Running power to 4/6 Off Road lights
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Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2008
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From: OH
Running power to 4/6 Off Road lights
Right now I only have 2 in my grill powered. Soon though I'll have a 4 on a roll bar powered.
Here are my questions:
1) Currently for the front ones I have one relay. The wiring kit didn't come with the relay, but I added it anyways. Figured it was safer this way.
For the relay, there is a 12v source going to it, the a 12v source needs to go to the switch...can I just tap into the 12v source wire that runs to the relay? I know if I have a switch with lighting it will always be on. I'm not using the lighted switch, well I'm not using the ground on the switch so it wont light up meaing no drain. Is it save to run it like that or is there constant power going to both switch and relay then? Just dont want any fires or melted wires.
2) Will one relay be enouph for 4 Off road lights (I'm guessing they are 100w each, so 400 total)....I'll probably just do 2 relays. Since they will be mounted on a roll bar, I was trying to keep down on how much wire to run.
3) Anyone driving their trucks without the black cover on the mini fuses in the cab? I was thinking about using one of the mini fuses to put the picky back fuse in there to give power to the switches when the car is on only. Figure that way the switch and relay isn't always under load vs tapping in the 12v source going to the relay like I have now.
Thoughts/suggestion are greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Here are my questions:
1) Currently for the front ones I have one relay. The wiring kit didn't come with the relay, but I added it anyways. Figured it was safer this way.
For the relay, there is a 12v source going to it, the a 12v source needs to go to the switch...can I just tap into the 12v source wire that runs to the relay? I know if I have a switch with lighting it will always be on. I'm not using the lighted switch, well I'm not using the ground on the switch so it wont light up meaing no drain. Is it save to run it like that or is there constant power going to both switch and relay then? Just dont want any fires or melted wires.
2) Will one relay be enouph for 4 Off road lights (I'm guessing they are 100w each, so 400 total)....I'll probably just do 2 relays. Since they will be mounted on a roll bar, I was trying to keep down on how much wire to run.
3) Anyone driving their trucks without the black cover on the mini fuses in the cab? I was thinking about using one of the mini fuses to put the picky back fuse in there to give power to the switches when the car is on only. Figure that way the switch and relay isn't always under load vs tapping in the 12v source going to the relay like I have now.
Thoughts/suggestion are greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Okay first for the size of the relay you need to get one rated for the right amount of amps not watts. As for wiring it on the relay you have 4 pins, one is constant hot to the battery, one ground, one switched power to the lights, and then the actual switch wire. Do you want to be able to turn the on? Or have them switch on when the vehicle turns on?
If you want them to turn on with the vehicle wire the switch wire to something that's on with the vehicle. If you don't want them to turn on automatically you have 2 options.
A) Wire from the battery to a switch back to the switch line of the relay. You can turn them on without the vehicle on this way.
B) Wire from something that's only on with the vehicle I usually go with some radio wire, to a switch and again back to relay. You will only be able to turn the on while your truck is running.
Also keep your relay's under the hood, you don't wanna expose them to the elements. So you should only have to run a total of 4 power wires to the back, or just two bigger ones since you said you wanna use two relays and just tap off those wires. And then of course ground, but you should be able to ground out to the roll bar.
If you want them to turn on with the vehicle wire the switch wire to something that's on with the vehicle. If you don't want them to turn on automatically you have 2 options.
A) Wire from the battery to a switch back to the switch line of the relay. You can turn them on without the vehicle on this way.
B) Wire from something that's only on with the vehicle I usually go with some radio wire, to a switch and again back to relay. You will only be able to turn the on while your truck is running.
Also keep your relay's under the hood, you don't wanna expose them to the elements. So you should only have to run a total of 4 power wires to the back, or just two bigger ones since you said you wanna use two relays and just tap off those wires. And then of course ground, but you should be able to ground out to the roll bar.
Thread Starter
|
Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 358
Likes: 0
From: OH
Okay first for the size of the relay you need to get one rated for the right amount of amps not watts. As for wiring it on the relay you have 4 pins, one is constant hot to the battery, one ground, one switched power to the lights, and then the actual switch wire. Do you want to be able to turn the on? Or have them switch on when the vehicle turns on?
If you want them to turn on with the vehicle wire the switch wire to something that's on with the vehicle. If you don't want them to turn on automatically you have 2 options.
A) Wire from the battery to a switch back to the switch line of the relay. You can turn them on without the vehicle on this way.
B) Wire from something that's only on with the vehicle I usually go with some radio wire, to a switch and again back to relay. You will only be able to turn the on while your truck is running.
Also keep your relay's under the hood, you don't wanna expose them to the elements. So you should only have to run a total of 4 power wires to the back, or just two bigger ones since you said you wanna use two relays and just tap off those wires. And then of course ground, but you should be able to ground out to the roll bar.
If you want them to turn on with the vehicle wire the switch wire to something that's on with the vehicle. If you don't want them to turn on automatically you have 2 options.
A) Wire from the battery to a switch back to the switch line of the relay. You can turn them on without the vehicle on this way.
B) Wire from something that's only on with the vehicle I usually go with some radio wire, to a switch and again back to relay. You will only be able to turn the on while your truck is running.
Also keep your relay's under the hood, you don't wanna expose them to the elements. So you should only have to run a total of 4 power wires to the back, or just two bigger ones since you said you wanna use two relays and just tap off those wires. And then of course ground, but you should be able to ground out to the roll bar.
The way it's ran right now is this:
1 wire coming from lights to relay
1 wire ground on relay
1 wire coming from battery to relay
1 wire going to my ON/OFF switch.
There direction said the switch needs a power source to work(usually you tap a wire like you mentioned or use a non used fuse holder or piggyback it.
For power to the switch I tapped into the wire running from the battery to the relay. It works, but I'm not sure how safe it is.
It's safe, because its not trying to draw that much. If you really wanted you could throw a fuse on there, but all thats gonna happen in a short is it'll blow the relay or it'll blow the fuse if you have one.
Switches don't carry high current. The switch just needs a 12v source to tell the relay to allow the current to pass through. Generally, switches only need 18-20AWG wire, while load-carrying wire needs 16/14AWG.