Wiring my lights

As of now, I have 3 sets of 55 watt lights wired to 2 illuminated switches that run straight to the battery with each switch having one wire that goes to the battery with an inline fuse. I am planning on doing a major overhall of the way I have my lights wired. Here is my new plan:

1 (16ga?)wire from the battery through a 20amp circuit breaker to 4 illuminated switches (front driving, roof rack driving, backup lights, fogs) I plan to switch my front 55 watt driving lights with 100 watt lights for offroad trips and then replace them with the 55 watt lights upon return.

My Questions:
1. Will this setup hold all of the wattage of my lights?
2. Will 1 power wire to 4 switches work?
3. should I get a 30 amp circuit breaker instead?
4. Would the 100 watt lights overload my system with the 55 watt fogs and driving lights on at the same time?
5. How do I wire the lights so they only run when the ignition is on?

Thank you and let me know of any questions.

 

[red93sport]

answer for question 5

If you have a diagram for your fuse box you can find a circut for Hot ACC that is when the key is on or Hot Key on usually the fan to ac or the radio would have that. Hope that helps some.

 

[mattadams]

Originally posted by Brian1

1. Will this setup hold all of the wattage of my lights?
2. Will 1 power wire to 4 switches work?
3. should I get a 30 amp circuit breaker instead?
4. Would the 100 watt lights overload my system with the 55 watt fogs and driving lights on at the same time?
5. How do I wire the lights so they only run when the ignition is on?

Thank you and let me know of any questions.

1. I don't see why not, as long as each individual set of lights is wired from the battery or through something else... but if your talking about having one power wire to all 4 sets, it won't work, or not very well anyway . Better be like 4 guage wire if thats what your planning on doing...

2. I have 10 switches hooked into one power wire

3. The wattage of the circuit breaker is irrelavent. The power that goes to the lighted switches is only a couple of watts per switch. You could have 20 switches all hooked up to one and if fused properly shouldn't effect the draw on that wire.

4. It wouldn't overload it, but you wouldn't want ot just swap in 100 watt bulbs into 55 watt lamps... your fuse, wiring, and switch are not designed ot handle the extra wattage. ASk leebo, he installed some PIAA 110 watt's into his hella 55 watts and fried everything (twice!)

5. The power switch for the switches that you were talking about, make sure thats plugged into a hot fuse, such as the radio fuse.

 

[leebo]

will you ever let me forget that one. Just because I like to learn the hard way doesn't mean I'm not normal. I'm just hard headed.

Brian....what type of lights do you have now???
If they're Hella's I wouldn't try to upgrade them at all. The case just can't hold the heat that the bulbs put out. Nor can most of the wires. As for the power to the switches....like matt said he's got 10....I've got 5 and I've heard others have about the same so that's not a problem.

As for the overload....don't even try to find out. The 110 watt bulb will kill just about everything long before the truth would be told.

 

[Brian1]

Okay, the 100 watt lights are totally seperate lights from my others. They will be factory 100 watt lights made by Baja or something like that. My fogs are 55 watt Blazers. My 55 watt driving lights are 1 set cheepo $8 Harbor Freight specials as well as 1 set Sylvania driving lights.

Matt,
#5 - do I get a fuse tap for the fuse block under the hood or the one under the dash? What does it look like? And this would power all my lights?

#1 - So if I run 1 wire (+) from each switch to the corresponding set of lights I will be fine even with 1 wire from the battery to all 4 switches??

Do I have to get 4 relays? I hope not, that gets too confusing and messy.

 

[mattadams]

ok I'll explain it all, try to be patient with me, and if you need further clarification of it, just ask...

First off, your switch will have three wires (if its a lit switch) One is power switch, this will go to your fuse block (i.e. this is the HOT wire, this wire determines when the switch can be accessed and hence, when the lights can come on). The other is ground, self explanatory, find a good spot that's a ground and affix it somehow (a screw is the preferred method ). The third is the SWITCH wire, this wire will go to the relay. As long as you have 4 switches, you will have 4 relays. That is one of the wires going in to the relay. The relay will also have other wires going in and coming out of it, depending on your lights... it will have the switch wire going in to it, the power coming in to it from the battery (so yes, you need four wires from the battery, one for each relay, or figure out a fuse block like I have for my top/rear lights). The relay will also have the wires going to the lights. The relay will also usually have a ground wire as well.

The fuse block I was talking about has one fuse tap from the radio fuse going ot the fuse block that holds 6 fuses. The switch wires are then connected to the fuse block from there, so essentially I have 6 switches going through one wire to the radio fuse. The secondary fuse block (the one holding the 6 fuses) is mounted anywhere you can find a place, mine is behind the carpet under the dash. This way, if the car isn't on, thhe radio fuse won't be receiving power, which means none of the fuses on the fuse block attached to the radio fuse will be receiving power. As long as the switch is not receiving power, it is impossible to turn on the lights. The power will always be going from the battery to the relay, but until the relay receives the signal from the switch (which once again, is impossible to receive with the car turned on) the relay will not turn on, and activate the lights.

