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i bought a car with a n Borla exhaust with an Electric cut out. Never was wired up. Has two wires coming of from cut out motor. One black and one white. Assuming it’s a ground and power. I grounded the black one. Tapped into the orange cigarette lighter wire For power. Now I believe this is the switch. Do I just run power in and power out? The cutout just seem so to be “clicking”. Doesn’t it matter which prong I tie into?? Maybe the motor is seized??
Generally those are polarity reversing switches. When pressed one way, it provides power on white and ground on black. Pressed the other way provides power on black and ground on white causing the motor to run the other way. The switch should have at least four terminals - power and ground input from the car's electrical system and reversible power and ground output for the motor.
However, if you manually connect the motor directly to power and ground (without the switch), it should move unless it's already at the end of its travel. Reverse the wires and see if it moves. If not, you appear to have a faulty motor.
Generally those are polarity reversing switches. When pressed one way, it provides power on white and ground on black. Pressed the other way provides power on black and ground on white causing the motor to run the other way. The switch should have at least four terminals - power and ground input from the car's electrical system and reversible power and ground output for the motor.
However, if you manually connect the motor directly to power and ground (without the switch), it should move unless it's already at the end of its travel. Reverse the wires and see if it moves. If not, you appear to have a faulty motor.
i uploaded a picture of the back. Has 5 connectors. So I need a power wire coming from the cigarette lighter and then a ground from the cigarette lighter too. Then the white wire from the cutout motor to the switch and the black ground wire from the Motor to the switch too? Sorry I’m more of a visual learner lol
Might not want to use orange wire from cigarette lighter, I believe that wire is hot regardless of key ignition. I wired mine off of the traction control module pink wire just next to it which is only hot when ignition is activated. I have a wireless box and key fob for a cutout for sale. It was super easy to install.
Sorry, for some reason the image of the back of the switch didn't show up when I first looked at the post.
Yes, that looks about right. As mintws6 suggested, you probably don't want to use the cigarette lighter as a power source. An ignition switched source would be better. Also, you may have to use a multimeter to determine which of those five terminals need to be connected to which wires. The extra terminal could be for switch illumination so it would be connected to the dash lights. Do you know what brand of cutout it is? You might be able to find a wiring diagram that will show which wires connect to which terminals on the switch.
Sorry, for some reason the image of the back of the switch didn't show up when I first looked at the post.
Yes, that looks about right. As mintws6 suggested, you probably don't want to use the cigarette lighter as a power source. An ignition switched source would be better. Also, you may have to use a multimeter to determine which of those five terminals need to be connected to which wires. The extra terminal could be for switch illumination so it would be connected to the dash lights. Do you know what brand of cutout it is? You might be able to find a wiring diagram that will show which wires connect to which terminals on the switch.
i already tapped into the cigarette lighter. But I guess I could find an ignition power source. I honestly don’t know the brand of cutout. I’ll see what I can figure out. Can I use the same ground wire and just split it?
Why would you need to split it? There should only be one terminal from the switch going to chassis ground. Ground and power for the cutout motor (white and black) are a closed loop between the switch and the motor that reverses polarity depending on switch position. Neither one of those wires will be connected directly to ground.
With a multimeter set to continuity (or resistance if it doesn't have a continuity setting), check every combination of two terminals to see which ones connect to each other. There should be no connections when the switch is at rest other than possibly for the switch illumination which would connect a power input to a shared ground output. Take note if that is the case because it gives you a clue as to which terminal is ground. Then push the switch one way and go through all the combinations of two terminals looking for the ones that connect to each other. Finally, push the switch the other way and check all combinations again. You will find a couple of pairs that change. Those are the ones which control the motor.
For example, numbering the terminals 1-5, you may find that 2-3 connect when the switch is at rest. That would be the illumination. Then you might find that when the switch is pushed one way, 1 connects to 4 and 2 connects to 5. When you push the switch the other way, 1 connects to 5 and 2 connects to 4. Those are the ones that reversed so they control the motor. 1 and 2 would connect to power and ground from the car's wiring harness. 4 and 5 would connect to white and black for the motor. 3 would connect to the dash lights. This is just an example - the actual connections will depend on the results of your testing.
Why would you need to split it? There should only be one terminal from the switch going to chassis ground. Ground and power for the cutout motor (white and black) are a closed loop between the switch and the motor that reverses polarity depending on switch position. Neither one of those wires will be connected directly to ground.
With a multimeter set to continuity (or resistance if it doesn't have a continuity setting), check every combination of two terminals to see which ones connect to each other. There should be no connections when the switch is at rest other than possibly for the switch illumination which would connect a power input to a shared ground output. Take note if that is the case because it gives you a clue as to which terminal is ground. Then push the switch one way and go through all the combinations of two terminals looking for the ones that connect to each other. Finally, push the switch the other way and check all combinations again. You will find a couple of pairs that change. Those are the ones which control the motor.
