wiring LED amber.

[DirtBound]

i bought an LED amber light and a switch today and a couple spools of wire. what else would i need to wire up the light? relays? connectors? i've never done any wiring before so i really have no idea where to start. thanks.

Nate.

 

[GrimmJeeper]

connectors would be good, in case you ever have to replace it. LED's draw so little power you could probably get away without using a relay, but put a fuse in it as close to the power source as possible in case the wire ever rubs through or gets cut, so you dont get a dead short and cause a fire.

It should go pretty easily.

 

[silverslk]

connectors would be good, in case you ever have to replace it. LED's draw so little power you could probably get away without using a relay, but put a fuse in it as close to the power source as possible in case the wire ever rubs through or gets cut, so you dont get a dead short and cause a fire.

It should go pretty easily.

x2

Any problems or questions post up here and you should get a quick response.....or socal for faster.

 

[CherBear]

x3, no relay needed due to the low wattage that LEDs pull. Def go with a fuse just to be on safe side though.

What kind of switch do you have?

 

[xcm]

let us know how the brightness works out, i bought a LED version from kartek, and its not very bright compared to a similarly priced halogen.

 

[silverslk]

let us know how the brightness works out, i bought a LED version from kartek, and its not very bright compared to a similarly priced halogen.

I think you'll have to wait for that review

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1032378

 

[DieselSJ]

You want a seriously bright amber?

http://www.rigidindustries.com/product_p/duallyled.htm

Draws less than an amp. It is brighter than the 55w halogen that we had in there before. In fact, tech guys complained that it is too bright. Uses the same optics as their light bars.

 

[tcm glx]

I ran mine off the rear lic plate lights for over 3 years. Wired in a switch in between the light, so this way, the switch only had power when the lights were on.... and then I had a switch in between in the tailgate, worked great!!

 

[xcm]

if you want power on all the time, or just power to run it at the TOP of the cargo area, you could also tap into the rear cargo light connector for power.

 

[DirtBound]

well this project has kinda stalled due to some obvious reasons im sure you are all aware of... but when i get it all back together ill let you guys know how it goes... thanks for all the advice, what size fuse should i run 10? 20?. thanks.

Nate.

 

[souske]

I = P/E

So amperage = watts/volts(12)

You likely need a 2.5 amp fuse


If you dont know wattage, try here, there is a formula for you:
http://www.the12volt.com/ohm/ohmslawcalculators.asp#power

 

[CherBear]

I = P/E

So amperage = watts/volts(12)

You likely need a 2.5 amp fuse


If you dont know wattage, try here, there is a formula for you:
http://www.the12volt.com/ohm/ohmslawcalculators.asp#power

There is no way you have a 30 watt LED... Halogen bulbs produce about 1/10th the output that an LED with the same wattage produces. So if you think you have a 30 watt LED, then you must be replacing a 300 watt halogen bulb??

You need more around a 0.5 amp fuse. Even then that is a little too much i would bet.

 

[souske]

I have never seen a fuse (ATC type) under the 2.5 size, anyone else here?

 

[GrimmJeeper]

I have never seen a fuse (ATC type) under the 2.5 size, anyone else here?

Not in ATC, no.


I would be more worried about preventing a dead short than saving your LED with the right amp fuse. If the wire were to get pinched or rub through the insulation, you would have a hot wire directly grounded - that will pop any fuse you put there. i would throw the lowest amp plastic fuse you can find, a 2.5 as souske suggested would work well. but i doubt putting a 5 or 10 amp in there would be a problem either.

glass fuses are available in lower amperages but would be prone to the same vibration damage that tail light bulbs see, the filament could come loose or break from vibrations alone.

 

[crazyjim]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think I have a glass fuse in line on mine as well.

 

[CherBear]

Not in ATC, no.


I would be more worried about preventing a dead short than saving your LED with the right amp fuse. If the wire were to get pinched or rub through the insulation, you would have a hot wire directly grounded - that will pop any fuse you put there. i would throw the lowest amp plastic fuse you can find, a 2.5 as souske suggested would work well. but i doubt putting a 5 or 10 amp in there would be a problem either.

glass fuses are available in lower amperages but would be prone to the same vibration damage that tail light bulbs see, the filament could come loose or break from vibrations alone.

ATM/APM come in a 1 amp variety. But I would have to agree with Grimm that you should be more concerned about shorting out your whole circuit than saving the LED.

In all honesty, I think we are over-engineering this. You could probably be fine with no fuse at all. We are just covering all your bases when it comes to the "What-ifs"

 

[GrimmJeeper]

You could probably be fine with no fuse at all.

the LED would be fine, yes. But, I would NEVER run a + wire on a vehicle without a fuse. I've seen a whole car burn up because a 10g wire going to an airbag compressor was unfused and rubbed through. IMO it's not worth the risk.

 

[tbburg]

Fuses should be sized to protect the WIRING, not the component. They're there to prevent fires and elec. failure due to dead shorts, not to keep "too much power" from going to the component. Regardless if there is a 2.5 amp fuse, or a 50 amp fuse, the light will only pull as much juice as it needs to operate.

Automotive applications are pretty much the exception to the rule, but in most other cases, wiring is not radically oversized. To use a couple of examples;
In residential/commercial wiring, your breakers are sized according to the wire size in the walls, not the actual expected load. If your house is wired with 12ga wire, you have 20 amp breakers. If you have 14ga wire, you'll have 15 amp breakers, etc. What you actually plug in the wall doesn't matter.
In aircraft, where they DO take load into consideration, they figure the max load required on the circuit, then size the wire to carry only as much load as needed(to save weight) It's not unusual to see 20- and 22ga circuits in aircraft for some pretty critical systems(you'd call it telephone and thermostat wiring)

Since we don't restrict wire size in our cars to the minimum required to carry the current, pretty much any small fuse size will work.
On the race truck we have the amber light wired into the fuel pump circuit(no off switch allowed per the rule book)with a 5 amp fuse in-line(we use a 50W amber flood light)

 

[DirtBound]

x3, no relay needed due to the low wattage that LEDs pull. Def go with a fuse just to be on safe side though.

What kind of switch do you have?

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/ca...arentId=01-10&itemId=1418-10&productId=412558

this is the switch i purchased... anything good or bad about it?