Trailer harness for Aux lights, anyone?

[swak6287]

i read a few people uses trailer harness for roof lights. anyone got piocs of harness and connectors and such? i dont quite understand the harnes... is it usually 1 ground and everyhing else positive??

 

[swak6287]

anyone..gotta be someone.

 

[Alec]

You can use the individual wires for whatever you want. The most common harness is the 4 pin flat harness: that's good for 3 lights or 4 if they have their own grounds.

There are many companies making generic 4 pin harnesses, they're each side of the harness and about a foot of wire on each one, or more. Posi-lock also has non-crimp 4 pin harnesses.

 

[swak6287]

so, i would use the harness as positive to the light and then from the light, the negative to a metal ground (like the body)? is that u mean? can't i just hotwire a 2 light wiring hrness and connect all the 4 together and increase the fuse to 30 amp? when it comes to lighting and wiring, i am lost.

 

[Hokie]

What are you trying to do? Using the trailer harness (like DocVijay did) was just a means of having a waterproof but still disconnectable link in the wire. I just used spade connectors on mine and wrapped them in tape.

The only reason to use the trailer harness is if you forsee taking the lights off or something like that

 

[swak6287]

yes, i want to take the lights off when not in use. when ioffroad, the front bumper comes off, so i am rigging up something tohold 4 lights up front and the bar is screwed in tothe bumper brackets.

 

[Hokie]

what guage of wire did the lights come with? Or, what wattage are they? For 100W lights you'll want a 14ga or 12 ga wire and I don't know if the trailer harnesses have wires that thick. You can just use spade connectors too you know? Those are cheap and effective (ie: what i'm doing with ALL 6 of my lights)

 

[swak6287]

hokie, did u purchase a harness set or from scartch? help me? i want to wire 4. what do i need? switch, wire, fuse, relay? hhheeelllpppppp.......

 

[Alec]

If you want to wire up 4 lights you can either use a 4 pin harness to supply power to each lamp and ground them separately, use 2 4 pin harnesses to add the second one for grounds, use an 8 pin harness, etc.

For 4 lights I'd use 2 relays with separate fuses off the battery or an aux fuse block, 2 lights to each relay. You can wire up one switch to both relays.

 

[Bill Kemp]

Heres a couple of pages that will help with the wireing & wire size...http://catalog.com/susq/other/wiring.htm
And http://catalog.com/susq/other/auxlamps.htm

Hope this helps.

 

[DocVijay]

Sorry, been kinda busy, didn't see this thread till now. Anyhow, I just bought the trailer wiring harness to use a waterproof connector. THe wires can be used for whatever you want. Mine has 4 wires, but I only use 2 of them. One is the positive and the other the negative. I'm going to use another 6 wire one for my new rack lights. The wire gauge should be enough to handle even high watt lights. I looked at the PIAA wiring harness, and it's actually pretty narrow wire. The trailer wires are much larger gauge.

For my new lights (2 pairs of PIAA 80 Pro XT's) I'm going to use 4 wires for the 4 positives, and then use the other two as gounds. That should be sufficient. I'll post more pics when I get that done.

 

[swak6287]

huh???? i am so lost. ok.. lets put it this way. try teaching me like u are going to tell your son/nephew/niece... how to install lighjts. i like the trailer harness idea.

 

[Alec]

Dead Link Removed

You've got to know basic accessory wiring using a relay before thinking about what harnesses to use. Also, what lamps are you getting? Many come with wiring kits.

Anyway, look at that pdf and work everything out. It helps to draw the circuits a few times to get it into your head.

 

[swak6287]

thanks. i will try.

 

[swak6287]

what is the +12VDC - HIGH LOW IGNOTION

 

[Alec]

The circuit to tap into to get power for the switch. It can be direct, ignition, high beam, low beam, etc. But that circuit needs to be on for the switch to work. I use ignition controlled circuits.

 

[swak6287]

can we direct to battery??

 

[Alec]

You want to get main power for the lights from the battery, but I would tap the switch to an ignition or headlight controlled circuit. This is from experience of leaving my lights on and draining my battery.

 

[Hokie]

Here's a thread both Alec and I responded to about wiring lights

And another....