axuiliry lights

[apostle1973]

well i finlly got my truck running lol.... does anyone know how to wire the lights to a switch with out going through a relay. i want to manuly controll when there on or off i lost the instructions lol i would lose my head if it wast attched to my body.... ther just elcheapos but will help iam moving to a very small town and theres lots of dear dont wont to hit one . thanks all

[Mike D]

Let me see if can get this to work.

[Tubby]

well i finlly got my truck running lol.... does anyone know how to wire the lights to a switch with out going through a relay. i want to manuly controll when there on or off i lost the instructions lol i would lose my head if it wast attched to my body.... ther just elcheapos but will help iam moving to a very small town and theres lots of dear dont wont to hit one . thanks all

If they're street legal lights, why not just tap into the headlight wires?

[apostle1973]

there offroad lights, thanks for diagram

[TallTexan]

Dumb question, so what's the point of a relay?

[apostle1973]

dont know about the relay.iam go off battery to switch then to lights . the relay is for making the offroad lights come on with the main drive lights i think.

[Tubby]

I wired up some on my old Jeep... No relay.

Battery to inline fuse, to switch, to lights.

[Raypo]

A realy is moreless a switch, and will help prevent parasatic drains...

[super_dave]

Dumb question, so what's the point of a relay?

To handle a larger current load than a switch will. Switches get pretty warm.

To the OP, come straight off your battery with the + wire through a fuse then to one side of your switch. From the other side of your switch, go to your lights + connection.
Take the lights' - connection to chassis or to the - terminal of your battery.

[Tubby]

To handle a larger current load than a switch will. Switches get pretty warm.

To the OP, come straight off your battery with the + wire through a fuse then to one side of your switch. From the other side of your switch, go to your lights + connection.
Take the lights' - connection to chassis or to the - terminal of your battery.

Yup, make SURE the fuse is the first thing connected to coming off of the battery.

[Gummi Bear]

A relay is a heavy (er) duty switch.

It also opens up the opportunity to make something else operate your lights.

I have wired them up to come on with my high beams, with the running lights, and with the reverse lights on trucks.

A toggle switch may be rated to take a certain amount of load, but it should be viewed as nothing more than a disconnect. I tend not to put any kind of a load on a switch.


The diagram that MikeD posted up, is the right way to do it.


Someone asked about just tapping them on to the headlights - this is a really bad idea. The circuits in a car are designed for "X" amount of load, add to that, and you could be the next Car-B-Que on the side of the road. Most of the vehicles that I've looked at cooked down, were due to some jackleg wiring and short cuts.



Over the years, I've wired cars, jeeps, buggies, and racers and never had an issue. Many of them are still blasting around. Do it once, do it right.