Off-Road Lights Wiring Help!

[killj0y]

Ok so for fathers day we got my father in law a set of off road lights. 4 55 watt floods for the light bar and 2 100 watt long range lights for the bumper/grill. I am having trouble trying to figure out in my head how i can wire his 4 floods in the way he wants them.

Ok one way he might want them is to be able to switch on either 2 or all 4 of the floods at any given time so I'm not sure how to go about the wiring to accomplish this. We currently have a on off on switch with 3 prongs but no documentation. http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/DOR4/85904.oap?ck=Search_on+off+on+switch_-1_1582&keyword=on+off+on+switch

We are open to using 2 switches to accomplish this but I still am not sure exactly how to wire them. The lights have a simple positive negative connection. I also have a 30 amp relay to wire this all to. Will this work at all?

The other method i suppose we could do is to wire them 2 on plus 2 on as in 2 to each separate switch.
I would really like to be able to use one switch to toggle 2 or 4 lights, but is this asking for too much? I did see a rather fancy switch that would probably work but not sure. http://www.amazon.com/Pilot-Performance-Lighting-PL-SW16-Switch/dp/B000GTIZ8E/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1308536096&sr=1-3

I also have a 30 amp relay for the 100 watt driving lights will that work? and how should they be wired?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, and of course diagrams even crude M$ paint diagrams will do lol.

 

[mp3deviant721]

You will need two relays, a single pole single throw and a dual make single pole single throw relay. The first relay will run two lights and the second will run all four. Wire the switch to the coil sides of the relays and your good to go.

See this for explanation of how relays will work in your situation:

http://www.the12volt.com/relays/relays.asp

Your 55w lights should only draw about 20 amps total when running all four, so amperage wise your components will be ok.

And that 30 amp relay should work fine for your 100w lights. Just make sure your wire is up to the amp load. Remember to consider for length and what kind of amperage load you will have.

 

[--weezl--]

FUSES!!!!

make sure you have fuses in everywhere you have amp draw

imo, i would hook up 2 sets of 2 lights on 2 completely separate circuits, completely independent of each other, so you can turn the centers on or the outers, even though they are all floods, different aiming will cause a different beam pattern, if you want more light just in front of you, but not on the sides, use the middle two... know what i mean?

so i would essentially, for all of the lights you bought, have 3 switches which each control 2 lights, completely independently of the other switches

 

[killj0y]

So two relays with three switches is really the best way to go then? Hmm yeah shoukd I ground the lights to the headache rack/light bar to save wire? Also any wiring diagrams would help. Should I run them in parallel or series?

My father in law hooked up his driving lights to his fog light harness to just check out the beam throw and it seems weak...would you suspect the wiring or how its wired? I think I have automotive grade 14 gauge wire about 50 ft.

 

[--weezl--]

check your instructions for wiring size, or someone could do the math to tell you what gauge you need... but if it's powering off of the foglight circuit, yeah, that's why it's weak...

honestly, my opinion, 3x spst relays, 3x spst switches, 3x fuses

 

[killj0y]

Ok I'll check the documentation, I just hope it's accurate since they are all from Harbo Freight. It's a a work truck so we didn't want to spend the money for KC's. The driving lights came with a harness the floods didn't. I need to check out the relays as I'm not sure what type they are since they are just from O'reilly.

 

[Cooter199]

alot of factory fog lights are wired off of low amperage power anyway so that might explain that and dont always trust harbor freights stuff in my opinion

 

[killj0y]

I hear ya, but I figured what the heck all the reviews I read were good, plus I've seen a few members with those same lights on here lol. They look good and if they are half as good as KC's its worth it. Worse case scenario I get better lights and the wiring is already there

 

[killj0y]

Got the driving lights wired up and working great all i need to do is wire up the 4 floods up top, but started raining this week so guess it will have to wait. boo