LED Light Bar Wiring Question

[DesertRunner]

i personally perfer to have the relay hot and trigger it using a ground. that way you can source ground from inside the cab near your switch and only have one wire running through the grommet to the relay



device would be your lights and trigger source would be your switch.

 

[Muddzz]

Underhood I have wires for auxiliary equipment, tow vehicle lights and interior aux. fuse panel.

While installing an aux. fan manual switch I decided to move some it over to the drivers side using a single pwr. cable.

Fusing directly from the battery is suppose to protect the entire circuit and wire gauge. A second fuse is used to protect individual devices and circuits.

This how I have it installed. I had extra an fuse laying around, and installed it near the isolator relay.

 

[Lowrange2]

There ya'll go making my diagram look bad.

 

[DesertRunner]

i googled it!

 

[Muddzz]

There ya'll go making my diagram look bad.

I tried finding a drawing program but could never find a simple one that works for basic drawings. A few years back found an older Visio 2000, from a garage sale or thrift shop.

 

[Lowrange2]

I just used MSPaint (As you can see). The new version of MSPaint is pretty awesome though. I'm just no good at using it yet. It's like a cut down version of Photoshop now. Tons of better options now.

 

[Muddzz]

The version of MSpaint that was installed with my OS doesn't allow layering so you can't separate drawn objects. Only has one zoom level.

e.g. If you draw two lines that interconnect they become one object.

 

[zachandandy]

My point was not that you put the 50" on the same switch, my point was at ~10A he doesn't need a relay for the 12" bar and 2 pods.

 

[Muddzz]

I was thinking if you string e.g. four lights or LED light bars together at 10 amps each in a series from a 15 foot pwr cable you would need 15 feet of 4 AWG wire.

If you ran them in parallel you would need 4 x 15 = 60 feet of # 10 AWG wire or if you connected 2 each, 2 x 15 = 30 feet of # 6 AWG wire.

(calculations base on a 3 percent voltage / pwr drop ... 2 percent would require a larger gauge wire)

There are variouls methods to feed power and switch the lights.

Switches runs from around 10 to 20+ dollars each, whereas as relay can be purchased (12 pack) from around a buck to two buck each.

I drew a simple diagram that should work to string four relays together from a single switch. Using DesertRunner's "Normally off with ground trigger" diagram.

(Instead of running wire you could either jumper, use a diode or resister to 85)

Each device can fused for added protection or may come with their own fuses in their wiring harness.

What do you think about this method?, i.e. using a single toggle switch to ground.

The trigger wire (gnd) can be small gauge so you could use a 4 wire cable to control all four lights from one multi function switch.

 

[Muddzz]

I was interrupted while doing the previous wire sizing calculations .

Please disregard previous calculations:

4 % voltage drop is acceptable, 2 % voltage drop is ideal.

If you have four devices @ 10 amps each in a series = 40 amps

6 AWG wire @ 4% voltage drop = max. 14 foot cable
4 AWG wire @ 3% voltage drop = max. 17 foot cable
3 AWG wire @ 2% voltage drop = max. 14 foot cable

In parallel 4 power wires = max. 16 foot cable @ 3% voltage drop, total 65 feet of 10 AWG wire

___________________
If you have four device @ 15 amps each in series = 60 amps

4 AWG wire @ 4% voltage drop = max. 15 foot cable
3 AWG wire @ 3% voltage drop = max. 14 foot cable
1 AWG wire @ 2% voltage drop = max. 15 foot cable

You could also split them up into pairs, using two toggle switches.

The toggle switches can be AC, DC or AC/DC. Possibly micro switches. The wire would only need to be large enough to complete the grounds for relay coil circuits.

Using this relay wiring method requires using a heavier gauge power wire, especially if you need to create a longer power wire. But reduces the total number of wires and stress placed on a switch or switches.

I'm posting what information I have and can remember, while looking at different options and practical ideas for wiring external aux. lighting for a vehicle.

 

[Lowrange2]

My point was not that you put the 50" on the same switch, my point was at ~10A he doesn't need a relay for the 12" bar and 2 pods.

He probably doesn't need it but since it came with it I'd certainly be using it. It's defintily better to be safe than sorry.

 

[thatxjguy]

I thank all of the options and opinions from everybody!

I think what I'm going to do is follow Lowrange2's diagram with two fuses connecting each LED pod.

With my setup, I have two factory fog light switches – one each toggled to each light bar. I don't really want to change that. I bought the police package 4-switch bezel so that I could run these lights from the factory switch locations.

 

[Lowrange2]

Nice, I like that. I bet those are pretty tough to come by.

 

[thatxjguy]

Nice, I like that. I bet those are pretty tough to come by.

I actually bought the last brand new one on the Internet from JeepsAreUs. It was $199 brand new. I couldn't find any used ones anywhere.

 

[Lowrange2]

Jesus christ! $199 for a switch panel?! I don't like it that much. lol

 

[DesertRunner]

ouch! $199 is steep! i like the look of it but i could never spend that kind of money on a switch panel!

I work at dirtbound offroad so I designed my switch panel also designed a different one for a local club member the other day.

mines a stick so i had to lose my ashtray


heres the one for the auto matics

 

[thatxjguy]

ouch! $199 is steep! i like the look of it but i could never spend that kind of money on a switch panel!

I work at dirtbound offroad so I designed my switch panel also designed a different one for a local club member the other day.

mines a stick so i had to lose my ashtray


heres the one for the auto matics

Yeah I know what you mean, but I'm too OCD not to have something that looks factory.

But I kid you not, it was the LAST N.O.S. available online. You won't find anymore anywhere unless you can somehow junkyard a municipal Jeep Cherokee:

 

[thatxjguy]

I got them today, and they do indeed come with their own wiring harness:

The harness includes a 40A relay, two plugs, the battery connections, and a switch.

So my question is, can I attach two harnesses (one for these and one for the 12-incher) to one switch safely?

 

[Lowrange2]

Yes but you're going to have to open up the harness.

Those harnesses draw switched power from the main battery power wire. (Or at least mine did)

You can just cut the wire at the switch in the harness and run it to your switch on the dash.

 

[thatxjguy]

Yes but you're going to have to open up the harness.

Those harnesses draw switched power from the main battery power wire. (Or at least mine did)

You can just cut the wire at the switch in the harness and run it to your switch on the dash.

So if I cut the harness at the switch on both the pods and the 12-inch, I can just hook both harnesses up to the correct wires on the switch right? Doesn't matter that two harnesses are touching or anything like that?