Electrical Wiring Help??

[Rubi513]

Not necessarily true.....some LEDs are not dimable therefore if a constant voltage or a voltage above the minimum shutdown point isn't maintained the lights will shutdown. I believe you proved its a low voltage issue when they work as the truck was running. Get a bigger series battery and it may help or parallel 2 to 3 batteries. I would bet the 7" have a higher minimum voltage than the 20" does.

I guess anything is possible, but I do know that my 40" and 12" light bars on my Ranger will still burn when my stock battery has depleted enough that it won't start back up.

Definitely no need to parallel 2 to 3 batteries together.

[Ivanite]

Not necessarily true.....some LEDs are not dimable therefore if a constant voltage or a voltage above the minimum shutdown point isn't maintained the lights will shutdown. I believe you proved its a low voltage issue when they work as the truck was running. Get a bigger series battery and it may help or parallel 2 to 3 batteries. I would bet the 7" have a higher minimum voltage than the 20" does.

Just thinking. Shouldn't the voltage be inmateral? If the lights are 12 volt and the battrey is 12 volts then it should work. It's a matter of the amp draw and heavy enough wire to pull the current. Is this correct?

[Rubi513]

Just thinking. Shouldn't the voltage be inmateral? If the lights are 12 volt and the battrey is 12 volts then it should work. It's a matter of the amp draw and heavy enough wire to pull the current. Is this correct?

Yes, but I think he is thinking the battery may not be at 12 volts and that the LED may need a minimum of 12 volts to operate.
I don't believe this is the problem though because most LED bars are rated to work at 9-32 volts.

[bhenderson83]

I was thinking of hooking the lights into my two trolling motor batteries. They are already hooked up in parallel. I will try this out soon and report back.

[Turtlewax]

You need more juice. Plain and simple. You aren't getting enough power to fire them all up at the same time. I'd add a second battery and the pair off of that, and the single bar off the current battery.

[buckmastertexas]

Okay bhenderson83, have you been able to resole the issue?. Just interested in knowing what the solution was.

Time for another update, bhendeson83. What's the status? We are bored and need input!

[bhenderson83]

Not yet. I was going to try either running my two trolling motor batteries in parallel or just use one for the 20" and the other for the 2 7". Unfortunately my trolling motor batteries finally gave up after four years. I'm taking a break from this project and will pick it up in a few weeks. I will keep you up to date when I get back on it.

[bhenderson83]

OK after a month of frustration and research I got it all worked out. I tried 12v parallel it didn't work. I tried running the two 7" bars on one battery and the 20" bar on the other and it didn't work. The 2 7" would still flicker and sometimes not light. After that I went back to the drawing board and did some more research. Come to find out the LED light bars have a operating voltage of 9-30v. After reading that I took a flyer and hooked them up 24 volts. I tried to find anyone who had hooked them up in this way, but I didn't have much luck. I did find some bow fisherman that use led bow lights with a 24v set up. After a good test I was as simple as buying a 24v relay, rewiring, and installing. Now my trolling motor and duck lights work on the same voltage. Change over is a breeze. Thanks for the help . Ill post pics when I get time.

[SwampRabbit]

So, it sounds like your bars were designed to run off an alternator. Alternators run at a slightly higher voltage than a standard battery. So, indeed it was a voltage droop issue, but not a current drain induced droop.

Almost wonder if there was a shutoff circuit in those bars to prevent running off the nominal battery voltage (and thus draining the battery) rather than the nominal charging voltage. Was there a switch in the LED bar itself?

[bhenderson83]

So, it sounds like your bars were designed to run off an alternator. Alternators run at a slightly higher voltage than a standard battery. So, indeed it was a voltage droop issue, but not a current drain induced droop.

Almost wonder if there was a shutoff circuit in those bars to prevent running off the nominal battery voltage (and thus draining the battery) rather than the nominal charging voltage. Was there a switch in the LED bar itself?

No I don't think so at least not externally. I will say I did not spend a lot of money on the light bars. They were amazon prime purchases. I didn't see the use in spending "rigid" money for boat lights.