Electrical advice needed for AUX lighting

[Mike NXP]

Hey, I'm looking for someone to chime in on the rough draft below.

Current setup
- Running ARB Intensity lights on the front bumper with the ARB wire harness. I have it hooked directly to the battery but the signal wire is tied into the fog lights so the circuit is dead when the lights are off.

Future setup
- Finally pulled the trigger on a Gamiviti roof rack. I am going to add two little pod lights up top and I suspect more lighting in the future.

Plan for install
- I am going to install the Blue Sea 6 way fuse block in the engine bay
- I want the fuse box to be dead until I turn the fog light switch on
** After looking it over and taking advice from others It seems to make more sense to power the fuse block full time and then just control the signal via the relays in the lights wire harness.

 

[Mike NXP]

_Removed original plan

 

[arkmm]

It looks like it will work but this seems overly complex. I just removed 3 big relays that were crammed in my front fender and cleaned everything up with the 8 gang switch from AuxBeam. Its clean and easy.

 

[abuck99]

Hard wire the blue sea direct to battery -fuse inline - or with blue sea switch/breaker- then add your rack lights one circuit, fog lights to the other and so on. You will appreciate having independent control of upper lights at camp or work scene.

 

[Mike NXP]

It looks like it will work but this seems overly complex. I just removed 3 big relays that were crammed in my front fender and cleaned everything up with the 8 gang switch from AuxBeam. Its clean and easy.

It's a circuit to control two lights it's not that complicated . It also would allow for easy install of future aux lighting

I believe a relay per switch is necessary to have separate control

Hard wire the blue sea direct to battery -fuse inline - or with blue sea switch/breaker- then add your rack lights one circuit, fog lights to the other and so on. You will appreciate having independent control of upper lights at camp or work scene.

I think thats what I have depicted . The only difference is I had the blue sea controlled by relay that is only powered when I have my fog lights on.

Edit**
Once the fog light switch is turned on in the cab, the relay near the battery will energize and send power to the fuse block. The fuse block is going to send the power along to each lights individual wire harness, powering the switch / relay circuit. Once the light switch is flipped it will send the power along to the lights.

It'll make more sense once I get the install going, hopefully I have some lessons learned to share along the way.

 

[87warrior]

You might not want to have the fuse block powered only when the fog lights are on. Scene lighting at camp comes to mind. I understand why you would want the foglight trigger to power the fuse block with the current lights, I just try to future proof my wiring.

 

[Mike NXP]

You might not want to have the fuse block powered only when the fog lights are on. Scene lighting at camp comes to mind. I understand why you would want the foglight trigger to power the fuse block with the current lights, I just try to future proof my wiring.

Good point, I went back and forth on that for a while. Was also thinking about having a powered USB for charging but with my single battery setup I decided I won't be running and aux power when the truck is powered down. I have plenty of portable power and lighting that we've been working with for a while, no need to get too fancy now. Suppose if I wanted to run them I could just turn the key to ACC and make it happen but you're right I am re-considering it all now.

 

[87warrior]

Good point, I went back and forth on that for a while. Was also thinking about having a powered USB for charging but with my single battery setup I decided I won't be running and aux power when the truck is powered down. I have plenty of portable power and lighting that we've been working with for a while, no need to get too fancy now. Suppose if I wanted to run them I could just turn the key to ACC and make it happen but you're right I am re-considering it all now.

You know what they say about opinions The relay in the feed seems redundant to me. However, I do see the benefit of it to lessen the chance of something coming on an killing the battery. If that is the thought, I would use an ACC-ON trigger instead of relying on the foglight to power the fuse block.

 

[Mike NXP]

You know what they say about opinions The relay in the feed seems redundant to me. However, I do see the benefit of it to lessen the chance of something coming on an killing the battery. If that is the thought, I would use an ACC-ON trigger instead of relying on the foglight to power the fuse block.

Appreciated, yeah I'm not experienced enough to really know what I am doing here. Once I have it all in front of me I suspect the design will change a bit.

Those additional relays in line with the switch are just part of the wiring harness that comes with the lights. I'm not going to custom fab any of that stuff.

