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Ignition switch amps?

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mini zilo

15+ Year Contributor
783
18
Jul 17, 2006
Chicago, Illinois
I am putting in a new starter switch on my switch panel (the stock ignition key is not connected). How many amps should the switch be rated for it to be safe to switch on the starter to start the car?
 
Since you are not sending the crank amperage through the switch (just completing the circuit to enguage the solenoid), theoretically it shouldn't be more then a few Amps.
 
Last night I tried to start up my 2g with the new standalone all wired up. The car didn't crank :mad: After a while I realized the car had no starter relay and the wiring for it.

My question is what would be the easiest way to get the starter to spin without the relay. I was thinking a bush button start that was wired up too the starter somehow. Does anyone have any suggestions about this or what I could do get my starter spinning?

Thanks
 
You're going to have to use a large high amp relay. There's no push button switch that i know of that can handle the kind of loads a starter sees. The amperage draw would surely melt any normal switch or sub-par wiring. If you were able to wire a stand alone in you should be able to make the key kick a heavy duty relay or even just use the stock solenoid, there's a constant 12v to it(big battery cable), and then you add 12v to the secondary pole(small 2nd wire that should show +12v when in the start position) and it kicks in. Super simple.

You should have been able to keep the stock chassis wiring all working if you just used teh stand alone to take control of the motor. I have a full stand alone and all my cruise, AC, tach, speedo and everything else still works just fine as i left it all in and just tapped the E6K into just the wires that it needed to take over engine management. I made a cheap plug-n-play but it was too fragile so i'm slowly bypassing all factory wiring only stripping out wires that i can confirm do NOTHING for me before i take them out. it's slow and tedious, but completely doable
 
Search for the push button start thread ... lots of good info and places to buy the push button start...I have one! A bit ricey but really nice when your racing and you kill it...push button goes in your cigerette lighter so its RIGHT THERE! Anyways go there and go to the last page it says how to wire it...I think i even posted a pic there on the last page (just did mine) and I was saying it didn't work, but it was the switch so that is the right wiring...PM me if you need help. You can buy the button from "keep it clean" google it...or there is many more place on that thread
 
You're going to have to use a large high amp relay. There's no push button switch that i know of that can handle the kind of loads a starter sees. The amperage draw would surely melt any normal switch or sub-par wiring.
WRONG! The starter has it's own magnetic switch (solenoid) on it which handles the high current (80-200 amps). All you need is a push button to activate that switch (definately <10 amps, probably even less than 5, I don't remember). The starter relay actually is in the dash and only activates to DISABLE energizing that magnetic switch (case of clutch not depressed or alarm system). So you don't need a relay if you don't care about that. But you will have to have that push button fused.
 
Alright thanks for the info. Since the relay is only for clutch, theft system purposes, would I be able to run that black/red starter wire from the ignition switch harness straight to the small starter wire? And I would put a fuse on that wire as well.

I'm guessing it would work if that wire only gets power when the key is in the "start position".
 
Yes that's exactly what you can do. If you use the ignition switch "start position" you don't need a fuse since it already has one (30A) on the other side of the ignition switch (which is what the original setup uses). (I didn't know you were going to use the ignition switch since you said you were going to use a push button - which is why I said to add a fuse.)
 
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