Well I mounted two 6" no name brand lights behind my grill a while ago, they came with 55 watt bulbs (one of which was burnt out and with the store being 45 minutes away I wasn't going to worry about exchanging a $10 light), but I picked up some 100 watt bulbs, 20 amp fuses and fuse holder from autozone. I had some 14 gauge wire at home and used that. I was told from the guy at autozone that I shouldnt need a relay and since I am still learning about the specifics of electronics, decided not to get one. The worker there helped me figure out how to wire them up and it was a crappy design... I asked a friend at work and he helped wire a more understanding and feasable diagram. But once I turned everything on, he just kinda looked at me and said "That's it?" He has 55w bulbs and they are literally twice as bright as mine... He suggested getting a bigger gauge wire (like 12 gauge) thinking that maybe the 14 is constricting the power flow a little, but I was wondering if there is maybe another issue? I will draw up a diagram of how I have it set up and post it later, but any help would be great!! Taylor
dim lights could have to do with a bad ground. check your grounds again to make sure the surface is bare metal, no rust...sometimes paint will cause you to have a bad ground. dude wire them lights up the proper way with a relay and a fuse and a switch. its simple and protects the circuit. wiring a relay is easy, one prong is ground, one is load, one is 12V source and one is your switch. put the fuse on the 12V wire. the 14AWG wire you have should be ok. the 100watt bulbs you have are drawing 8A each, that 14 gauge wire can handle atleast 30A.
Thanks for the help man, I forgot to mention that I do have a switch (3 prong- input, output, and ground) I will pick up a relay and check the ground though. I appreaciate it
not a problem dude. dont listen to them people that work at those stores...especially autozone lol that LED switch you have should also have a fuse on the 12V side of it. the load prong on the switch needs to be hooked up to the prong on the relay that is for the switch. obviously ground goes to ground. when you look at the bottom of the relay where the prongs are you will see some numbers next to each prong, here is what they are for: Battery power #30. Lights (postiive) #87 Switch #85 Ground #86
good dude! its really not all that hard but it can be extremely confusing. post up if you need anything else.
14 ga wire at 8 feet length on 12 volts on a 16 amp load will have a power drop to 11.336 volts at the lights. Dim lights. Shortening the distance to 5 feet (underhood relay) with 10 ga wire on 16 amp load gives 11.836 volts at the lights. 55 watt lamps draw less load and would give brighter light if you use the same 14ga wiring 8 feet long with in cab switch and no relay.
hes the guy that knows all! hahaha how many feet till length plays a factor in power drop? i couldnt remember.
I cheat using this: American Wire Gauge table and AWG Electrical Current Load Limits with skin depth frequencies and wire strength At the bottom of that page is the converter.
same one i used for the amp rating of the wire lol didnt see the calulator at the bottom. so at 16A with 8ft of wire on a 12V system your losing a little over .6 of a Volt. throw a relay in for sure, you can change your wire size since you have 100W bulbs if you want but youll be ok with the 14AWG wire, you wont gain but .199 of a volt by changing to 12AWG, that shouldnt dim the light that much would it joe? ive got 100Watt bulbs in my hellas with 12 gauge wire ran back to my cap, thats more wire than hes using up front and mine are bright. still think it could be a ground issue, or am i wrong?
