[Bigred74]

Well i was bored at work and was goin thru youtube videos and came across this diy way of organizing your wiring for auxiliary lighting. thought id share the link cause i assume others will think its cool too.
im gonna try to make one when i get a chance to hook up all the lighting on my ram!

let me know what you guys think :smileup:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYMe2xTvyUQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUlLZo1kegU

 

[Iqudayo]

interesting....

 

[Bigred74]

ya would deff clean up all the wires i have running every which way! lol

 

[Asur]

nice, good idea's

 

[slimpartywagon]

you mean you guys don't wire stuff up like this? Well, I don't use a plastic box to house everything, but I do mount my fuse box and relays to either the firewall, or the dash supports, depending on where I am using power at.

 

[frickenbored]

Yea I bet that box is really nice....oh and that thing she was building, thats pretty cool too

 

[Bigred74]

you mean you guys don't wire stuff up like this? Well, I don't use a plastic box to house everything, but I do mount my fuse box and relays to either the firewall, or the dash supports, depending on where I am using power at.

Well i usually use the wire harness that comes with the lights but that means every time you buy a new set of lights your gonna be spending time running wires... i just like this idea because it is setup to go to a five switch panel and say you only have 3 sets of lights then you have two switches hooked up and wired for lights or anything you wanna wire into your truck ready to just plug in and be done with later down the road...

i dont know its just something i came across.. do you guys have a better way of doing it? i just wanna make it as clean as possible and not be running multiple wires everywhere

also i know the switch and relay can handle a set of lights but if i wire it this way will it be able to handle two sets of lights on one switch for my kc lights on top of my truck or will they have to be wired to two diff switches for 4 lights?

just lookin for ideas on how i should do it. just ordered a new kinetik 2000 battery which will be hooked to my 1400 i already have. so after winter im prolly gonna work on all my wiring for the truck

 

[slimpartywagon]

I never have used the Harness that come with the lights. I have always done it exactly like the video shows, minus the box. The only thing I would have done differently with the box since it allows for such a nice neat custom install, is used Relay Blocks that would allow them to be mounted to the side of the box instead of just laying loosely. also when I add a new fusee block, and a relay, I get a fuse box that will allow me to add in several new circuits if I need, at the same time I wire in the same amount of relay connectors as empty fuse slots, so that all I have to do is attach the wires, hook up a switch, and plug in the relay and fuse to make the new circuit run.

Right now I am working on swapping in power doors into my 2000 Ram, taking them out of my 1995 Ram donor truck. Since the wiring isn't comaptable, Instead of splicing into the 2000 Fuse block, I decided it better to go ahead and build me a new accessory power distribution center. I know that I need 3 power circuits to make every thing work, but I also have 2 sets of off-road lights, and a Hydraulic winch that I just kind of through the wiring together on. So while I am at it, I am adding a 12 circuit fuse box and 9 Relay Connectors, I know i won't be using that many relays for a while, but knowing I have that ability should the need arise is just a good piece of mind.

 

[slimpartywagon]

also i know the switch and relay can handle a set of lights but if i wire it this way will it be able to handle two sets of lights on one switch for my kc lights on top of my truck or will they have to be wired to two diff switches for 4 lights?

you can run as many relays as you want off of one switch. I wouldn't put more than 4 lights on per Relay, depending on the load. How many amps is each set fused at? and How many amps are your relays rated at?

 

[Bigred74]

ah ok well i have electricity class next sem so maybe that will help me come up with the best way for me to wire everything correctly. just wanna make sure i do it right the first time so its done with hahah but as for the lights my fronts are kc 100 watt and the off road ones are 130watt. not sure on amps id have to look at them i think ive heard average is about 9amps per light. the relays are just the standard automotive relays so if i remember correctly i think 30/40 amp

 

[RogerRamJet]

There's some really great ideas there.

 

[slimpartywagon]

ah ok well i have electricity class next sem so maybe that will help me come up with the best way for me to wire everything correctly. just wanna make sure i do it right the first time so its done with hahah but as for the lights my fronts are kc 100 watt and the off road ones are 130watt. not sure on amps id have to look at them i think ive heard average is about 9amps per light. the relays are just the standard automotive relays so if i remember correctly i think 30/40 amp

For 100 Watt Lights its recommended to run each pair off of its own relay, but, both relays can be triggered by the same Switch.

Fr 55/65 Watt bulbs, its recommended not t run over 4 per relay.

 

[Bigred74]

For 100 Watt Lights its recommended to run each pair off of its own relay, but, both relays can be triggered by the same Switch.

Fr 55/65 Watt bulbs, its recommended not t run over 4 per relay.

ok cool thats what i thought. thanks! :smileup:

so you think i should just wire it like that video but instead of 5 switches do 4 and have 2 of the five relays hooked to same switch on the panel? if i make that box from the video do you think the wires are heavy duty enough to have everything on at once? i already bought some of the supplies to build it.. the inline fuse cable for the box is 10 gauge so whats the best size fuse to run with it? im at work right now so cant look to see what it came with. think it was only 30amp fuse

or do you have any other video or diagram showing how you would wire it all together? will also be doing a dual battery setup with a battery isolator

thanks for all the help so far

 

[slimpartywagon]

You are on the right track. Bellow is a chart that I reference for making wiring harnesses. Since I don't know where you are mounting your power distribution box (the box from your first video), I don't know what size your main input wire from the battery needs to be. If this were my project, I would try to mount it as close to the battery as I can, to limit the guage of wire feeding your fuses and relays.

For the switch wiring, CAT5 cable is sufficient as there is almost no amp draw on the switch itself and all they do is open and close the magnetic field on the relay. For the lights, 12-14 gauge wire should be good.

How are you adding in a second battery? Are you going to get a diesel right hand battery tray and all the cables?

The rest of your questions I will answer with a wiring diagram. If you need some more help on this feel free to PM me. I would like to know what exactly you already have purchased for the fuse block and relay block so I can help determine exactly what you need for input circuit protection and each circuit's fuse requirements.

 

[slimpartywagon]

one more question before I finish the diagram for you... do you want the lights to work with the key off?

 

[Bigred74]

Thanks!! yes i will try to mount the power distribution box as close to the battery as possible. as for the dual battery setup.. i already have it, have a regular battery under the hood(which im replacing with a kinetik HC2000 because that battery is bad) and then i have a 2nd kinetik battery(HC1400) mounted under my driver seat hooked in parallel with the first battery. My amps are then just connected right to the battery in my cab. So i already have dual batterys setup but dont have an isolater yet(gonna buy one soon) and also wanna do the big 3 upgrade(switching all the main power and ground cables to 0 guage).

and yes id like all the switches to work with truck on and off. i will be mounting 1 or 2 sets of backup lights so id like to wire them where that i can turn them on with switch but also so they come on automatic when putting truck in reverse

 

[slimpartywagon]

The first diagram I posted would allow all of your switches to work without the key on, the fallowing diagram shows how to wire up your "Back Up" lights to work off of either a manual switch or the transmission.

 

[Ahays63]

Yea I bet that box is really nice....oh and that thing she was building, thats pretty cool too

bahahaha :leghump: now that cracked me up

 

[Bigred74]

thanks!! looks like i have alot of work to do lol

 

[slimpartywagon]

I messed up on the Aux Reverse Light Diagram. The factory reverse light wire needs to go to the same relay as the manual override switch for the reverse light.

This project wouldn't be that hard to do. The hard part is finding a set of waterproof connectors to make it all look good in the end. That is myy hang up on my Power door lock conversion.