Sharing Switches?

[SlashProm]

Hi guys. New to the forum and was hoping to get some advice from people who know what they are doing.

Is it ok to share switches for other systems. For example: I want to tap in to the headlight switch on my car so when I turn on my headlights it also activates another system. I would also like to tap in to my high-beam control wire so when I activate my high-beam it also activates another system. Is this likely to cause any problems? My understanding is it is just a signal wire, but I'm unsure as to how many systems/demand you can put through a single switch. Thank you in advance.

 

[ForkEnigma]

Hi guys. New to the forum and was hoping to get some advice from people who know what they are doing.

Is it ok to share switches for other systems. For example: I want to tap in to the headlight switch on my car so when I turn on my headlights it also activates another system. I would also like to tap in to my high-beam control wire so when I activate my high-beam it also activates another system. Is this likely to cause any problems? My understanding is it is just a signal wire, but I'm unsure as to how many systems/demand you can put through a single switch. Thank you in advance.

Yep, easy to do with a relay

 

[SlashProm]

Yep, easy to do with a relay

Thank you for the fast reply. Basically my car has separate H7 headlight and H1 high beam bulbs.

I plan to install a projector with a Bi-Xenon into the headlight unit, and it uses the signal wire from the high-beam unit to activate the flap inside the Bi-Xenon projector to engage the high-beams. But rather than leave a hole where the old H1 bulb used to be, I'd like to also have that bulb working as well. Am I right in thinking I can do this without any extra modification?

 

[SlashProm]

Sorry. I am a total noob at this. Usually the motor is powered off the old high beam circuit as it's no longer needed when running a bi-xenon. But I would like to keep that circuit. So would my best bet be to make up a new circuit with a relay and fuse to power the motor, and just have it tapped in to the high beam switch on the stork, so that way I don't have to modify the old high beam circuit?

 

[telectrix]

basically, you don't want to overload the existing wiring, so you use the "signal" to energise a relay ( low current required) and power the auxilliary equipment through the relay contacts (via a suitably rated fuse).

 

[SlashProm]

After doing a bit of research it looks as though they are just tapping into the 12v "signal" wire from the h1 system to trigger the h7 bi-xenon motor, and not actually putting any real draw on it. After talking to one of my friends who knows quite a bit about car electrics, he said it should be fine to still run the H1's as normal.

He said to me that a corroded connection would draw more power than what it is being used for.

 

[PEG]

Hi,what is the vehicle? If it is a true signal wire,such as CanBus,at the switch gear,you could cause all sorts of issues.
Using a cable which connects to the original lamp,you could switch a relay,or if of sufficient capacity,power your new component.