Roof bar light wiring advice needed

[Jimmy Two-Jacks]

Hi All,

I have just bought myself four spot beam led roof bar lights for my 90 and was hoping for some advice as to wiring them.

Am I right in thinking that its best to wire the four in parallel through a relay switched Independent of the headlight controls in the cab as I don't want them for road usage?

I used an online watts to amps calculator and put in the 4x lights @ 15watts each that came to 60 watts at 12volts making 5 amps?

So would I be OK with say 10 amp 12volt auto wire and say a 10amp fuse?

Any ideas as to how to junction/split the four live feeds from the single wire coming from the fused battery supply, connector block perhaps?

Sorry to seem thick electric stuff has never been a strength.

Cheers

James

[=jon=]

Hi,

They will need to be wired in parallel, yep - otherwise they will be very dim

Personally, I'd up the size of the cable slightly (or drop the size of the fuse) - I was always taught that the fuse should be slightly lower rating than the cable as it's purpose is to stop the cable melting. I'd also run two cables, one for earth and one for the live feed - dependant on which landy you have earthing can be a problem - with two cables you can run the earth to somewhere like a fixture on the chassis and save some problems, rather than relying on the light bar being earthed properly.

For wiring the spots up, I'd avoid chocolate block / Bodgelok connectors if at all possible - do you have a soldering iron? Solder and heatshrink is the was I'd do it, or crimp connections well wrapped in insulation tape if you don't have the kit. I'd probably also put a waterproof connector either per spot, or at the edge of the light bar so you can pull the whole lot off if you need to - something like an econoseal connector

Hope it helps!

Cheers

Jon

[PaulMc]

Good advice from Jon

I wire them like this -

The above diagram doesn't show it but, of course, the '+12V' is from a fused supply

Also, the wire gauge shown is for 55W halogen lights, the gauge could be down-sized for LEDs, but not too small, as you don't want a voltage drop.

I use a continuous length of the larger gauge cable, with the conductor exposed and the smaller gauge 'spur' to each lamp crimped onto it it, using a splice crimp, which is then over-sleeved with adhesive-lined heatshrink, as this picture sequence illustrates -

. . .

. . .

Using a male/female connector at the gutter, so that the lightbar can be removed, is a good idea.

For your purposes, a 'standard' 070 (1.8mm) Econoseal connector is more than adequate - http://www.polevolt....Connectors.html

But, for halogen lights, I use the Econoseal 187 (4.8mm) Series, which will accomodate 3.0mm² cable, and has a nominal current rating of 25 Amps -

. . .

.

[Tanuki]

Definitely fit a plug & socket so you can easily remove the light-bar.

A friend fitted a bolt-on "flashing strobe beacons" recovery-vehicle type light-bar to his Discovery for an exercise. After 24 hours of ministering to the 'casualties' provided, it was 03:00 and he was really rather tired and hungry.

He headed for the 24-hour-opening McDonalds drive-thru he knew locally. Which had a height-restriction barrier. Exit one light-bar. The creases and scars on the Disco's roof left the lease-company unimpressed - he had to pay around a £3K damage/condition penalty when he gave the car back.

[Jimmy Two-Jacks]

Thanks all for the help.

j

[Jimmy Two-Jacks]

Good advice from Jon

I wire them like this -

The above diagram doesn't show it but, of course, the '+12V' is from a fused supply

Also, the wire gauge shown is for 55W halogen lights, the gauge could be down-sized for LEDs, but not too small, as you don't want a voltage drop.

I use a continuous length of the larger gauge cable, with the conductor exposed and the smaller gauge 'spur' to each lamp crimped onto it it, using a splice crimp, which is then over-sleeved with adhesive-lined heatshrink, as this picture sequence illustrates -

. . .

. . .

Using a male/female connector at the gutter, so that the lightbar can be removed, is a good idea.

For your purposes, a 'standard' 070 (1.8mm) Econoseal connector is more than adequate - http://www.polevolt....Connectors.html

But, for halogen lights, I use the Econoseal 187 (4.8mm) Series, which will accomodate 3.0mm² cable, and has a nominal current rating of 25 Amps -

. . .

.

Thanks for the advice got the cable on order.

Where did you get the crimps from?

Regards

J

[=jon=]

Are you stationed at Dalton, as your location suggests? I can prob give you a hand if you need any help as I'm local...

[PaulMc]

Thanks for the advice got the cable on order.

Where did you get the crimps from?

Regards

J

Those particular splice crimps (good for a total CSA of 1.5 - 2.0mm²), I get from a trade supplier, in reels -

I can sell them to anyone who wants some, for 10p each.

You can improvise and make your own from the open-barrel of a non-insulated crimp terminal, this one is for 6.0mm² cable -

Just snip-off the connector, leaving the conductor open barrel crimp.

Depending on what you're splicing, it can sometimes be useful to leave the insulation support on it -

This is the above improvised splice crimp, being used to spur 1.5mm² cable from 3.0mm² cable -

Stripped with crimp in place -

Crimping -

Crimped -

.

[Jimmy Two-Jacks]

Are you stationed at Dalton, as your location suggests? I can prob give you a hand if you need any help as I'm local...

Thanks Jon,

I am not on Dalton but not far away If I get stuck I might take you up on that offer.

Many thanks

J

[Jimmy Two-Jacks]

Well I have been practicing with the modified crimps and heat shrink and think I can probably make a passable job of It.

Thanks for all the info. I will post some images when I fit the lights.

Cheers All

J2J

[Jimmy Two-Jacks]

Well I fitted the roof lights and light bar and an illuminated switch in the cab to run independant of the main lights as I dont want them for road usage and the led lights are not "E" marked and so can not be used on the highway.

I have just got to get the mother in law to make me some covers to keep me legal whilst on the road

The images below show

1: Normal Lights Dipped

2:Normal Lights Full Beam

3:LED Roof lights

Thanks again for the help .

j2j

[western]

can we see the lights switched off please,

[Jimmy Two-Jacks]

Sorry Western I cant seem to upload anymore images it tells me there is an error with the server I will try later

These are they:

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item19d5dd213b

Cheers

J

Ok here you go

[western]

Cheers J2J, might swap my front worklights for a pair of them.