Waterproofing for Lights

[leebo]

Well I did it. I went out and bought myself a cheap set of lights and mounted them on the bumper pointing back to light up under the truck for fixes at night as well as for lighting up the area by the tires when going at night. I've wanted to do this for awhile now after I was blinded while spotting at one of the last trips I was on. These should help a ton. Beat that one Matt. I know I'll use them about once....but I was bored and wanted a trip to the 4x4 store.

Now for the question. My next project is mounting a few sets of Piaa 80's or if it works out a new set of lights on the front bumper. I know they won't fit but I plan on welding a few tabs to the front to extend them out some so they can fit. I'm starting to get a tad concerned though about the wires. Since so far not one of the wires from the lights have been long enough I've had to splice in another wire. I've been using some of the connectors that you melt to hold them into place. I'm not sure how these will hold up to some water??? Does anybody know if these are as waterproof as they say, or know of some other way to waterproof the wires??? Since I also plan on rewiring ALL of my lights and CB I don't mind about running some wires again either.

 

[Brian1]

Leebo, are you talking about shrink wrap/tubing for wires? This is what I use and as far as I know it should be water tight. If you are up to it I guess you could run all new wires. I was thinking about putting my crappy lights that I am replacing with better ones under my rig to light up the undercariage. Do you have any pictures of where you mounted them?

 

[mattadams]

Originally posted by leebo
Well I did it. I went out and bought myself a cheap set of lights and mounted them on the bumper pointing back to light up under the truck for fixes at night as well as for lighting up the area by the tires when going at night. I've wanted to do this for awhile now after I was blinded while spotting at one of the last trips I was on. These should help a ton. Beat that one Matt. I know I'll use them about once....but I was bored and wanted a trip to the 4x4 store.

Huh? I have a set of PIAA 1500 XT's pointing in reverse... I also have a pair of 80 XT fog lights facing to the sides that can be aimed to any angle necessary (from almost directly in front to almost directly behind)

Now for the question. My next project is mounting a few sets of Piaa 80's or if it works out a new set of lights on the front bumper. I know they won't fit but I plan on welding a few tabs to the front to extend them out some so they can fit. I'm starting to get a tad concerned though about the wires. Since so far not one of the wires from the lights have been long enough I've had to splice in another wire. I've been using some of the connectors that you melt to hold them into place. I'm not sure how these will hold up to some water??? Does anybody know if these are as waterproof as they say, or know of some other way to waterproof the wires??? Since I also plan on rewiring ALL of my lights and CB I don't mind about running some wires again either.

First off... why wouldn't the PIAA 80's fit? I know of at least one person that has put PIAA 520's on the front bumper with little modification other then drilling a hole, and the 80 is not much thicker then the 520.

As for waterproofing, I always believe in overkill. WHen splicing wires heres my usual procedure
1. cut wires
2. slip heat-shrink tubing over one end of wiring.
3. bring in second length of wire, twist the two together
4. solder the two together...well enough that there should be no exposed wire that is not silver
5. Slip shrink tubing over the newly soldered connection
6. Use heat (propane torch works great!) to shrink the tube
7. bring out electrical tape.
8. use electrical tape over the whole shrink tubing, including about 1/2" before and after it. It's overkill but worth it I think.

 

[leebo]

No kidding....you mean the 80's may fit. I might need to give that a try if all falls apart. Matt, I'm with you. Any time you are talking about wires you better overkill it. It looks like that setup would work fine. Thanks.

As for the mounting....I don't a digital camera(I need one though) so I can only describe where. I took off that plastic piece under the bumper and that left a few wholes. I found one on each side right under the support that runs and forms a triangle with the bumper and frame. I fit some lights in there pointing towards the tires. Ran some wires and I'm off. I will need to redo the wires though. I now have 4 set of lights up there and its starting to become a mess...add to that the fact that I just touched one of the wires that was "hot" to the frame my mistake and blew the fuse. Since the fuse is tucked in a place that is a pain in the butt to get to I'll need to almost pull out the whole wire anyways. May as well do them all. To think...this is only my 3rd fuse I've needed to replace. Not counting the Hella project.

[Edited by leebo on 10-23-2000 at 04:29 PM]

 

[Mr. Daylighter]

Leebo,

Do you not like grill guards? Just figured it was pretty simple to mount more lights on a grill guard.

 

[leebo]

Not really. I'm thinking about getting a custom bumper instead. Grill gaurds seem to be a cheap item for looks in my opion. I know that you can add a ton of stuff to them but I haven't seen a setup I like. Besides....grill gaurds seem to lessen your aproach angle.

 

[Mr. Daylighter]

Well, they protect your truck and look really good, they do on a truck anyway. Hell, I like mine, I'm not climbing rocks or anything. I guess I should get my old 65 Jeep runnin so I can play.