Anyone familiar with wiring for an LED light bar?

[Cavasar]

I just picked up a 50" LED light bar to put on my TJ, but I don't know much about wiring. As far as I know, I need to ground the black wire to the Jeep somewhere and attach the red wire to the positive terminal on the battery (picture 2). Then find a good location nearby to mount the relay. After that I have the little plug in pictures 3/4 that I'm guessing I some how connect to the black/red wires coming off of the light bar that are just hanging there. If that is correct, what is the best way to connect the two? Sorry for my ignorance, thanks for the help.

http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff402/Cavasar/Jeep/002_zps87c7d24a.jpg
http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff402/Cavasar/Random/001_zps2329a36f.jpg
http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff402/Cavasar/Random/002_zps7d078165.jpg
http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff402/Cavasar/Random/003_zps262ec15d.jpg

[Sparling]

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h77/mustube/Relay1.jpg

Like this picture.

With a light bar, you don't have to use a relay if you want to be lazy. I don't use one on my 40" and you can see it light up signs 2 or 3 miles away on the highway. If you don't want to use a relay, red wire from the battery to a switch, then from the switch to the light bar. Black wire gets grounded, either to the battery or to somewhere on the body if you have a good chassis ground.

[BroncoJo]

Use a relay, don't be lazy. 87% of vehicle fires are caused from switches burning up.

[Cavasar]

Thanks for the info, Graham texted me earlier and said he could help. I will be using a relay, no worries.

[KrazyKarl02]

Use a relay, don't be lazy. 87% of vehicle fires are caused from switches burning up.

97 percent of all statistics are based on fake numbers.

Looks like you bought a pretty complete set up, so yes, I think you have the idea. A fuse is more important than a relay, but you have both. Rather than hooking it up to a battery post, I would find an accessory power in the fuse block.

[Sparling]

A 50" rigid bar draws 14.4 amps from some quick googling. Any decent switch will handle it fine. He's not hooking up a row of old school KC lights.

[BroncoJo]

A 50" rigid bar draws 14.4 amps from some quick googling. Any decent switch will handle it fine. He's not hooking up a row of old school KC lights.

That's exactly like hooking up a row of old school kc lights... Probably equivalent to 4-6 kc lights.

[Sparling]

Less than 2 actually. If you're using 100W bulbs. 100w / 12v = 8.3amps for each kc light.

[BroncoJo]

Less than 2 actually. If you're using 100W bulbs. 100w / 12v = 8.3amps for each kc light.

Actually it's 20 if you we're using 10 watt bulbs.... Do you actually believe a double row, 50 inch led bar pulls 172 watts?

Rigid claims 200 watts but I bet its closer to 300 like the Chinese ones are

[Sparling]

Who uses 10 watt off road lights? 100 watts is probably by far the most common for off road halogen lights.

http://rigidindustries.com/v/RigidCatalog/obj/rigidmaster.pdf
page 16

Says 212.4 watts and 14.75 amps
Even at 212.4 watts, that's just a bit more than 2 halogen lights.

Why is it crazy to think they use fewer amps than some halogen lights? Your HIDs probably pull even less after they fire up.

[KrazyKarl02]

I tend to lean towards the no relay side. Here is a true story from the greatest off road rig ever, I had a relay on the fuel pump cause people on the interweb said relays were awesome. I replaced that relay 3 times, had to fix the ground twice, then I bought a 30 amp switch and never had another problem. With either the relay or switch I had fuse protection.

At any rate this guys light bar seems pre-wired with fuses and relays so he should be golden.

[Cavasar]

I believe mine is 288W

[TdmayfieldIV]

Use a relay. It's not hard, just follow the wiring diagram.

[BroncoJo]

Who uses 10 watt off road lights? 100 watts is probably by far the most common for off road halogen lights.

http://rigidindustries.com/v/RigidCatalog/obj/rigidmaster.pdf
page 16

Says 212.4 watts and 14.75 amps
Even at 212.4 watts, that's just a bit more than 2 halogen lights.

Why is it crazy to think they use fewer amps than some halogen lights? Your HIDs probably pull even less after they fire up.

What's crazy is that you would believe rigid s calculations which are probably based off a 14.5 volt system then do your own calculations based of of 12 volts. Or that you would even use a rigid in comparison here when it's obviously not the case. Or that you would claim that 100watt off road lights are more common than 55watt lights.

[Sparling]

212.4/14.5=14.65
212.4/12=17.7

So using your logic, they use even fewer amps. Good argument. Both sets of halogen off road lights I had were 100w lights. I just looked at 10 random halogen lights on poly performance and 5 were 100w, 2 were 55w and 3 were offered in either. There were a few I couldn't count because they were 130w only.

[BroncoJo]

Less than 2 actually. If you're using 100W bulbs. 100w / 12v = 8.3amps for each kc light.


212.4/14.5=14.65
212.4/12=17.7

So using your logic, they use even fewer amps. Good argument. Both sets of halogen off road lights I had were 100w lights. I just looked at 10 random halogen lights on poly performance and 5 were 100w, 2 were 55w and 3 were offered in either. There were a few I couldn't count because they were 130w only.

...

[BroncoJo]

If you can't figure it out, it ok. Your calculations are obviously biased to whatever kind of point you are trying to make.

[Sparling]

My point is that you don't need a relay. Halogen off road lights are rated at 12v because they use an H1 bulb, and that's what the government uses for ratings on automotive bulbs. Where did you get 87% from?

[BroncoJo]

My point is that you don't need a relay. Halogen off road lights are rated at 12v because they use an H1 bulb, and that's what the government uses for ratings on automotive bulbs. Where did you get 87% from?

Ok you're getting closer on the wiring issue, please refer to Karl's post for the statistic. If we are going to compare lights let's use the same standard, it doesn't matter which one but keep it consistent. Also this is not a rigid bar. Lastly if we are talking about what is needed, neither a switch, relay, or fuse is needed if you are willing to hold the wire ends onto the battery posts...











:flipoff2:

[Sparling]

I was using the same standard for both, until you decided it would be better to use 14.5 volts until you saw that it didn't fit your argument.

Also, there's no need to hold the wires onto the battery posts. Just jam the wires into the terminal and you're set.

:flipoff2:

[BroncoJo]

I was using the same standard for both, until you decided it would be better to use 14.5 volts until you saw that it didn't fit your argument.

Also, there's no need to hold the wires onto the battery posts. Just jam the wires into the terminal and you're set.

:flipoff2:

Ah, your original claim of 14.4 amps was based off of a ~14.5 volt system

[BroncoJo]

Also, there's no need to hold the wires onto the battery posts. Just jam the wires into the terminal and you're set.

:flipoff2:


I might have to go to this system with my hid's

[Cavasar]

I figured I'd post some pictures of the finished product. I'm really happy with the light out put on it, drove around 47 the other night and could see quite a ways down the road.
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5528/10374181403_bbd1a196e0_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/cavasar/10374181403/)

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3682/10373974314_c9dc974695_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/cavasar/10373974314/)
Headlights only
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3682/10373995186_c417cb1e68_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/cavasar/10373995186/)
Headlights + LED
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3755/10374181233_fab4580bd0_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/cavasar/10374181233/)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7389/10373973874_c1f8c07cf2_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/cavasar/10373973874/)

[BroncoJo]

Looks good