auto-electricians?

[Rabbithunter 456]

I had wired up 4 spotlights on the fron roof bar of the van.

 

Basically i cut into the wire from the back of the lamp to gain my live (switched with main beam) and took my neutral directly from my battery.

 

I added a switch in the cab so i could drive with either full beam or full beam & spot's. pretty simple eh?

 

But if i was to do the job properly, how would i go about it? Would i come off an existing relay or add one in? I would also be wiring up a sidelight ring on the lamps.

 

[Guest baldie]

Disconnect it mate, and quick. I did this twice, when i was a young un, and burnt out two light stalks [switches] in my mini,s. The standard hi/lo, on/off switch isnt meant to take the current pull, that 4 spots will draw through it. Pop down to your local car spares, and get a relay switch, it looks like a 2" black plastic cube, with 4 spade ends on one side, it comes with full instructions on wiring, and its made for this job.

[Leon 0]

I am with Baldie on this disconnect it, the only way to run four lights is with a four pin relay using that wire you gained your power from to switch the relay, which will have a direct feed from your battery to it and a supply for your spots and the fourth pin will be it's own earth, as Baldie says the packet it comes in will tell you which pin on the relay is the switch, supply, feed and earth. But disconnect what you have done now until you get a relay.

[Rabbithunter 456]

baldie, leon, i have been on the Co-Dydramols all day and feel a tad high

 

so to put it in a simple stage process : -

 

Wire from full beam to 4-pin relay

Direct feed to relay from battery?

each leg of the relay to a spotlight

earth to each of the spots (from the battery - or picked up on the relay ?)

 

But how about if im wiring up the sidelight ring aswell? should i use an 8 pin relay, with the other 4 legs coming from the sidelight supply?

 

cheers

[chartpolski 23,467]

Rabbithunter, if I was there I could show you or do it for you, but trying to do it on the net will only confuse. You only need one live wire of the correct rating, for all 4 spots, and they should earth to your car body/engine. Far better to get a auto electrician to do it, if you connect wrongly you are looking at burnt out harness/switches, etc. A relay should only be a pound or so, usually you get them supplied with the spots.

Cheers.

[Strong Stuff 2,171]

Blimey!

 

Guess what I did yesterday??

 

Changed the headlamp bulbs on my Discovery to 130/90 W ones, had to use relays, have too burned out wiring in the past.

 

Here's a nice simple wiring diagram I found, (it needed to be simple for me!! )

 

 

 

I used 1 relay for main and another for dipped.

 

Bright as fook now!

[Leon 0]

baldie, leon, i have been on the Co-Dydramols all day and feel a tad high

 

so to put it in a simple stage process : -

 

Wire from full beam to 4-pin relay

Direct feed to relay from battery?

each leg of the relay to a spotlight

earth to each of the spots (from the battery - or picked up on the relay ?)

 

But how about if im wiring up the sidelight ring aswell? should i use an 8 pin relay, with the other 4 legs coming from the sidelight supply?

 

cheers

 

Wire from main beam to switched feed on relay put your internal cab switch in this line if you want to be able use just your main beams without spots.

Direct feed from battery

No only one output from relay to spots then link these

earth relay to body of vehicle and earth each spot to body aswell

 

Side lights??? why would you need to wire your spots to this unless they have a dip setting? if they do just use another relay in the same way.

 

Hope this helps

[Rabbithunter 456]

Wire from main beam to switched feed on relay put your internal cab switch in this line if you want to be able use just your main beams without spots.

Direct feed from battery

No only one output from relay to spots then link these

earth relay to body of vehicle and earth each spot to body aswell

 

Side lights??? why would you need to wire your spots to this unless they have a dip setting? if they do just use another relay in the same way.

 

Hope this helps

 

cheers Leon yes the spot lights will have a dipped sidelight setting

[Guest baldie]

Also, the main beam spots must be wired to the switch that dips the vehicle,s main beam, a separate switch, will mean a test fail mate.They have to work from the same switch.

[Leon 0]

By wiring the relay switch to the main beam wire as I have said it will knock the spots of when the lights are dipped.

[Rabbithunter 456]

Also, the main beam spots must be wired to the switch that dips the vehicle,s main beam, a separate switch, will mean a test fail mate.They have to work from the same switch.

 

this is how i want it too operate but with an inline switch (an isolater as you may call it) so i can use either

 

Full beam & spots

----OR----

Full beam only

 

thanks for all the advice lads