Defender headlight upgrade

[mattandersonAU]

So I finally got around to upgrading the headlights and wiring on my defender. Overall a massive improvement on the stock lights.

I fitted an ARB M002 wiring loom -
Expedition Exchange Incorporated :: Defender :: ARB Heavy-Duty Wiring Loom (M002)

And a pair of Hella H4 replacement lamps -
Expedition Exchange Incorporated :: Lighting :: Hella 7" H4 Replacement Headlamp (002395991)

The job is really quite easy EXCEPT for locating 12v close enough to the headlights so that you don't need to run extra power back to the battery box. This could make a 20min job take hours. My battery box and cable runs are already very crowded with solar chargers and big batts etc so I wasn't keen on doing this.

I ended up taking power directly off the winch which is fed with really heavy gauge cable from the battery->starter->winch. Can anyone foresee any problems with this? The starter was my next port of call but is in an area where I wasn't keen to run the fairly light arb loom cabling (heat!).

It seems to work really well and is a very neat shortcut - the ARB loom reaches perfectly without modification or extension and the relays sit neatly in behind the RH headlight. The run to the LH headlight goes across the top of the radiator but tied to a sensor cable to avoid contact as much as possible (this worries me slightly with heat).

So hopefully someone can point out possible issues I might have, or if not and like me you were trawling for a simple solution to get 12v near the headlights then maybe this will work for you.

Here's the connection on the winch. As you can see I grounded to the chassis as the terminal that grounds the winch directly the battery was only accessible if I removed the winch. Paint job on the front bar work is the next job.

[landy]

I have the same wiring harness but fitted IPF head lights. Agree very easy to fit. I took the power directly from the starter motor where the main power cable connects. In reality exactly the same as you just at the other end. It's been that way for over 5 years and no problems.

Cheers
Nino.

[JayBoRover]

Hi Matt,
The only comment I would make is that I would put some sleeving around your red/white wire where it runs across the sharp edge of the solenoid pack mounting plate just adjacent to the fat red cable of the winch supply. If that insulation rubs through over the years it will get very messy, and very smokey, very very quickly!

Other than that, thanks for sharing your experience with the installation and including the part numbers and stuff.

[Albert]

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/showthread.php't=175477
Huge difference, even better with a light bar now.

[n plus one]

You have created a bit of a disaster waiting to happen there - as it doesn't appear that you have fused the headlight supply after it is sourced from the winch (though I could be wrong - but hard to tell).

If that wire rubs through you'll likely toast a head of wiring/set your truck on fire.

All power wires should be fused, all fuses should be sized to protect the wiring (fuses are not there to protect the thing they're supplying!).

Other than this issue, there's no real reason not to pick up supply from the winch (assuming the winch's supply is always got) - other possible sources would have been the starter motor or alternator.

Hope this helps.