Wiring Diagrams

Why is it important to know how to read a wiring diagram? 

In my opinion it is extremely important to understand how to read and utilize wiring diagrams in todays industry. Understanding how to utilize a wiring diagram can greatly reduce time spent troubleshooting and tracing down wires. In todays industry, understanding wiring diagrams is pretty much a necessity. In todays workplace, you probably won't make it very far without some kind of knowledge about wiring diagrams and electronics.

At work, I install all of our "blow and go's." They are a fairly easy system to install. On the "blow and go" , you have two black wires that are for the starter, a red wire that is 12 volt constant, green wire for ignition, and a black for ground. So after finding the wiring diagram for the vehicle you are working on, you the start to take the vehicle apart. I recently had an install for a F150. So I find the ignition switch harness to start to splice my wires in.

With the help of this wiring diagram, I know what color the starter wire is, the ignition wire, and the 12 volt constant. This wiring diagram not only tells you what color the wires are, it also tells you what plug and pin number the wire goes to. I honestly never knew how helpful wiring diagrams could be until I was thrown into doing installs. The 12 volt constant wire is located @ the BCM. Well on this particular truck, the BCM is located in the passenger side kick panel. I knew that there had to be a wire located in the ignition switch harness that ran to the BCM so I looked at another wiring diagram. Instead of running my wire clear to the passenger side, I was able to cut the red/green wire at the ignition switch that was the 12 volt constant wire coming from the BCM.

So, in conclusion knowing how to read a wiring diagram helped me to solve the problem sooner!