan]

What a excellent demonstration breaking it down to it's simplest components this was a great demonstration thank you

[BallBusta]

About a month ago I had a little issue with electrical myself. Was fixing my brothers mower, the issue was electrical, managed to narrow it down to the starter. Checked online for a replacement starter, that shit was like 200 bucks (which wasn't in my budget), so I cracked the starter open to see exactly what the issue was. Turns out, all the springs that press the brushes into the starter were rusted to pieces. So I looked online, found a brush replacement kit for only 8 bucks, and that included the springs. Learned a lot in the process about starters, solenoids, fuses, and tracking down issues with a multimeter. Needless to say, I learned a hell of a lot more since watching this video. Thanks for the upload!

[randymack]

Another modern safety addition is the flashing side marker lights. If you wire your (2 filament) turn signal fixture ground wire to the positive of the marker lamp, then ground the marker lamp normally.
The side marker will dim and brighten, providing a side visible turn indicator!
I discovered this trick used one of my cars from my youth, after wrapping tinfoil around a blown fuse to get me home.
Instead I melted the entire rear wiring harness.
I learned a great deal about automotive wiring that week!

[CrazyHamSales]

Great video.. hint for making LEDs work with the two wire flashers or electronic flashers if they don't flash. Add a resistor from the output side of the flasher to ground, this makes it think there is a greater load then just the LEDs connected to it. They sell load resistors for this purpose when you want to install LEDs into older vehicles, but instead of putting them on each light I just put one at the flasher so there is always enough load to trigger it.

[teddill]

Great demonstration! Really broke it down to the basics. Thank you!

[daviddamico]

Awesome display, I was never shown that when I was in school many years ago … nice work

[flyingpeter]

i think this is the best 101 car wiring i have ever seen, exelent video my dude

[Cristobal_Ygnacio_Arriaga]

This video is awesome! Is going to come very handy since all the basics are here.

The only thing I would’ve like to know is how to determine the proper gauge of wire needed for different applications like: electric fans, headlights, etc..

[goptools]

Nice, thorough explaination of automotive elecrical systems, including some potential "gotcha's"! Thanks for the video!

[handyhippie]

i'd say over half of all starter issues can be traced to a bad connection of some type, and if left unattended will eventually cause a starter to overheat and fail. i didn't really learn anything new here, but it was interesting nonetheless. i've wired up many projects from scratch from tractors and trucks to cars and motorcycles, including a dozen v-dub sandrails i built from tack welded kit frames i bought from sandrail magazine back in the early 90's. you did an excellent job describing how the entire electrical system works, and i will direct anyone asking me how to do it to this vid because i don't have the patience anymore to explain it to a noob.

[mcmillanfarms]

Ok that has got to be the best and most concise wiring front to back for older vehicles that I have seen (don't know if I have ever seen another one though). The visual training goes a long way in my book.

[wackowacko]

3 terminal flashers in cars were used to flash the side marker lights (new requirement around 1970) during the "off" period of the turn signal lights. Turn signal light would be on while side marker light was off, turn signal light would be off while side marker light was on. In the 80s they let auto manufacturers do a wraparound turn signal lens instead of requiring a separate side marker light. 87 and 87A on the Bosch relay were the "activation" for the relay, you would feed V+ to 87, or ground to 87a to turn the relay on. The ground trigger was for things like a horn switch, where the button on the column grounds out to turn on the horn relay to activate the horn.

[davidjones]

Ive been fixing car electrics for over 50 years, but even I have learned a thing or two here, especially with the LED stuff.
Many thanks.
David in the U.K.