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Adding power options - Fox body seat lumbar

S

sigtauenus

Active Member
Ok, basic electrical concepts here.

If I have a two-pin connector to an electrical accessory, is it safe to assume that one is ground and the other is switched supply?

If so, does it matter which is which?

Context of the question is wiring in the lumbar support that came with the fox body seats I recently upholstered.

427_21_04_10_6_53_43_0.jpg


The seats have the factory 2 pin connector that is a plastic piece vice the molded piece typically used in our cars. I'd like to just cut off the 2 pin connector and splice the wires, with one being grounded to the floor and the other hooked into a switched accessory plug. Does it matter which one gets grounded or connected to the switched supply? Either way it completes the circuit when the lumbar switch is pressed.
 
It's been awhile since I had fox body seats in the fastback. And I had hooked up the electric lumbar support. IIRC, it doesn't matter. I just ran a 12V supply to under the seat and wired it up to the plug.
 
Depends on what drives the support. DC motors or pumps depend on polarity to run in the right direction.It shouldn't hurt either way but it might not work.
 
Sam, is the switch already on the seat, or do you have to wire in a switch as well? If you have to wire in the switch, you'll have to use a polarity reversing circuit and a DPDT Momentary switch.


If the switch is already there, then yes one will be juice, the other ground. The polarity will matter, but hooking it up backwards will most likely just cause the lumbar to work in the opposite direction you expect it to. If there is a diode (like an LED to light the switch up) then reversing the polarity can cause something to break, but if it's just switches and motors, you'll be good.

Good luck.

Steve
 
I kept the stock switch in the seat. It was a clean removal from the donor car, everything is there including the original pigtail on the wiring.
 
There is a positive and a negative. If you have the original wiring on it, it will have a 2 way plug. One wire will be red (12v +) and the other black (ground).

I have mine hooked up in the '69, but used a dedicated circuit for them.
 
Here's the best pic of mine I've got that may help, the switch is on the rt. side below the bolster knob. I think it's SPDT? It's a rocker type, spring loaded to middle off. As mentioned I think properly wired pushing the rocker forward would push the lumbar out into your lower back, reversing the wire would reverse the direction. You can see the wire and pigtail at the bottom rear of the seat. Haven't hooked mine up yet so interested in the final answer, also what size fuse should you use inline? or wired through fusebox?

IMG_1221.jpg


Jon
 
I have those seats, too. Here's what I did:

I went to Radio Shack and bought two Molex two-pin connectors - one for each seat. Get the ones for 14 ga wire. Makes for a clean install, and allows you to easily remove the seats. On the "car" side of the connector, I ran one wire to ground (screwed to seat pan) and the other to constant 12V power (which comes from an auxilliary fuse panel I added under the dash).

I don't recall what size fuse, but it wasn't much - maybe 10A.

When you move the switch to "increase", the pump runs and inflates the air bladder. When you move it to "decrease", the motor does not run - air is just let out of the bladder.

Of the two wires coming from the seat, one is likely black and the other is either striped or colored. It's a pretty safe bet that the colored wire is power. Unfortunately, without pulling my seats, I can't tell you which is which.
 
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