Monday, 8 September 2014

Next Project - Lighting

The next project I am going to try in the van is a two-switch lighting system, with one switch by the left sliding door and the other where I can reach it from the rear doors and from the bed. Many people are familiar with the two-switch system from hallways in their homes - moving either of the switches will turn the light on or off.

The wiring for such a system is simple, you just have to make sure you used double-throw switches. These are switches that have three connections which 'make' according to the position of the toggle. This excellent image from a guitar pedal website, http://www.cubisteffects.com/ makes that clearer:

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The wiring diagram for the system is shown below:


Put simply, the live feed from the battery is connected to the centre contact of one switch. A twin wire is run between the two switches and connects the outer contacts to each other. The centre contact from the centre switch is connected to the +ve side of the light (or lights) and the -ve side of the light is connected to the vehicle chassis. This will make the two switches control the light in exactly the same way as a domestic hallway two-switch system.

The difficult part for me is going to be working out how to mount the switches so they are where I need them to be. Again, any advice or suggestions are welcomed by comment or by email to myredvan@outlook.com.

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