RENAMED!! The adventures of Chase and his 2006 Yukon XL Denali!! Follow along on my travels!

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

OP
OP
adventurenali92

adventurenali92

Full Access Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2015
Posts
7,219
Reaction score
8,299
Location
Big Bear Lake, ca
I want to see @05Single freak out!!

:lol::crazy:
Aww that's messed up haha. Well turns out the diode was the culprit after all. I just did a quick look this morning on my way to work and it was fine from the top side. This evening I pulled it out and it had burned out. Cracked across the bottom the diode. So new one in and everything is back to normal.
 
Last edited:

W8TVI

Full Access Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2016
Posts
696
Reaction score
692
Location
Traverse City, MI
Aww that's messed up haha. Well turns out the diode was the culprit after all. I just did a quick look this morning on my way to work and i5 was fine froM yhe top side. This evening I pulled it out and it had burned out. Cracked across the bottom the diode. So new one in and everything is back to normal.

I would guess that the diode you used might be too light duty, but it really shouldn't take much to just activate a relay.
If you are using a really small diode, you might want to go with a larger one.

32 volt, 1 amp should be good enough, and I think should be easy to get. Most relays that side shouldn't draw anymore than about 500mAh to activate.
 
OP
OP
adventurenali92

adventurenali92

Full Access Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2015
Posts
7,219
Reaction score
8,299
Location
Big Bear Lake, ca
I would guess that the diode you used might be too light duty, but it really shouldn't take much to just activate a relay.
If you are using a really small diode, you might want to go with a larger one.

32 volt, 1 amp should be good enough, and I think should be easy to get. Most relays that side shouldn't draw anymore than about 500mAh to activate.
At first I went with a smaller 1A and it fried after only a couple days. It was alao really small in size. So I went with a bigger 1.5A and that worked fine for the last 2 months or so. Not sure why this one all of a sudden went. I will havw to keep an eye on this one and see if it presents any issues. Never a dull moment with my truck..... :confused:
 

W8TVI

Full Access Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2016
Posts
696
Reaction score
692
Location
Traverse City, MI
At first I went with a smaller 1A and it fried after only a couple days. It was alao really small in size. So I went with a bigger 1.5A and that worked fine for the last 2 months or so. Not sure why this one all of a sudden went. I will havw to keep an eye on this one and see if it presents any issues. Never a dull moment with my truck..... :confused:

If the one you selected is too low of voltage, you can still burn them out.
When I did my dome light mod, I measured the current being drawn by all three LEDs, and it was only about 400mAh, and I happened to have a couple of 32v, 1A diodes in my parts bins.
32 volts and 1 amp should give it enough it more than enough in my case.
One thing to remember is that those diodes will heat up. If it is already hot where it is, you might need to go bigger still to make up for the extra heat.
If you have a meter that can measure amps, you could find out what the relays are drawing through the diode, and then find one that doubles whatever it is drawing (That is why I like to choose the 32 volt diodes).
 

Rocket Man

Mark
Supporting Member
Joined
Dec 25, 2014
Posts
25,961
Reaction score
50,621
Location
Oregon
At first I went with a smaller 1A and it fried after only a couple days. It was alao really small in size. So I went with a bigger 1.5A and that worked fine for the last 2 months or so. Not sure why this one all of a sudden went. I will havw to keep an eye on this one and see if it presents any issues. Never a dull moment with my truck..... :confused:
1.5 amps is pretty small. Not sure what it takes to turn on the relay but it might be close to that.
 
OP
OP
adventurenali92

adventurenali92

Full Access Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2015
Posts
7,219
Reaction score
8,299
Location
Big Bear Lake, ca
1.5 amps is pretty small. Not sure what it takes to turn on the relay but it might be close to that.
If the one you selected is too low of voltage, you can still burn them out.
When I did my dome light mod, I measured the current being drawn by all three LEDs, and it was only about 400mAh, and I happened to have a couple of 32v, 1A diodes in my parts bins.
32 volts and 1 amp should give it enough it more than enough in my case.
One thing to remember is that those diodes will heat up. If it is already hot where it is, you might need to go bigger still to make up for the extra heat.
If you have a meter that can measure amps, you could find out what the relays are drawing through the diode, and then find one that doubles whatever it is drawing (That is why I like to choose the 32 volt diodes).
Good to know! I'll ha e to look into this week's and have everything measured out to see if it's drawing right and then put a diode in accordingly.
 

W8TVI

Full Access Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2016
Posts
696
Reaction score
692
Location
Traverse City, MI
Good to know! I'll ha e to look into this week's and have everything measured out to see if it's drawing right and then put a diode in accordingly.
Something to remember when using the amps range on your multimeter, most meters don't use a fuse on that range, and most cheap ones are only good for 10 amps max. Make sure you are measuring the right side of the relay, or if checking something else, that you KNOW it won't be drawing any more than your meter is rated for.

Other wise you'll let the magic blue smoke out of it. ;)
 

Forum statistics

Threads
128,802
Posts
1,805,638
Members
91,785
Latest member
Eliteweapons
Top