The power for your lights CAN come from another fuse, but since they are pretty high-drain, it would either have to be a high-output fuse, but it's recommended that you run them straight from the battery, and have the ground as close to the lights as possible. What I did for my roof lights and rear lights was brought one 4-guage wire through the firewall to another fuse block (this one mounted under my rear seat) that has 30-amp fuses. 30-amps is more then enough for 120-watt lights, as long as nothing else is pulling any of those amps (for example, I think the air conditioner fuse is 30 amps, but the a/c is using most of that, leaving little for the lights!) All the power for those sets of lights comes directly from the fuse block to the relay, from the relay to the lights. The switches should not be receiving power from the battery, the relays should be. The switches should be receiving power from the fuse block, which is receiving power from the radio fuse.

Hope that helps, it's probably confusing but I tried to do it fast .

 

[Brian1]

Thanks for the explination Matt, I think I understand it now. So one wire comes from the fuse block (radio) which is under the dash. The fuse tap looks like a copper c with a wire coming off of it? This fuse tap powers all 4 switches. Now I have 4 relays. I get that part except wiring it to the battery. Can I run 1 thick wire from the battery to all 4 relays just for power to the relays?

Leebo- I made a mistake, I thought the Sylvanias were driving, they are clear fogs and I do not have those installed. So now this means I have 2 sets of cheap 55 watt lights. I plan to replace 1 of these sets with the 100 watt lights.

 

[mattadams]

Brian - yes you hypothetically could... you'd want ot do like I described though, and use a fuse block or something so each set is seperate, but on the same wire.

 

[Brian1]

Okay, I have 2 more questions.
1) where am I going to fit / put 4 relays?
2) the lights I bought are 100 watt Eclipses made by Ralley
should I take them back and get a set of Hella 500's? What is the difference in the light of a cheap set of 100 watt lights vs. the Hella 500 55 watt lights? (plus I think the Hellas look cooler)

Thank you

 

[leebo]

Brian.....check out Matt's site. He's got relays just about everywhere and the photos to prove it.

As for the lights, a cheap set of 100 watt lights won't always outperform a more expensive set of 55watt lights. This is mostly due to the lens that is used. While yes the Hella's are cheap they are an upgrade over some of the lesser brands. I'm thinking price is the key here. If I could do it over again I would go with a set of Piaa 40 series. They are 55watts that can be upgraded to 85watt. They are easy install. They are about $60 more than the Hella's though, but the quality is worth it in my mind. If money is the key though I would go with a set of Hella's over a lesser light. I've got both Hella's and Baja's on my front bumper. Both are 55watts but you can tell the Hella's far outshine the Baja's. I'm willing to bet though that the Piaa's would kill them both.

What are you going to use the lights for....are they for night driving or for the trail?? If they're for the trail, how often are you going to use them??? There's no need to spend a ton of money if you don't need that much light.

 

[Brian1]

Leebo, they would be for both road driving and night trail rides. In fact, I will only have them mounted on my Explorer when I go wheelin or a road trip (kind of one in the same) because they would get stolen real quick here in Albuquerque. As for how many times I would use them... I don't know. I usually go wheelin 1-2 times every 2 months and mostly day runs but I never know. I do not object for spending the money on the Hellas but I do not want to go over $70 for a set of lights. The 100 watts were $30 (I think Wal-mart screwed up, Pep-boys sells the same light for $50)

As for the relays, I want them all in one place - less wiring hassles.

Thanks for your help / suggestions

 

[mattadams]

I don't know how big the relays on theh ellas and your brand are... I have some under my back seat, some mounted in to the frame near the rear bumper, and some in the engine compartment... I think the hellas are about 1/4 the size of the PIAA's so you shouldn't have a problem mounting them all in one place... don't know much about ralley lights, but got a kick out of "return them and upgrade them to hellas". http://bart.is-s.exom/~explorers/madams/PIAA/piaas.html for images of installation, relay locations, etc.

 

[Brian1]

My cheepo lights did not come with relays. I had to buy them at Radio Shack. They are about 1 inch cubed. I store stuff under my seats, so I will have to find a place under the hood.

Matt,
So do you think the Hella 500's would light up the trail better than my cheap set of 100 Watt Ralleys?

 

[mattadams]

Brian, Hellas probably are better then Rally's... I've seen those Rally's at like Wal-Mart and Pep Boys (like you mentioned)... I dunno, I try tnot to make judgements on lights I have not personally used myself...

 

[leebo]

The hella's are better than a cheap set of lights. I've got both Hella's and a cheap set of Baja's on my front bumper. They are both 55watt's, but you can see the difference. The most important part of the difference is the lens. The Hella's are much better lense than most cheap lights.

HOWEVER.....for what you are going to use them for I'm not sure which I'd go with. If you're only going to use them a few times you might want to save yourself a few bucks. The Hella's are better, but the extra $50 could be used for a Hi-Lift jack or something. Just a thought???

 

[Brian1]

Well I got the Hellas (they were like free when I bought my tail light guards from carparts with 33%off) So tomorrow I am going to re-wire my whole light setup on my Explorer. I am finally getting around to it. I will let you know how it goes.