automotive relays with built-in LED? (wish list)

In most cars, you have relays, probably in a bunch for things like fans,
headlights, ABS, power windows, fuel pump et cetera.
Now those relays are in opaque cubes. You can't see if the contacts have
moved. I would love to see a relay with a LED built in to show when the
coil is energized. Would make troubleshooting quicker.
Has anybody ever seen such a relay in a catalog?
If not, please invent them now.

wrote:

> In most cars, you have relays, probably in a bunch for things like fans,
> headlights, ABS, power windows, fuel pump et cetera.
> Now those relays are in opaque cubes. You can't see if the contacts have
> moved. I would love to see a relay with a LED built in to show when the
> coil is energized. Would make troubleshooting quicker.
> Has anybody ever seen such a relay in a catalog?
> If not, please invent them now.

How about a relay with test points in the top of the case?

Power to coil, power to contacts, etc. The LED idea is nice, but sometimes a
system fails because contact power is lost, even if the coil works OK. You
could then stick an LED (with integrated dropping resistor) into the
appropriate test points.

Down side to all of this: economics of manufacturing dictates the shaving of
fractions of a panny off the cost of each component.

--
Paul Hovnanian
------------------------------------------------------------------
Lurk moar, poast less.

Paul Hovnanian P.E. wrote:
> wrote:
>
>> In most cars, you have relays, probably in a bunch for things like fans,
>> headlights, ABS, power windows, fuel pump et cetera.
>> Now those relays are in opaque cubes. You can't see if the contacts have
>> moved. I would love to see a relay with a LED built in to show when the
>> coil is energized. Would make troubleshooting quicker.
>> Has anybody ever seen such a relay in a catalog?
>> If not, please invent them now.
>
> How about a relay with test points in the top of the case?
>
> Power to coil, power to contacts, etc. The LED idea is nice, but sometimes a
> system fails because contact power is lost, even if the coil works OK. You
> could then stick an LED (with integrated dropping resistor) into the
> appropriate test points.
>
> Down side to all of this: economics of manufacturing dictates the shaving of
> fractions of a panny off the cost of each component.
>

Actually both of these exist as after market parts. They are sold as
testing items but they are just modified relays.

The issue then becomes, why would a company place diagnostic tools like
this under the hood or in the fuseboxes of all their vehicles when well
over 75% of the users will never even look at them or understand what
they are used for.

Steve W.

Steve W. > wrote:
>
>The issue then becomes, why would a company place diagnostic tools like
>this under the hood or in the fuseboxes of all their vehicles when well
>over 75% of the users will never even look at them or understand what
>they are used for.

That's the basic problem. Cars are not designed to be repaired or diagnosed.
This is why you don't see lights on relays, why you don't see any way to pull
the engine codes and parameters off from a convenient LCD display under the
hood, and why you don't see connectors at regular points along all the wiring
harnesses where you can disconnect or measure signals.

Airplanes are designed like that. If cars were designed by the people that
design airplanes, they'd be a delight to maintain and they would last a lot
longer.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

On Tuesday, September 8, 2015 at 7:03:52 AM UTC-7, Scott Dorsey wrote:
>
> Cars are not designed to be repaired or diagnosed.
> This is why you don't see lights on relays, why you don't
> see any way to pull the engine codes and parameters off
> from a convenient LCD display under the hood, and why
> you don't see connectors at regular points along all the
> wiring harnesses where you can disconnect or measure signals.
>
> Airplanes are designed like that. If cars were designed by
> the people that design airplanes, they'd be a delight to
> maintain and they would last a lot longer.

Are you saying Saab cars are a delight to maintain?