The black plastic trim panel simply pops off. Push a flat bladed screwdriver in under it on the windscreen side and lift. Beware though - the plastic clips that hold it in place are easy to brake / lose. Do NOT replace these clips with cheap after-market ones, or the panel will pop off when you are at high speed on the highway. I had this experience after a windscreen replacement. The correct plastic clips are yellow in colour and available at very little cost from a dealer (I carry a spare set in the glove box).
If you open your bonnet (you will need to do this to completely remove the plastic trim panel anyway), you will see where the bottom of this panel sits in the top corner of the engine bay. Your wiring will come out from under this panel in the top corner of the engine bay.
Yes - you should still use a relay. Never wise to add additional load to the OEM wiring circuit. To keep things legal, the relay should be "triggered" by the high beam circuit of the vehicle such that the light bar can only operate when Hi beam is selected - AND - there should also be a switch inside the cab so that you can independently turn off the LED bar and run you headlights on Hi beam without the LED bar operating. The same applies to any auxiliary / driving lights.
I have an LED bar under the front of my roofrack and it is wired as above, with a switch inside on the console and a relay under the bonnet triggered from the Hi beam circuit. My wiring route is different to some others. I have run to the back of the roofrack and then down inside the tailgate opening on the left side. Wiring is held in place on the body by stick-on wiring fasteners and small cable ties - it cannot be seen from outside the vehicle when the tailgate is closed. Under the car, wiring runs along the inside of the chassis rail, but is attached to the body of the car and not to the chassis (don't want to have to cut / remove the wiring in the event of any "body off" maintenance down the track) to the left side of the engine bay in front of the batteries. The relay is in a "block" together with another two for driving lights plus the ones ARB fitted for the repeater lights in the bulbar - this block resides down the side of the filler for the windscreen washer. The relays all used to reside on the side of the engine bay, but I recently had to re-locate them when I installed a Traxide dual battery system.


Reply With Quote

Bookmarks