gr8dane

Is it possible to run aux lights lights without a relay? When I got my truck, the aux offroad lights are hooked up like such: + Battery terminal > Switch > Lights. No fuse, no relay, nothing else... just doesn't seem right. Lights are grounded, but thats it. Is there any way to make this work, or should I just go kit a wiring kit? Truck already has lights mounted, I just need to make them work. Guy I got the truck from says the lights worked before. I just find that hard to believe.

01f1502wd

Ive heard of people doing that but I would always put on a relay. you can get a simple harness from O'rileys for about 13 bucks.

relays help regulate power from your battery, usually they turn on with your ignition..

gr8dane

I spent about three hours rewiring the lights and finally got them working. The problem was that the ground wire for the lights was corroded. It was the last thing I checked of course. But its working now. Lights are bright, life is good.

dilloncawthon

if there are no relays then i wouldn't run it like that, no need to save 13 bucks if it's going to burn the truck to the ground one day.

Shiny

From what I remember, Relay is nothing but a magnetic switch.
The idea of relays is to make switches smaller so they don’t need to handle a lot of current, the switch send a small current to the relay to activate it witch can handle the required current of what ever needs to be activated.
But I strongly recommend a fuse for added security.
Check like for more info.
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/relay.htm

gr8dane

Don't click on the above link. Its spam crap.

I ended up getting a wiring kit with a fuse just to be safe. Everything is working good, and now and safely too. The kit didn't come with a relay. The previous owner had it wired with no relay and no fuse. So I guess a fuse is a step in the right direction. The new kit that I got has a two position with an on/off light indicator. The lights are super bright. I can't wait to see the desert at night with these. Got a trip in November so I'll let you guys know how it works out!

jhelrey

A relay is ONLY if you want a lower amp switch.... If you do not put a relay on a low amp switch, you will burn it out, or burn down your truck.

I only wire things one way... Say fog lights... From the lights to the front of the truck...

Wires for appropriate terminals. Ground to the frame, hot to switch, ground switch at metal where close, hot to fuse as close to battery as possible, fuse to battery...

For this to work though, you have to use a 5amp switch, not a dinky 1amp that comes with a fog light kit and relay.

gr8dane

The kit I used didn't come with a relay, so I'm assuming that they accounted for that. The switch has a ground, a hot from the battery with a fuse, and a feed to the lights. I'll check the amps on the switch tonight just to make sure. Thanks for the heads up!

jhelrey

Then you are fine if that is how it came... You only ground the switch if your switch has a light on it that you would like to use... IE to tell you the switch is on.

Mine came with a relay and all of that garbage and I got rid of it all mainly to simplify things and it also gets rid of any issues down the road.

mitchalvin

I wouldn't say that, I have had many cheaper fog light kits melt the switch because they were to light for the job. Remember the longer the wires the heavier they have to be. The relay cuts down on the length of wire that has to be there. Simple way to wire in relays is to run a wire from the battery through a fuse to the relay mounted on the front inner fender. From there one output wire goes to each of you lights. The signal wire is you current lights wire just cut it and add the proper connection for your relay, the final wire will be the ground.