I've got a GoRhino front push bar and Rigid Industries Dually lights to mount on it. The pair of Rigid LED's is 20 watts each and 1.45 amps. I would like to connect and wire them to come on with the high beams. How do I do that and is there a risk of blowing a fuse doing that or are they low enough watts and amps? I just want a simple way to use them for added light without having to reach for a separate toggle switch every time I turn them on and off.
Wiring Rigid LED lights to high beams?
- Thread starter Waylap
- Start date
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stamp11127
Full Access Members
The redneck way would be to tap into the high beam hot wire and run power directly from there. I would go the next step and use that feed to trigger a relay which in turn feeds power to the lights and of course is properly protected with a fuse or breaker.
You could also add a switch on the trigger side of the relay to disable them when needed and still have the high beams.
You could also add a switch on the trigger side of the relay to disable them when needed and still have the high beams.
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Canadian Expy
Full Access Members
I would go with the relay setup, even though they don't draw much.
I use the same lights as an extra reverse light.Mine are the fog version.
I use the same lights as an extra reverse light.Mine are the fog version.
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Lightnig
Full Access Members
I am of the same mind as Stamp and CanEx and strongly recommend not adding additional load to the OEM wiring harness.
I have read more than one account where people have tested the ability to deliver enough power for even the basic OEM headlamps and have found the wiring is not even up to doing that properly.
Here is one link that seems to be quite good explaining the issue
Remember, when building these trucks (or any vehicle for that matter) they are going to use the cheapest components they can get away with - and copper is expensive. So the lighter the guage they can use the better (for them). Adding an additional load of another pair of lights onto the existing wring will at best dim the lights further from what they are now, however slightly. At worst it will overheat the wiring and destroy the insulation, use your imagination what that could lead to...
Do the wiring properly, and run a relay system. You'll be glad you did down the road.
I have read more than one account where people have tested the ability to deliver enough power for even the basic OEM headlamps and have found the wiring is not even up to doing that properly.
Here is one link that seems to be quite good explaining the issue
Remember, when building these trucks (or any vehicle for that matter) they are going to use the cheapest components they can get away with - and copper is expensive. So the lighter the guage they can use the better (for them). Adding an additional load of another pair of lights onto the existing wring will at best dim the lights further from what they are now, however slightly. At worst it will overheat the wiring and destroy the insulation, use your imagination what that could lead to...
Do the wiring properly, and run a relay system. You'll be glad you did down the road.
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Lightnig
Full Access Members
It is pretty straight forward actually, the toughest part is routing the wiring neatly so it does not get abraded (away from sharp edges), and splicing the 'trigger' wire.
For what you want to do, it should be easy.
Oh, and go with decent size wire, I would suggest no less than 14 Ga. And heat shrink all connections to keep them water tight, plus solder where you can, instead of crimp connections - will last longer.
For what you want to do, it should be easy.
- Splice a wire from the highbeam circuit to the coil terminal ( terminal 86 on a standard aux lamp relay ) on the Relay - though, I would recommend a dash switch anyway
- Run a ground for the trigger circuit ( term 85 )
- run a wire from the battery through an inline fuse to the power circuit of the relay ( term 30 )
- run wire from the relay ( term 87 ) to the aux lights
- ground the lights to the truck frame
I learned this one the hard way, I got a relay where the coil terminals and the power terminals were reversed and I fried the relay and burned up the trigger ground wire almost instantly - also learned the value of a fuse in the proper place that day...
Oh, and go with decent size wire, I would suggest no less than 14 Ga. And heat shrink all connections to keep them water tight, plus solder where you can, instead of crimp connections - will last longer.
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