Electrical question

[cb4798]

I have just finished connecting all the wiring and for no other reason than idle curiousity I decided to connect the wires to the battery. When I did this I could hear a whining sound from the rear of the car. Thinking the ignition might be on, I removed the keys and connected the battery again. It still made the same sound.

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

[phil 01]

I would have thought that it is the fuel pump, if you have the ignition off and you fuel pump is running the ignition switch is wired wrong. You will have to check the terminal positions at the ignition switch against the colour coding 

good luck Phil 

[cb4798]

Thanks Phil. I will check out the ignition wiring.

[cb4798]

When I spoke to Caterham about this they first told me to check the fuel relay by swaping it over with another one. Assuming I had targeted the correct relay, this didn't work.

Next, they sent me a picture of the wiring connections for the ignition as they though that might be the issue.

This is the picture they sent.

Mine looks like this.

So, three questions, really:

1. Does anyone know what the purple wires are for? I kind of assume that they are for some other part of the system that the car in the picture from caterham doesn't have.

2. would putting the bottom wires on the wrong way round make a difference?

3. does anyone know how to go about learning how to decipher the wiring diagram? i would love to know what it all means but don't really know where to start.

thanks in advance for any help!!

 

[Jonathan Kay]

I think you've already got the wiring diagram.

Do you have an FIA/ kill switch?

Standard/ commonly used wire colours and another version. Adherence is not complete. Purple is "Direct, unswitched but fused supply from the battery." 

Work through that until you've identified the probable function of all the wires.

Do the switch terminals have any identification?

Do you have a multimeter (yet)?

Jonathan

 

 

[cb4798]

I have the wiring diagram - my question was about learning to how to understand it as I am not an electrical engineer.

No kill switch

Yes, I do have a multimeter

[Jonathan Kay]

Not sure what you want... an introductory book on the principles? 

Could you identify all the wire colours and tell us what they are? Do the switch terminals have any identification?

Jonathan

 

[phil 01]

Try marking up what cables you have ie purple position 1 etc do this with all cables (battery disconnected) and disconnect from the ignition switch, then with your multimeter set to continuity on bleep, when you touch the 2 test lead together the tester bleeps, go between the ignition switch terminals to establish the positions of the key, generally we have a common / normally open, goings closed when you turn the key, in other words between 2 terminals no bleep turn the key to the next position and it bleeps lets just start with this. If you check the wiring diagram for the ignition switch you should see numbers they are the switch positions 

regards Phil