Austenp405 Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 In the process of rewiring my car, I decided that anything worth doing is worth doing to complete and utter overkill, so I made a billet aluminum box for my relays. Squaring the billet. Milling out the pocket. Mounting posts for the 4 relays, countersunk and threaded from the back, plus the cutout in the bottom for wiring. The only thing left to do is CNC engrave the cover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LLave Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Dang it! No RELAX box. Are you at all concerned with constructing the housing out of a conductive material? Might not be an issue, just asking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austenp405 Posted January 23, 2015 Author Share Posted January 23, 2015 Yes, I did think of that; I'm going to coat it with plastic before final assembly in case anything should come loose and short. Also, each circuit will be wired with circuit breakers before entering the box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperZ Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 (edited) Dang it! No RELAX box. Are you at all concerned with constructing the housing out of a conductive material? Might not be an issue, just asking. To put it in perspective, consider your house wiring. It's required to to put your switches and outlets in a conductive box for safety, so faults are grounded. Edited January 23, 2015 by SleeperZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Namor Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 To put it in perspective, consider your house wiring. It's required to to put your switches and outlets in a conductive box for safety, so faults are grounded. I don't think that is true where I live. Pretty much all of the gang boxes in my house are plastic. Besides, that is for personnel safety, you don't have to worry about that with a 12vdc circuit. That relay box looks amazing though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperZ Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 It's only recently that plastic boxes are used, and the frame of the receptacle still has to be grounded. My point was metal boxes are not only ok, but advantageous. It's a given (good design practice) that the circuits inside are protected with fuses or breakers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Gadsby Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 I worked as an "engineer" (glorified draftsman) for a company that designed and fabbed industrial electrical enclosures. All metal. Some of them were brushed stainless, no coatings, and all of them had grounding stud welded in. As long as your electrical system does not have frayed wires, random splices and all around garbled crap I think you would be fine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pallnet Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 That's a nice looking pce. Good work. I don't really see a problem since it's only holding relays. If you had to pull pins from the relays then just disconnect the negative cable from the battery. Thanks pallnet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texis30O Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 I am an Instrumentation and Electrical inspector and I approve this relay box, provided the proper grounding methods are being used. lol...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austenp405 Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 I am an Instrumentation and Electrical inspector and I approve this relay box, provided the proper grounding methods are being used. lol...... Lol, doesn't get much more clear than that. As another layer of protection I'll be using these connectors so the terminals are encapsulated: http://www.waytekwire.com/item/75281/MINI-RELAY-CONNECTOR/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LLave Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 I didnt expect to spark such a debate. Hah. This is not a 120v system and there is NO ground. What is refereed to as "ground" in automotive wiring is the negative. Any hot wire that touches that will short. However, this is true for the whole damn chassis. Great work, make sure you post pics of the finished product. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaos Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Ooooo I kinda want one now!! O.o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austenp405 Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 After fighting the machine for a while, I finally got the lid finished. Don't know if I'll powdercoat it to bring out the engraving or just leave it as-is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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