What is the State of the Ignition Pin of a Vehicle?

Question

I got a Vehicle Tracking Unit, The Connection required is Red - +12V Black - GND Green - Ignition.

I need to test the unit before putting it into the car. So to simulate the ignition procedure, what is to be done?

The unit comes on only after the CAR is put on said the guy who sold the equipment to us.

Should the Green be tied to Vcc (+12) ? Or Ground for the On State?

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 30 '15 at 05:03

When you turn the ignition key on in a car, it provides +12 volts to the ignition system and accessories, so I would expect the green wire should be connected to +12 volts (but the documentation of the device should clearly describe its requirements).

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 30 '15 at 05:29

2

Tie the ignition wire to +12V to simulate ignition on. Grounding the green wire will simulate ignition off.

answered Oct 30 '15 at 05:29

Robert Stiffler

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 30 '15 at 11:34

If you are just testing the equipment, do the following:

Open the hood of your car.
Attach the black wire to the ground (negative or earth) side of your battery .
Attach the red and green wire to the positive (+) side of the battery.

The unit should light up.

If everything looks to be working, install the unit as described in the instructions. The black wire is obviously attached to the ground (earth). The red wire should be an always on source of power. The green wire should go to a switched source. It's easiest to find the switched power source through the fuse box. Piggy back it off of one of the other switched fuses and you'll be golden.

What is the State of the Ignition Pin of a Vehicle?

3 Answers3