How to: Auxilary/offroad lites

[Bill Kemp]

When you straight wire lights you are running all the amps for the lights through the switch. Most switches are not ment to handle the amps of a light set. So they wear out quicker. Also if there is a problem in the wiring (short ect.) and it causes a wire to burn, it could be burning in the passenger compartment. ( fire under the dash at 70MPH is no fun) Also when you run the wires back and forth from the battery to the switch and back to the lights unless you are using the correct guage wire the will be a voltage drop and the lights will not be as bright as they could be.
Relays are used for safety and to get the most light out of a light.
I'm not a safety conscious type guy but I am a light brightness type guy. Not using a relay usually means you are not getting all the lumans from the light. So, why do it if it isnt bright???

 

[ttavenieriii]

ok so i have 2 light in the front of the truck and 2 light up top in roof rack what type of relay should i get and how should i wire it up please explain

 

[Tbars4]

...Check out post 4 of the third link...

 

[Tbars4]

...Just added a 4th link, "Post pics of your lights"..

 

[Donner]

Reverse/back up lights...

Okay, if you disconnect the oem reverse light (like 30 watts) and attach the wiring to a 55 watt light using a fused link between the pos line and new 55, is this no good?

 

[Tbars4]

..For legal purposes, you never want to omit lighting that came stock from the factory on your vehicle...

...Removing stock lamps and running auxillary lamps instead is a no-no on street vehicles...Adding higher wattage lamps to a lower rated wire is also not a good thing...This usually results in something melting or a fire...

 

[loaderopp]

i just straight wired mine may i ask what the relay is used for?

The relay pull's the load/draw off of and away from the switch. most switches will just melt or burn with to much power running thru them. lets your lights have the power they need, well saving the switch.

 

[Tbars4]

...I just updated the first post to include basic High Amp Alternator info..

 

[99MercMount]

THIS THREAD HELPED ME A TON!!! thank you very much!

 

[Tbars4]

...We are glad you were able to use it...

 

[YBCold]

if i wire it like in the diagram it will only work if i have my parking lights on. only when im parked?

 

[Tbars4]

...Or anytime you have your lights on, as required by most states...

 

[ShadowRaven]

Hey, guys sorry if I'm asking a question that has been asked before, but I have a sinus infection right now and can barely see straight, so I'm gonna chalk it up to semi-laziness on my part Anywho, I have a set of 3 KC Daylighters that I bought used from a guy, and I was wondering exactly how I should go about wiring these up. I'm not even sure what kind of lights they are, they look like 130W lights (6" wide by 4.5" deep) but they could be 110W or even 150W from what I'm understanding. Can I run all three lights on one wire to one 40A relay and a 40A switch and be fine? Or should I run all 3 lights separately into 3 15A relays and 3 15A switches? I've read that at 25A I would need 10ga wire, which seems a little overkill, but I don't want these to catch fire or anything to to inadequate wiring/hook-up. Obviously I'm going to wire the 3 lights in parallel, then junction them into one wire if I go the 40A pathway [(130W*3)/12V]=32.5A, which seems like that should work fine, but I don't know if 16ga wire would work for this application, let alone 12ga. I have a lot of wire left over from my various sound system projects, so that's not the issue, I just want to make sure I get the right stuff. Thanks guys.

PS. I was looking at this kit here
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-G6284/
where I could wire each light up individually (due to their amp draw being only ~10.8A each) but if I can go with only one set of wires for all 3 lights, then I would want to buy one of these
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PCO-5591PT/
and just find a 40A fuse and switch.

 

[Rofocowboy84]

While I can't really answer your other questions, I can tell you that if you have a relay (say for simplicity sake, a 40amp relay for all 3), you won't need a high amp switch, just one that's powerful enough to switch the relay over.

 

[Bill Kemp]

Here you can identify your lights and get the bulb wattage. http://www.kchilites.com/faq.aspx#InstallGuides
And here you can figure the amps the lights will use and the right relay & wire size. http://www.rallylights.com/hella/SensibleWiring.aspx

Let us know if you have any questions.

 

[ShadowRaven]

Here you can identify your lights and get the bulb wattage. http://www.kchilites.com/faq.aspx#InstallGuides
And here you can figure the amps the lights will use and the right relay & wire size. http://www.rallylights.com/hella/SensibleWiring.aspx

Let us know if you have any questions.

All right, cool, looks like I have 130W lights then. As for the wire size, I'm trying to make heads or tails of this chart, and I've never been too good at reading these kinds of multi-layered charts unfortunately, but I'm estimating that if I'm running from my roof to my battery, that should be around at least 12-18 feet, I think? So with that in mind, would that mean I need to use 10ga wire? Sorry I'm not too good with this stuff, lights seems a little more complicated for me than stereo stuff :

 

[ShadowRaven]

While I can't really answer your other questions, I can tell you that if you have a relay (say for simplicity sake, a 40amp relay for all 3), you won't need a high amp switch, just one that's powerful enough to switch the relay over.

How high is high enough for the switch? Like a 15A or 20A?

 

[Bill Kemp]

Yup..Do 10 guage W/40 Amp relay and you can use any switch. You dont need a high amp switch when using a relay.

 

[ShadowRaven]

Yup..Do 10 guage W/40 Amp relay and you can use any switch. You dont need a high amp switch when using a relay.

Good stuff, thanks a heap Bill, this stuff was making my head hurt Hope to have all this done before the end of the year, weather permitting. Thanks again!

 

[Glen4X4]

Good post tbars, especially the secondary fuse panel part, my battery has too many wires coming off of it that'll help clean it up and help when I put some lights on the roof. Didn't realize danny had a writeup on a fuse panel.