For example, numbering the terminals 1-5, you may find that 2-3 connect when the switch is at rest. That would be the illumination. Then you might find that when the switch is pushed one way, 1 connects to 4 and 2 connects to 5. When you push the switch the other way, 1 connects to 5 and 2 connects to 4. Those are the ones that reversed so they control the motor. 1 and 2 would connect to power and ground from the car's wiring harness. 4 and 5 would connect to white and black for the motor. 3 would connect to the dash lights. This is just an example - the actual connections will depend on the results of your testing.
go you. I will try it out and see!! Thanks so much
For argument sake, 1 and 2 prong show resistance and 4 and 5 show resistance when the button is pushed but I seems when I hook the wires up (power and ground to 1 and 2 then white wire and black wire to 4 and 5 or vise versa) it keeps blowing the fuse?? Any ideas why it’s doing this?
That could be that there's an internal short in the motor or, more likely, that you've picked the wrong combination of terminals on the switch (and reversing the connections will make no difference since the current flow through the switch to ground is the same either way). Have you tested the motor without the switch? Just hook up the two motor leads to positive and negative respectively (using a fused jumper wire) and see if the motor moves. Then reverse power and ground and see if the motor moves the other way.
Once you've verified that the motor works, you can check the switch. You should find combinations of terminals that have little or no resistance between them when the switch is operated while all other terminal combinations have infinite resistance indicating no connection between the terminals. It's basically and all or nothing situation - pairs of terminals should have either no resistance or infinite resistance. Any reading of resistance in between those extremes probably means the switch is bad.
for power, use the radio which is located on the drvier fuse panel. just remove the cover, then the radio fuse and shove the power wire into there and put back in the fuse and you're good to go lol. also regarding the switch, just get a 2 prong switch, one power and one for ground to alleviate wiring woes.
for power, use the radio which is located on the drvier fuse panel. just remove the cover, then the radio fuse and shove the power wire into there and put back in the fuse and you're good to go lol. also regarding the switch, just get a 2 prong switch, one power and one for ground to alleviate wiring woes.
Nope... neither of those are good ideas.
If you plan to get power from the fuse panel, there are ports there specifically for that purpose that take a single prong quick connect plug (like one leg of a fuse). You can choose between battery (constant), ignition, or accessory (like the radio stays on after the ignition until a door is opened) depending on your needs. Shoving a bare wire into a fuse socket is just asking for a fire.
A simple 2-prong toggle switch will not work because the motor requires that the power can be reversed to provide open and close functions. Besides, connecting one side of a toggle switch to power and the other to ground guarantees an instant electrical short the moment you turn it on.
So I have confirmed by the method of switching the wires that the cutout does work. Doesn’t seem any method I try with the switch will worth tho. If I put the white cutout wire with the power and the ground and black cutout wire together (in the switch) the cutout will close, without even pressing any buttons, just plugging into the switch. When I reverse the black and white wires on the switch it’ll open just like before, without even pushing any buttons. So confused.
Would you consider buying a new switch? There are lots available in different styles. You're looking for a DPDT switch (that's double pole, double throw), momentary ON, OFF, momentary ON. Here's one that looks similar to what you have:
This standard type of switch has six terminals and each one's purpose is well defined. There are three terminals on each side. They are arranged like this:
The switch on Amazon that I linked has terminals labeled 1, 1A, 1B and 2, 2A, 2B but the wiring is the same. You connect the power and ground input to the two center terminals (B and E), connect the white and black motor leads to the terminals at one end of the switch (A and D), and connect wires between the terminals on one end (A and D) and the terminals on other end (C and F) that cross over (reverse) so that the motor will reverse when the switch is pushed the other way.
Would you consider buying a new switch? There are lots available in different styles. You're looking for a DPDT switch (that's double pole, double throw), momentary ON, OFF, momentary ON. Here's one that looks similar to what you have: https://www.amazon.com/Baomain-Momen.../dp/B01FA9UNMA.
DPDT switch
This standard type of switch has six terminals and each one's purpose is well defined. There are three terminals on each side. They are arranged like this:
The switch on Amazon that I linked has terminals labeled 1, 1A, 1B and 2, 2A, 2B but the wiring is the same. You connect the power and ground input to the two center terminals (B and E), connect the white and black motor leads to the terminals at one end of the switch (A and D), and connect wires between the terminals on one end (A and D) and the terminals on other end (C and F) that cross over (reverse) so that the motor will reverse when the switch is pushed the other way.
04-15-2019, 02:02 PM
Wiring exhaust cut out switch 
