Relay Panels

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Cuda416

Cuda416

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been wanting to make a relay panel as much for function as for the hell of it. Did a quick search and nothing really comes up.

If you've done this, I'd love to see how you set everything up.

My initial thoughts are to make a panel to mount everything to and put it on the top of the drivers side inner fender panel.

Elect fuel pump
Head lights (Low)
Head lights (High)
Elec fan
Extra TBD use

I'll have a 6 circuit fuse block and a break on the panel as well.


Any examples?
 
I don't have anything mounted or even wired into the car, but I started with a Jeep PDC and repurposed if for my (someday) Magnum swap. I think it was an early 90's Cherokee? Much smaller than the big Ram PDC my harness came with. I have it all wired together, just haven't spliced it into the Magnum harness yet.

I plan to build a bracket that would bolt to the old ignition module holes and mount it in the back driver's side corner of the engine compartment.

Don't have any pictures, but here the wiring I came up with.

PDC WiringRev3.png


Not sure it helps a bunch, but there it is.

Here's a layout of what the PDC looks like:

PDC Layout.png
 
DionR said:
I don't have anything mounted or even wired into the car, but I started with a Jeep PDC and repurposed if for my (someday) Magnum swap. I think it was an early 90's Cherokee? Much smaller than the big Ram PDC my harness came with. I have it all wired together, just haven't spliced it into the Magnum harness yet.

I plan to build a bracket that would bolt to the old ignition module holes and mount it in the back driver's side corner of the engine compartment.

Don't have any pictures, but here the wiring I came up with.

View attachment 1715670132

Not sure it helps a bunch, but there it is.

Here's a layout of what the PDC looks like:

View attachment 1715670133
Click to expand...


Thanks. I've seen where people use the existing boxes which is kind of interesting. I imaging it's not all that hard to require one.
 
Cuda416 said:
Thanks. I've seen where people use the existing boxes which is kind of interesting. I imaging it's not all that hard to require one.
Click to expand...

I ended up with 2 or 3 spares since they are so easy to grab at Pull and Save. Well, easy as in they are pretty much at the top of the engine bay and require little be removed, but a pain to cut all the wires.

I started with a GC PDC, but it was short 1 relay for what I wanted. Don't have AC, but don't want to start over if I ever get there. Either way, there are smaller OEM PDC's than what I started with, but this one seemed reasonable.

I like that it has a black cover both top and bottoms and kind of fades into the background (IMO). Not sure how I would have built something as compact and enclosed if I had had to build it from scratch. But it also has spots for 26 fuses and I am only using 11.
 
Finally found a picture online of the PCD I have.

376631d1501377100-cel-battle-9899xjpdc-1.jpg


Not sure if you can tell how big or small it is from that though. Might still be bigger than you would want.

I am sure others will post cleaner ways to do it.
 
DionR said:
Finally found a picture online of the PCD I have.

View attachment 1715670141

Not sure if you can tell how big or small it is from that though. Might still be bigger than you would want.

I am sure others will post cleaner ways to do it.
Click to expand...

I appreciate it. As of now, I only have an idea of what I want and so far have only been considering making a flat panel and just laying things out as neatly as possible. Looking forward to seeing other ideas as well but this one is good.
 
BobW said:
I've used this type for accessories on a sidecar rig. You can also find quality items at a marine supply store or website. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MR64XK1/?tag=fabo03-20
Click to expand...

Wow, I like that one.

I like the OEM method of a strap to power one side of the fuses (and some relays), but not sure that is a big deal.

_mg_7841cs-jpg.jpg


And the one on Amazon doesn't have enough fuses to match my plan, but I probably have more than I need. I think I tried to match the truck PDC my harness came with but it has been a good while since I laid it out.

Seems like a pretty good option.
 
Here’s mine I built for my dads car. I bought most of the stuff from amazon. I added way more relays than I needed just incase of add on’s later or so a relay failure wouldn’t be an issue. It works really well. I may do something similar for my dart just to run all the electrical add on’s.

C80E35E9-7F20-46C1-94D5-9799DF0A9C39.jpeg
E0A9171C-2184-4213-9969-47B2999AF186.jpeg
 
Last edited:
273 said:
View attachment 1715670246

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07K213LMY/?tag=fabo03-20

I bought this from amazon for when I do my wiring, haven't used it yet, was only like $30
Click to expand...

I bought something like this a while back but didn't really understand what was going on yet and when I saw how it was wired, I'm having second thoughts.

Jim Lusk said:
I have one of the Amazon ones, but wish I had seen this before I bought it. Mine is under the battery tray (not ideal, but it fits best there).

Micro Relay Holder Kit - 7-Way
Click to expand...

Similar to the other one, but I do like how small it is. That's pretty cool.


68 HEMI GTS said:
Here’s mine I built for my dads car. I bought most of the stuff from amazon. I added way more relays than I needed just incase of add on’s later or so a relay failure wouldn’t be an issue.

View attachment 1715670521 View attachment 1715670523
Click to expand...

This is where I am now, though I do like having the option of having a box to cover things like the amazon and jeep parts. Where do you plan on installing this, it's huge! :)
 
Cuda416 said:
This is where I am now, though I do like having the option of having a box to cover things like the amazon and jeep parts. Where do you plan on installing this, it's huge! :)
Click to expand...

I put it where the heater box would be. It’s mounted in the car in the lower pic. The car has a full roll cage and is hard to do anything under the dash. I made it big so it’s easy to work with. It could certainly be duplicated on a smaller scale and put somewhere more inconspicuous.
 
68 HEMI GTS said:
I put it where the heater box would be. It’s mounted in the car in the lower pic. The car has a full roll cage and is hard to do anything under the dash. I made it big so it’s easy to work with. It could certainly be duplicated on a smaller scale and put somewhere more inconspicuous.
Click to expand...

Yeah I missed the under dash pic somehow that was right in front of my face. Doh!

That's a really nice setup! I'm hoping at the moment to keep/move the high current stuff into the engine bay. That said, if we re-wired the whole car, and upgraded the wiring from front to back, I won't be worried about the connector blocks in the firewall melting.
 
68 HEMI GTS said:
Here’s mine I built for my dads car. I bought most of the stuff from amazon. I added way more relays than I needed just incase of add on’s later or so a relay failure wouldn’t be an issue. It works really well. I may do something similar for my dart just to run all the electrical add on’s.

View attachment 1715670521 View attachment 1715670523
Click to expand...

That looks very clean! How'd you attach it to the firewall?
 
Dont have a pic. My homemade relay uses a modified late model plastic glove box for weather cover. Its on the right inner fender down near the frame rail, beside the alternator. I had to shorten the belt adjust swing arm a inch or so. The original horn relay in my 67 was on the core support near the horns. Today it is the same type bosch relay in the enclosure with headlight relays. I didn't label the relays. I labelled their connectors.
 
RedFish said:
I labelled their connectors.
Click to expand...

I had to think about that for awhile before it dawned on me that if you label the relay and then have to swap it out or move them around to see if one is bad, you could end up with a confusing mess. But the connector never changes so label that instead. Nice idea!!
 
Something to look into is the capacity of the micro relays. I don't remember what or why, but it sticks in my head that some of the relays I wanted shouldn't be done with the micro ones? Been too long.

Just something to think about.
 
DionR said:
Something to look into is the capacity of the micro relays. I don't remember what or why, but it sticks in my head that some of the relays I wanted shouldn't be done with the micro ones? Been too long.

Just something to think about.
Click to expand...

Yup, just a cursory look shows up to 30A. Haven't dug too far yet.,
 
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