Is this the proper way to wire a set of PIAA 525 lamps?
http://www.tuneshops.org/index~metho...cle_id~198.htm

I have little electrical experience, so I need some help... Where can I tie in my switch power and marker lamp power wires? How exactly do I do that?

Here's the power wire for the switch


and here's where its supposed to hook up to the battery. What are the clearish/yellowy things on the white wire, Fuses? They don't attach to anything do they?



Thanks in advance!

- NCSU

 

Yup. The PIAA kit is one of the simplest kits I've ever used. I used my custom wiring for the 520s on my F-150, and had the entire kit left over. When I mounted my Daylighters on my Explorer, I used the PIAA kit. Four connections was all it took, and I had one loop of extra wire to tie up out of the way. It fit the Explorer's architecture like a glove!

-Joe

 

Cool, what did you tie into for the switch power?

 

You’ll find those little things are fuses – probably one for each circuit since your lights have both a high and low beam. As for tapping in to your parking light circuit, that would be the brown wire leading to either of your parking lights.

 

2stroked: Excellent, thank you. To tap into the brown wire, I'd just cut it, strip some insulation off, connect the bare wires of the switch wire to the bare brown parking light wires, then insulate it all back up? I'm a mechanical engineer, this stuff isn't exactly what I'm used to doing

- NCSU

 

Don't worry, I'm an ME (by degree) too, and I now do quite a bit of wiring. If you do a search in this forum, you'll find a rather long theread on the best way to tap into a wire. Although it got pretty well out of hand, there was some good stuff in there. I'd recommend the 3M Wire Tap mentioned and pictured in there. Although soldering is much better, you're probably not ready for it.

If you need more help or information, just come back and ask us. There are more than a few of us willing to help. Have fun!

 

I to am wiring up some PIAA 510 DL in my middle bumper kinda like F350 look. Wiring looks easy. Anyone use driving lights with there low beams???? I have some pretty dark straightaways but hate switching my highs on. Would it be too overpowering or does anyone just recommend using them with highs. Sorry if this makes lil to no sense but I have had 5 hours of sleep in 3 days

 

I use my KC driving lights with my low beams. However, I have them wired independently of the headlights.

Mike

 

Could somebody please post pics of where they tied in for power? Especially near the cab...

- NCSU

 

I got two of these T-taps


They're the 16-18 not the 18-22 size, think that would be ok for the brown parking light wire?

Still trying to figure out what to tap into to power the in-cab switch...

- NCSU

 

There should only be 3 connections needed. The white wire with the ring terminal should go to the battery. (There should be a terminal there for it to attach to) The black wire needs to go to a ground. (You can use the battery terminal, but when I did mine, I used the ground terminal on the inner fender just to the front of the battery) The wire from the switch just needs to be spliced to a wire that has power when you want to be able to use the lights. (For my driving lights I used the high beam lead so they would trigger on an off with the high beam switch, but you could use the running light wire so the can't be used when the running lights are off, or you could use the stereo power wire if you want them to go on and off with the key or one from the 12V power point if you want them to be available all the time)

I mounted my relay up behind the passenger side headlight and needed to extend the wires for the switch about a foot or so to get them all of the way into the cab. I ran the wires underneath the radiator support cover and up the driver side of the engine compartment. There is a grommet hidden behind the coolant tank that passes through the firewall near the brake pedal. If you remove the two bolts holding the coolant tank, you can slide it out of the way without disconnecting it to get at the grommet. Just carefully cut a small X in the grommet (don't damage any wires that are already there) and push the plug on the switch wire through. When I did mine, the grommet popped out, but after you finish putting the wires through, just pop it back into the hole.

Good Luck,

Greg

 

hey man- ive got my 520s tied to a constant power source so i can turn them on whenever i want (they are not tied to the headlights at all)- if you want that independant control, pop the the headlight switch panel off (open your door, take your pocketknife or butter knife and gently pry it up- the pop-ties will come out and the 3x4 panel comes out) if you look at that mess of wires, find the solid blue wire with an orange stripe- i used the auto tap for both my sets of lights...

 

Greg Anthony: I've actually got 4 hook ups, the two that go to the battery connections, then one for to power the switch, and one to power the LEDs inside the housing of the lamps.

BalogUK: Man that is EXACTLY what I was looking for! You don't happen to have any pictures do you?

This is the panel you're talking about right?

- NCSU

 

yea thats the one NCSU- take the knife in about midway and pry up- the left side pops out, then use a tiny bit of force and pop the right side out- you will have about 2" of wire to play with- mine was all wrapped up with tape from the factory, so i removed part of it and found the wire- should be on the right side of the bunch...

i will search thru and see what i can find picture wise of my setup-
as stated above by others, i used the firewall port right behind the coolant tank (remove the two screws to pull the tank out of the way)- the wires come into the cab left & above of the brake pedal-

 

okay more pics:
you can see the two quick taps on the cord (blue and maroon taps)

you can see the cables running under the coolant tank (before i installed them)


both relays mounted behind passenger headlight: