Thread: Wiring spotlights..

Originally Posted by **Joker**

G'day All,

i have just got my hand on another set of spotties and was wondering if its possible to connect those to the existing spots i have by wiring them all all together and using them with only 1 relay and sidewinder switch???

cheers simon

Yes but your relay will melt as it's rated lower than the fuse you'd need to get them all to light up.
Better option is to wire them up seperatly so you can turn on each pair as the conditions change.
Narva sell a wireing kit or can you can buy the parts needed.
Do it 2 hours before our next playtime?

Cheers.

Originally Posted by alien d2

Yes but your relay will melt as it's rated lower than the fuse you'd need to get them all to light up.
Better option is to wire them up seperatly so you can turn on each pair as the conditions change.
Narva sell a wireing kit or can you can buy the parts needed.
Do it 2 hours before our next playtime?

Cheers.

oh ok wellll what if i just add a bigger fuse?????

What next play???

Originally Posted by **Joker**

oh ok wellll what if i just add a bigger fuse?????

What next play???

Bigger fuse, um.... more amps down wire= more heat=melting relay or worse melting wireing (Don't go there mate).

Play time when mines going

Cheers

One of the site sponsors’ sells “dual” relays.

One feed in with two fused relays in one housing. You get the best of both worlds. One power feed in two going out separately fused and easy to have them both activate at once.

You just need to check the relay capacity (max current)

I was always told it was a bad idea

Now I have 4 relays under the bonnet

You could fit HID globes to all of them, then the load on the relay wouldn't be as high.

Or you could look at the wattage bulbs you are going to run.
100w bulbs draw 8.5A, so if you are running 4 of those it will be more than a 30A mini relay will handle.
Headlight relays are double relays, make sure you run some decent wire to them.
The 5mm wire I bought from BCF has twice the copper and half the insulation as the 5mm wire from Super Cheap!

Yes as said the relay will handle the extra lights as long as you don't exceed the current carrrying capacity of the relay contacts - there's no general answer to these things sometimes you just need to sit down and do the calcs.

1. take a look at the relay - it will have the amp rating marked on it. Sometimes spotlights are fitted with big kerchunker relays, but normally they're just standard 30 or 40 amp 12V relays.

2. do the calc of the current draw as explained above

I'd allow a 10% safety margin ( ie if the current draw of your combined lights is higher than 90% of the relay rating, then put in a seperate relay for the new lights )