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If you have ever drained your battery because you left your headlights on, this guide is for you. This guide will show you a simple and inexpensive way to hook up a buzzer that sounds whenever your car is off and the headlights are still on.
Tools/supplies needed:
12V Piezo Electric Buzzer ($5 from Radioshack)
(2) Female Quick Disconnects (18-22 guage with insulator sleeves)
Zip tie
Crimping tool
Safety Precautions
You may have heard people mentioning that you should just plug your piezo electric buzzer into a fuse slot. DO NOT plug any wires into your fuse slots. Your fuses are designed to blow out in the case of an overload on the circuit. If you plug electronics across 2 fuse circuits and one of those circuits overloads, you run the risk of destroying both circuits, the piezo buzzer, and possibly starting an electrical fire under your dash. In addition, your fuses are held in by a spring loaded contact. By adding additional wires into the fuse clip, you are stretching the spring contact which could cause the fuse to fail to connect the circuit. End result, your circuit won't work properly anymore.
Before you get started
Make sure that your car and headlights are OFF.
Adding a headlight buzzer
First, crimp the female quick disconnects onto the black and red wires coming out of the piezo buzzer.
Note: I recommend only using female quick disconnects with an insulated sleeve over them. This will prevent the contacts from shorting out on anything else under the dash.
Next, remove the fuse cover panel (below the steering wheel). Look for optional accessory plugs #1 and #2 on the fuse panel. They will be in the upper left hand corner of the fuse panel, and are labeled 1 and 2. The #1 plug provides power when the ignition is on and the #2 plug provides power when the taillights/running lights/dash lights are on. If they are empty (nothing plugged into them), plug your piezo buzzer into the two slots. Turn the headlight switch to on to test to see if the buzzer makes a high pitched tone. If it doesn't, unplug the wires and switch them around and try again. (depending on how the piezo buzzer is wired, the wires may need to be plugged in one way or the other).
NOTE: If your optional accessory plugs are already in use, you may need to fabricate a little splitter as shown in the picture above. This will allow you to plug two devices into the same plug.
Once you have the buzzer working with the headlights on, start up the car and turn the headlights on and off to check that the buzzer does not sound while the car is on. If everything checks out, zip tie the piezo buzzer securely to a wire harness under the dash.
Congratulations! As long as you don't ignore the buzzer, you will never kill your battery again from leaving your headlights on.
Tools/supplies needed:
12V Piezo Electric Buzzer ($5 from Radioshack)
(2) Female Quick Disconnects (18-22 guage with insulator sleeves)
Zip tie
Crimping tool
Safety Precautions
You may have heard people mentioning that you should just plug your piezo electric buzzer into a fuse slot. DO NOT plug any wires into your fuse slots. Your fuses are designed to blow out in the case of an overload on the circuit. If you plug electronics across 2 fuse circuits and one of those circuits overloads, you run the risk of destroying both circuits, the piezo buzzer, and possibly starting an electrical fire under your dash. In addition, your fuses are held in by a spring loaded contact. By adding additional wires into the fuse clip, you are stretching the spring contact which could cause the fuse to fail to connect the circuit. End result, your circuit won't work properly anymore.
Before you get started
Make sure that your car and headlights are OFF.
Adding a headlight buzzer
First, crimp the female quick disconnects onto the black and red wires coming out of the piezo buzzer.
Note: I recommend only using female quick disconnects with an insulated sleeve over them. This will prevent the contacts from shorting out on anything else under the dash.
Next, remove the fuse cover panel (below the steering wheel). Look for optional accessory plugs #1 and #2 on the fuse panel. They will be in the upper left hand corner of the fuse panel, and are labeled 1 and 2. The #1 plug provides power when the ignition is on and the #2 plug provides power when the taillights/running lights/dash lights are on. If they are empty (nothing plugged into them), plug your piezo buzzer into the two slots. Turn the headlight switch to on to test to see if the buzzer makes a high pitched tone. If it doesn't, unplug the wires and switch them around and try again. (depending on how the piezo buzzer is wired, the wires may need to be plugged in one way or the other).
NOTE: If your optional accessory plugs are already in use, you may need to fabricate a little splitter as shown in the picture above. This will allow you to plug two devices into the same plug.
Once you have the buzzer working with the headlights on, start up the car and turn the headlights on and off to check that the buzzer does not sound while the car is on. If everything checks out, zip tie the piezo buzzer securely to a wire harness under the dash.
Congratulations! As long as you don't ignore the buzzer, you will never kill your battery again from leaving your headlights on.