Projecta’s Intelli-IQ Smart Relays Bring Digital Control to the 12V Touring World 

There was a time when adding accessories to a touring vehicle was a fairly straightforward business. You fitted the light bar, ran some cable, drilled a hole in the dashboard, added another switch, and then stood back admiring your handiwork. The cabin slowly began to resemble the flight deck of a budget airline with a wiring loom problem.

But modern touring vehicles are different. They are running fridges, inverters, auxiliary lighting, work lamps, compressor systems, battery chargers, monitoring gear and enough electrical accessories to make an old-school fuse box quietly weep into its dust cover. Which is why Projecta’s new Intelli-IQ Smart Relays are more than just another small black box in the 12V aisle. They represent a very neat step forward in how accessories can be controlled, monitored and managed.

That thinking has now earned Projecta national recognition. With its Intelli-IQ Smart Relays winning the Most Innovative New Aftermarket Product – General Parts & Accessories award at this year’s Australian Auto Aftermarket Expo.

Intelli-IQ Smart Relay

For a product that is physically compact, the idea behind it is quite large. The Intelli-IQ Smart Relay range introduces programmable, digitally controlled switching for 12V and 24V vehicle systems, replacing much of the old relay-and-switch-panel approach that has dominated accessory installations for decades.

Instead of relying on fixed-function relays, multiple physical switches and dashboard real estate that most touring vehicles no longer have to spare, Intelli-IQ centralises accessory control through Projecta’s smart ecosystem.

When paired with the Projecta 2-inch Smart Display, users can control auxiliary lighting and other accessories. All through the Intelli-IQ App on a smartphone, or through Android Auto and Apple CarPlay where supported. In effect, the Smart Display becomes the digital command centre, allowing accessories to be controlled through a clean, software-driven interface rather than a collection of scattered switches.

For anyone who has ever looked beneath the dash of a heavily accessorised 4WD and seen something resembling angry spaghetti, that is a very welcome development.

Smarter control, less wiring

The clever part of the Intelli-IQ system is not simply that it replaces switches. It also reduces the amount of control wiring required.

The smart relays operate within Projecta’s Intelli-IQ ecosystem, which uses automotive-grade LIN communication. IQ-enabled devices are connected using single wires, as small as 2.5mm. Which are joined together and run back to the Smart Display. Compared with traditional systems, where each accessory usually requires its own dedicated control circuit, the reduction in wiring can be significant.

A single Projecta 2-inch Smart Display can control, monitor and update up to 15 connected IQ-enabled devices using one Bluetooth connection. That means fewer individual control runs, less dashboard clutter. And a more centralised way of managing the accessories fitted to a modern touring vehicle, caravan tow vehicle or work ute.

It also gives owners and installers one point of control rather than a growing collection of switches that all seemed like a good idea at the time.

Programmable, flexible and ready to change

One of the biggest advantages of the Intelli-IQ Smart Relay range is flexibility. Accessories can be programmed, then reprogrammed later as vehicle setups change.

That matters, because touring vehicles rarely stay the same. Today it might be a driving light and a work lamp. Next month it might be rear camp lighting, a compressor, extra warning lights or a different accessory layout altogether. With traditional wiring, every change can mean more cable, more relays, more switches and more time. With Intelli-IQ, much of that control logic can be handled digitally.

The Single-Channel Smart Relay is a fully programmable 40A relay capable of controlling a wide range of devices. It can operate as a timer relay, voltage sensitive relay, digital circuit breaker, low voltage disconnect, flasher or driving light relay.

Because it can monitor current and voltage, accessories can be activated or deactivated at user-defined thresholds. That opens the door to useful automation and system protection, rather than simply switching something on and hoping the electrical gods are in a generous mood.

It also features a multi-function trigger. Allowing accessories such as driving lights to be operated through the vehicle’s high-beam stalk, or a work lamp to be activated when reverse gear is selected.

The Multi-Channel Smart Relay is designed to control up to four low-current devices, particularly lighting and similar accessories. It supports functions including dimming, dual-colour lighting control, timed operation and flashing. These accessories can then be managed from the Projecta 2-inch Smart Display, the Intelli-IQ App, Android Auto or Apple CarPlay.

For touring and trade vehicles alike, that makes a lot of sense. It is not just about adding more accessories. It is about controlling them properly.

Projecta welcomes industry recognition

Projecta Brand Manager, Jake Smith, said the company was thrilled to receive the AAAE award.

“Earning the ‘Most Innovative New Aftermarket Product – General Parts & Accessories’ at AAAE this year is extremely satisfying for us, and we’re humbled to have won the accolade amongst a field of quality entrants,” Jake said.

“Projecta has a well-established and dedicated Australian engineering team that strives to push the boundaries. Receiving the award is not only rewarding, but industry endorsement of the game-changing technology we’re working hard to develop.”

For touring vehicle owners, caravan travellers, 4WD enthusiasts and installers, the appeal is fairly obvious. The modern vehicle accessory world is becoming more complex, not less. Projecta’s Intelli-IQ Smart Relays offer a cleaner, smarter and more adaptable way to manage that complexity without turning the dashboard into a switchboard from a 1970s power station.

And in a world where every new accessory seems to arrive with another loom, another relay and another instruction sheet written in a language only loosely related to English, that is progress worth acknowledging.

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