In short the goal would be to use all the wire harnesses that come with these lights, power them all from the fuse block, and have that fuse block be dead when the key is off.

 

[abuck99]

I just think the fog light switch stalk as the controller for power to all your AUX lights limits options- but that’s me.

 

[Mike NXP]

I just think the fog light switch stalk as the controller for power to all your AUX lights limits options- but that’s me.

True, I hear ya'
Once I have everything laid out in front of me I think I will understand my options a bit more.

 

[Mike NXP]

Alright, now that I removed my existing wire harness and got in there I see why everyone gave the advice they did.

I'm going to just run 8AWG fused from the battery to the fuse block so it's hot all the time like @arkmm suggested. The relay in line would limit my amp rating due to the gauge of the wire and it also seems to make more sense to have the fuse block powered with the key off.

The big headlights on the bumper will be off when the key is off since I will tie them into the fog lights like they are now. This removes any chances of the dog pushing them on while we are sleeping ( he gets shotgun )

The small roof lights will tie right into the fuse block so I can flip them on with the key off as suggested by @abuck99 for some camp light when midnight bathroom breaks are needed.

I have this circuit rated at 60 amps and right now I am only pulling around 25 amps. This leaves room for future expansion and...well..more lights. ..


Thanks for the advice all, I will post some pictures once this is all dialed in. ( ignore the finer details below, after looking at my existing setup some positive cables are yellow, the signal wire is brown, etc, so this was mostly for my reference )

 

[Mike NXP]

Will the battery in the LC cut power off once it reaches a certain low voltage? For example, when I leave my door open and cargo light shining, after a while it's off. Is it just turning the light off or killing power to the system.

I wonder if the same logic applies to my new setup, let's say I fall asleep with light on or do something stupid, will the battery kill power to this circuit eventually or just run itself dead?

 

[jerryb]

wired on the battery it will kill itself. Unlike the dome or door in some LC LX after a set time frame.

 

[Mike NXP]

wired on the battery it will kill itself. Unlike the dome or door in some LC LX after a set time frame.

Good to know, thanks.

Where should I install the 60A fuse on the 8AWG wire coming from the battery to the fuse box?

Closer to the battery, or next to the fuse block?

 

[87warrior]

What is the purpose of the inline 40A fuse after the 30A fuse in the fuse block?

I suspect it's a typo, but the Roof Rack Light switch appears to be labeled as a Bumper Light Switch.

Good to know, thanks.

Where should I install the 60A fuse on the 8AWG wire coming from the battery to the fuse box?

Closer to the battery, or next to the fuse block?

As close to the (+) battery terminal as possible.

 

[Mike NXP]

What is the purpose of the inline 40A fuse after the 30A fuse in the fuse block?

I suspect it's a typo, but the Roof Rack Light switch appears to be labeled as a Bumper Light Switch.


As close to the (+) battery terminal as possible.

Yeah sorry if that diagram makes it confusing. So the ARB intensity lights I currently have installed have this wire harness with the built in 40A fuse between the main power and relay. I just labeled it as such to help me when it comes time to install.

Type fixed in previous post, good catch

Ok thanks for the heads up on fuse location as well

*Anyone out there have a clean way of mounting the blue sea 6 way fuse panel on the passenger side in engine bay

 

[TheForger]

It's a circuit to control two lights it's not that complicated . It also would allow for easy install of future aux lighting

I believe a relay per switch is necessary to have separate control

The Auxbeam would fit your circumstances the best. It does have a relay per switch, they're just solid state relays set in epoxy which are much more relaible. It's like the difference between mechanical hard drives and solid state hard drives. It will also be the easiest way to add on additional lights or other accessories

 

[jerryb]

I've switched to these lately, much nicer, less crimping. Delcity is the cheapest place to order them.

 

[87warrior]

The Auxbeam would fit your circumstances the best. It does have a relay per switch, they're just solid state relays set in epoxy which are much more relaible. It's like the difference between mechanical hard drives and solid state hard drives. It will also be the easiest way to add on additional lights or other accessories

I have the 6 circuit Auxbeam relay box and switch panel on my trailer. It really reduced the amount of wiring I needed to run. While it works well, I do not like that the main power feed is 6 or 8 small gauge wires terminated together.