Thread: LED Light Bar - wiring harness

First thing I would do is ask a nice sparky to determine if the wiring loom if up to the task. My LED bar fitted by 4WD company wiring was too light. The fuse and wire burned in side the engine bay near my battery . I feel luck it did not cause a fire. A auto electrician had a look and found the fitted 3mm wire was substantively thinner than his wire was 3mm wire.

Cheap wire is difficult to trust as cooper is not cheap I.M.O.

I mounted a 20" LED bar on my RRS a few months ago

If yours is the same chinese item as mine the wiring loom is fine. The little stick on switch is a bit dinky but will do.

As you have noted on the diagram if you want it to work in tandem with main beam you can wire the switching circuit to the Blue/slate wire on the LH lihgt loom or Blue/ black on the right

I have just pulled the bar apart and resealed it as it got condensation in it. The light is not IP68 as stated on the specsheet!

According to ADR lights are meant to be in pairs symetrical on the vehicle axis. You could argue the led elements inside the array meet this design rule?
Thats why Ive mounted mine dead centre with an equal no of elements left and right

Originally Posted by Grappler

I mounted a 20" LED bar on my RRS a few months ago

If yours is the same chinese item as mine the wiring loom is fine. The little stick on switch is a bit dinky but will do.

The wiring loom does look ok - not too cheap looking, and the cable thickness looks appropriate. Mine actually has a switch that i need to drill a hole for, so maybe i might change this as not sure where to put it otherwise.

Originally Posted by simoncs

If i want to connect it to the high beam but also have an override switch in the cabin, will this wiring harness suffice? Or do i need another relay somewhere as suggested in this thread...

You don't need another relay, but you will need another switch. A three way on/off/on switch will do it. Run the high beam trigger wire to your first position on the switch, and then for the second position run in a wire eithe from the battery or an ignition on source ( depending on when you want you light bar turned on - but I'm figuring you'll want to use it when the cars off), then run a single wire for the switch to the relay

Si,
You must ensure the driving lights are only able to be turned on when the high beams are switched on. You do that via switching the negative, as in this diagram:


Note where the fuses are located - to reduce chances of fire.

Cheers,
Rob

Still not managed to complete this yet due to work commitments, but have a trip coming up so need to get my arse in gear.
I actually wired it up just to the 2nd battery and almost completely melted the wires that go to the switch.I guess they were to thin after all :0 So have now got some thicker cable from Jaycar.

Whilst i was there the guys suggested this...
leave the wiring loom largely in place and leave the switch they provide to the ON position permanently. I then splice into the wire coming from the relay and going to the light bar and add a second switch here (that will be placed in the cabin) that has six terminals. One side (Circuit1) will be from the aux battery, the centre terminals will be the wires that go to the lightbar, and the other side (Circuit 2) will come from the relay.

Do I need to have the existing switch? Could I not just go straight from high beam to the white wire coming out of the relay on the left? Or do I need some kind of negative/ground on this side?

I have attached a diagram which should make this easier to understand.

I want the option of them coming on with high beam or not. ie not for road use, only for off-road.


thanks

Simon

Don't do it the way that you have shown in that last diagram Simon. In that, you have completely by-passed the relay and introduced another potential for overheating / fire.

The correct and LEGAL way to wire them up is either as per your original diagram, or as Jonesy has shown in his diagram.

If you want to be able to run either with your high beam on the highway, or independent of high beam when off road - the best way is as described by shanegtr. But keep in mind - this is illegal and you could be busted for it if anyone ever checked.

Thanks. when I say for offroad use then I mean with the high beam on as well. I just need to wire it so they don't come on all the time with high beam. ie when on road