mr7confused

I was writing this up for someone, and decided hey, it may be useful to many other people. Or confusing. mr7confusing.
It's too simple just wiring the lights up. here in mr7confused's world we like to complicate things. With relays.
After putting relays in, my light output nearly doubled.

Wiring comes easy to me, so forgive me if I make it sound complicated. Do not hesitate to ask any questions, I'll be more than happy to elaborate. These pictures are not mine, they belong to the manufacturer or distributor of these parts. Please do not burn up anything, and use a an appropriately sized fuse on ALL wires leading to the positive battery terminal. Fuse within a foot of the battery.

The best connection is to solder wires together (melting a soft metal over two intertwined wires) but for simplicity reasons, a weather proof butt connector such as this one, will work. Use a lighter or small torch to melt and seal the ends.


Ground them all together in one place, using O-ring connectors.

(Why are these pictures so large!?!) Study them closely.
Use one per each wire, ground them to a clean exposed metal bolt or self tapping screw. ensure NOT to drill a self-tapper through anything that may be on the other side of the metal.

Are you running four, or two lights?
If four, it is best to run two switches. One switch is the outer lights, one for the inner. You may not always want to run every single light, to relieve strain on your alternator or eyes.

Now it gets complicated. switches and relays. (as if it probably wasn't complicated before)

A relay is a switch, that is operated by a small amount of electricity, to switch a large amount. This prevents the switch in the cab from "choking" the lights from their full potential. The switch in the cab, tells the relay to switch on the lights. The switch you touch now becomes a remote.
This is the relay. Any auto parts store will have them.


This is for one set of lights (two lamps, one relay, and one switch)
Double the recipe for double the lights, triple for triple, etc.

Each light has a hot and a ground. The grounds we've taken care of, the hot's we're about to. Ground is usually black or brown, Hot may be blue, green, red, white, or yellow. Whatever isn't the black one.

The relay has four prongs on it.
30) battery positive, with a fuse rated at the amperage draw of the lights.
85) Any bare metal, secured with a bolt or a self-tapping screw.
86) Into the cab for the switch
87) to the hot leads at the lamps

Connect to these prongs using a connector like this. Usually called a '1/4" famale spade connector'


The switch needs power from the battery, then the switch leads into the #86 prong on the relay. The relay is labeled on the rear.

Here's a diagram I conjured up. It makes sense in my head, but if it doesn't to you, please let me know and I will be more specific. I don't have any pictures of the process, but you have all seen wires before, and I have supplied pictures of the connectors I recommend you use. When I get a chance I'll try to take a picture of the complicated parts.

Fuses: The switch doesn't draw anything heavy, so all it needs is a 5 amp fuse. Depending on the draw of the lights, they may need a heavy amperage fuse, or a smaller one. Most lights that are powerful enough to require heavy amped fuses probably come with a relay, and fuse and all that.


You can use this same setup to hook up reverse lights. Instead of putting a switch in the cab, use the lead that would normally go to a switch and connect it to the bulb wire for your stock reverse lights.

Test and make sure everything works. If a fuse blows, this means you have a short. Check wiring for any worn insulation that may ground out the power. Also recheck the connections on the relay, as this is the easiest part to confuse.

After I finish wiring everything up, I like to secure the wires to any non moving and not hot, parts of the vehicle, such as frame rails, fenders, etc using zipties. Wireloom is also great for protecting the wires from damage and heat (if they need to be run across the top of the firewall) and elsewhere.

PLASTI-DIP is great here. not the spray stuff, you can actually find it in a cup. Dunk the relay in it, and let it hang over a paper towel until it stops dripping. weatherproofed!


Sorry for the sporadic organization. ADD at it's finest. And a semi-relevant picture of my truck because it makes me happy.

bobkyle2

Moved to actual HOW TO thread... Thanks

08f150xlt

Thanks again!!!

mr7confused

No problem!

08f150xlt

Here's how it turned out. Perfect switch location with plenty of room for the relay behind it too. There's also a good spot to pull through the firewall in that area too. I originally had them on the shackle bracket but barely had any light because my dual exhaust tips blocked the light. So I used self tapping screws and mounted them to my hitch. Turned out really nice there. Not too noticeable...

serbcccc3

Thanks for the write up... Can I ask just one question that I haven't been able to sort, when you are running the wiring from the battery back to the rear lights, where do you actually run the wire? This has been my biggest question when lookin to do stuff like this.... I understand relays and simple electrical stuff but I just don't know where I should run the wires.... I mean..... Not a clue!!!
Any more advice on where y'all are running the wires would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks ,
Marko

mr7confused

There is a wire harness that runs along the frame rail, generally on the drivers side that feeds the fuel pumps, brake lights, and trailer harness. On my truck, it's inside the frame rail somewhere. It's in a pretty safe place, so I just cruise along that using zip ties and wireloom along the way. Occasionally there will be a hairy part where you may not be able to get your hand up in the area, but as long as it doesn't get hot up there or move around (or the wire gets worn through to cause sparks) you should be ok. I've done many a wire-runs off all sizes, including hoses, along the frame rail and they've all turned out just fine.

Sometimes I wish I could disassemble my whole truck and pre-run nicely secured wires to all the misc places I have them. But, can't always do that so this works just fine.

serbcccc3

Thanks a lot I see what your talking about ! I totally missed it when I was looking before, thanks again!

08f150xlt

Yea I ran my power wire along the frame rail with the factory wires too. Then went above my spare with it to the bumper. I passed the wire through one of the openings under the door sill plate to get the wire from inside the cab to the outside... I'll post a pic of that tmw...

serbcccc3

Awesome, thanks man. Let me ask you one question about something you say in your post when talkin about those O-ring connectors for the grounds - "Use one per each wire, ground them to a clean exposed metal bolt or self tapping screw. ensure NOT to drill a self-tapper through anything that may be on the other side of the metal." - the part about "NOT drilling a self tapper through anything that may be on the other side of the metal"... what metal are you talkin about here... sorry i just have no idea what you mean here!
I am a newbie at all this!

Thanks again,
Marko