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Ford Explorer Community - Maintenance - Modifications - Performance Upgrades - Problem Solving - Off-Road - Street
Explorer Forum Covers the Explorer ST, Explorer Sport, Explorer Sport Trac, Lincoln Aviator, Mercury Mountaineer, Mazda Navajo, Ford Ranger, Mazda Pickups, and the Ford Aerostar
David, no, I haven't tried to do it yet, but I am planning on giving it a shot this weekend if I have a little more time (read: if I catch up on my class assignments). I'm probably gonna go to Radio Shack and pick up the relay you recommended earlier. I'll let you know how it goes or get hold of you if I need any help. Thanks!!
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I mounted the relay in the compartment where the bottle jack is kept. The first pointer says"Mounting screw for relay and relay ground point." The second pointer is pointing to the relay. The third pointer is pointing to fuse between the relay and the power coming from the reverse light. Look at my previous posts to find how out how to wire the relay.
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Here is where I tapped into the power wire from the reverse light. In my 99 the wire was black with a red stripe. Test the wire with a voltage meter before making a connection.
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I ran the power coming from the reverse light through a gromet on the side. Hind sight is always 20/20, I would recommend drilling a small hole in the upper recessed oval(right behind the top wiring harness in the picture), this will place the wire into the bottle jack compartment making it easier to wire the relay.
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I ran the power and ground wires going to the fog lights from the bottle jack compartment, behind the trim panel of the D-pillar.
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Here you can see the wires coming from under the weather seal up to the fog lights.
swak6287 - I think this should answer you question, if not let me know.
I would be very interested in seeing pictures of your amps and sub. box. I am in the process of desiging a box for 2-12s and finding good places to mount my amps.
Be sure to check out the "Misc. Pictures" album there are a couple of pics you might find interesting. Also, I just took out my factory sub and amp, built a custom amp housing behind the factory sub woofer's grill. I don't have any pictures yet but I be sure to post them in my "Stereo" album so keep checking for them.
mr tig, or anyone else,
question on the wiring. do i need to run the battery wire from the front of the truck onto the terminal #87? the power line on the fog light is wired to the terminal #30, right? where did u hook up the battery?
thanks.
David, I installed the relay to make my aux lights come on with my reverse lights today. It worked great. I had a little trouble with it at first though. I had a lighted switch at first to turn them on and off (which needs to be grounded to light up) . Well, when I hooked up the relay, I kept blowing fuses. Well, I finally figured out that the lighted switch was the problem, so I pulled the ground off so the switch wouldn't light up, and it all worked perfectly. The lights work with the switch and when I put the truck in reverse. It's great...thanks for your help.
Swak, when you pick up the relay from Radio Shack, look at the back of the package and it will explain what the tabs on the relay need to be hooked to. I don't trust my memory enough to tell you for sure what needs to go where. It's really not that difficult.
swak6287 - Yes run the power wire from the postive terminal of the battery also make sure you install a fuse on that wire. Terminal #87 get the wire from the battery and #30 goes to the postive wire on the fog lights, you got it right.
Stephen S - Sounds great, I'm glad your pleased with the setup, but where are the pics??? LOL
Swak, I've got a 15 Amp fuse on my reverse lights. But your's may need a larger one if they draw more current. I just picked up a little fuse holder at the nearest Auto Zone and spliced it into the power lead coming from the battery. Make sure you put a fuse in the power lead as close to the battery as you can for safety.
David, well, I would have loved to take some pics, but I have no digital camera, or regular camera for that matter. But even if I did take pics, it would just be of wiring and it would look an awful lot like the pics you p0sted here earlier, with just a different color truck!! I used yours as a guide. Thanks!
I've got a few pictures of the reverse lights that I took on the day I mounted them on my home page. Just click Stephen's Truck in my sig line.
question now is, there isa wire that i need to hook up to something. it says to hook up too the light. it is so that it will work when the light is on. u know what i am talking about? it only has 1 wire. not + or - wire.
Well, 2 wires coming from the relaay need to be hooked up to a light. One of them needs to go to the positive side of the auxiliary lights you are powering. The other needs to come from the positive wire on your stock reverse light. It's only one wire, just the positive.
If I understand what you are asking, then no, you don't wire the aux lights to your stock backup lights.
You need to hook up the positive wire from your aux reverse lights to whatever tab on the relay says something like "12 V out." Then, you need to splice a piece of wire into one of the positive leads on one of your stock reverse lights and hook it up to whatever tab on the relay that says something like "on/off switch." There is another tab on the relay that should say something like "12 V in." Wire this one to the battery (with an inline fuse). And the last tab on the relay is the ground. The phrases in quotes are probably not written directly on the relay, but they should be on a diagram on the package the relay came in. At least it was with mine. Hope this clears it up a bit.
ok, i tried and tried and it just will not work. let me tell u what i have. i have the relay. i connect the 86 to groung with the ground on the aux light. i ran battery to 87. #30 i ran it to the positive wire of the aux light. #85, i ran to the reverse light wire. did i do it right? i dont know where to hook up that ONE wire to? u know the one, there is only one of it.
so, my aux light, i have Positive wire, negative wire, and 1 orange wire. the other ends hooks up to the lights. can someone please tell me which wire goes to whick relay #? i am about to burn down the ex soon.
From what I've read, it sounds like the aux lights you've got may have a built in relay. Try this setup:
1. Disconnect all the wires going to the relay.
2. Connect the postive wire of the aux lights to the wire you've got coming from the battery. Make sure you've got a fuse between the battery and the aux light!
3. Connect the negative wire of the aux lights to a ground on your X.
4. Connect the orange wire from your aux lights to the positve wire on the reverse light. You may want to put a fuse on this wire too, but it is optional.
But even if I did take pics, it would just be of wiring and it would look an awful lot like the pics you p0sted here earlier, with just a different color truck!! 
