Best way to wire aux lamps

[Kevin 007]

I will be mounting two aux lamps on my new front bumper that I am building for my 84, I want them to come on with my high beams. I have a headlight relay kit in the truck already. What would be the best way to wire in the extra lamps? I was going to splice into a high beam wire thats leaving the relay and use that source to trigger an HD solenoid which in turn would power my lamps on high beam.. What have you guys done?

I will also be adding some low wattage backup lights on the rear bumper (stock bumper). Maybe even L.E.D's. If I go with L.E.D's I will simply splice into the existing backup wires and use that as a power source which should be fine with low wattage L.E.D's...I think.

 

[Jake_IN]

I'm not to much of an electric guru but, if you are using a relay rated for 20 amps, check and see how many amps you are pulling with your current lights. If they aren't pulling much say 6 to 8 amps, I'd just splice your additional lights and forget about adding a second relay. Once again though I dont claim to be an electrical expert....and my thinking is slightly impaired at this hour.

 

[Wyreth]

What he said^^^

Actually, measure your current load, and if you don't have room. Get a bigger relay, bigger supply wiring, and wire them into it. Using the high beam relay to trigger another relay for additional driving lights is overly complex, and IMHO, not going to really buy you anything.

 

[GOOSE]

You want to stay at 80% of the max amperage. a 20 amp fuse should only see 16 amps at max current. I ran a #10 wire on a 15 amp fuse to the rear of my truck. I then put a relay behind the left taillight housing and used the trucks origional reverse wires to trigger the relay. I also put two 55 watt lights under the bumper. What a difference.

 

[Blind Driver2]

Use the highbeams for the trigger and run the power to the battery. You can use the highbeam relay inside the truck. I wouldn't splice directly into the highbeams. Use shrink connectors at every connection. If in doubt, go one wire bigger for the power and use quality parts.

[/QUOTE]I will also be adding some low wattage backup lights on the rear bumper (stock bumper). Maybe even L.E.D's. If I go with L.E.D's I will simply splice into the existing backup wires and use that as a power source which should be fine with low wattage L.E.D's...I think.[/QUOTE]

You can also use #1156 LEDs to replace the incandescent lights. Many wattages are available from various vendors on the net.

 

[GOOSE]

http://www.oilburners.net/forums/showthread.php?53276-Reverse-light-relay-mod

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

I will be mounting two aux lamps on my new front bumper that I am building for my 84, I want them to come on with my high beams. I have a headlight relay kit in the truck already. What would be the best way to wire in the extra lamps? I was going to splice into a high beam wire thats leaving the relay and use that source to trigger an HD solenoid which in turn would power my lamps on high beam.. What have you guys done?

I will also be adding some low wattage backup lights on the rear bumper (stock bumper). Maybe even L.E.D's. If I go with L.E.D's I will simply splice into the existing backup wires and use that as a power source which should be fine with low wattage L.E.D's...I think.

There are always numerous "right" ways to do things and then there is the GOOD way.

The way I have my numerous forward-facing auxilliary lights, each pair of lights has there own standard 30-amp 5-prong Bosch/Tyco-type relay that transfers direct 12-volt power to them.

FIRST, you need to install a HOT junction-stud somewhere convenient under the hood for such things to get this 12-volt power; the HOT battery-post/terminal IS NOT the smart place to connect such things.


Now, for the HI-beam trigger, access the three wires at the dimmer-switch, pick the one that is HOT only when HI-beams are selected, and run a wire from this to your auxilliary-light switches.

Use 3-terminal SPDT-center=OFF switches.

Connect the auxilliary lights relay trigger wire to the CENTER terminal of the SPDT switch.

Connect the wire you spliced into the dimmer-switch to the TOP terminal.

Connect a fused always-HOT wire to the BOTTOM terminal.

Wired thus, you can turn the auxilliaries completely OFF when the switch is in CENTER position.

Switch in BOTTOM position will turn the auxilliaries ON with HI-beams.

Switch in TOP position will turn the auxilliaries ON regardless of what the head-lights are doing and is completely independent of the head-light system.

Have fun.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

As for the REVERSE lights, an easy place to find a signal/trigger for the relay is to splice into the REVERSE wire at the lighting pig-tail inside the LEFT frame-rail at the rear of the truck.

The better place to splice into the REVERSE light wiring is at the switch on the transmission.

As far as wiring, just follow the instructions I gave in the post above, using a 3-position SPDT switch, and the nice big REVERSE lights will function in the same manner as the auxilliary lights.

Good big FLOOD/FOG type rearward-facing lights, with a couple pointing straight back and one on each corner angled out to the side, make night-time REVERSE maneuvers a whole lot easier/safer.

 

[Kevin 007]

Thank you all for your input. I really like midnightriders system and will probably follow it. Now for a junction stud; would you just run it from the positve battery terminal to a mounting location and then run all your accsessories from there?? Just want to be sure that is what is meant by this.

And how about aux lamps...I don't want to start a heated debate but what are some good (legal) driving lamps for up front? What kind of wattage should I be looking at?

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

Thank you all for your input. I really like midnightriders system and will probably follow it. Now for a junction stud; would you just run it from the positve battery terminal to a mounting location and then run all your accsessories from there?? Just want to be sure that is what is meant by this.

And how about aux lamps...I don't want to start a heated debate but what are some good (legal) driving lamps for up front? What kind of wattage should I be looking at?

You can buy a purpose-made HOT junction stud from such places as Del-City; or, do like I do, and make your own.

I have some thick plastic stock that is 3/8" thick which I cut into three suitable sized rectangles and sandwich the head of a 3/8 bolt in between.

Mount your HOT junction stud wherever is handy and route a BIG cable from battery HOT to this stud.

Once this HOT junction is established, relocate ALL wires and cables that are attached to the HOT battery post onto this remote HOT stud, leaving only the big cable that connects the battery(s) to the junction stud.

Thus, the only terminal that gets all corroded by battery acid is that one cable end.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

http://www.delcity.net/store/Stud-Type-!-Panel-Mount-Junction-Block/p_71705.a_1


http://texasindustrialelectric.com/_junction_blocks.asp



These are just a few examples of terminal junctions.