Wiring of driving lights

Submitted: Tuesday, May 17, 2005 at 22:27

ThreadID: 23079 Views:5566 Replies:5 FollowUps:4

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Spratty

Hi All.
Needing some advice on fitting driving lights, having an ARB bullbar fitted, which means I loose the factory fog lights as the bar won't accommodate them , haven't decided on which lights to buy yet, but the question is can I use the exsisting wiring from the fog lights to run the spotties, it would be a simple matter of just hooking them up and away I go or this just to easy, would the wiring handle the extra load as the fogs are only 55w, trying to save a few bucks and to utilise the orignal fog light switch. I also realise there could be an issue with them being able to be turned on without the high beam.
Any thoughts
Thanks in advance
Spratty.
Vechicle Frontera 2001.

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Reply By: Patrolman Pat - Tuesday, May 17, 2005 at 22:38

Tuesday, May 17, 2005 at 22:38

Legally spotties can only be used when headlights are on high beam. It's not that hard or expensive to wire them correctly.

AnswerID: 111717

Follow Up By: drivesafe - Tuesday, May 17, 2005 at 22:51

Tuesday, May 17, 2005 at 22:51

Hi Spratty, as Patrolman Pat put it, it’s not to hard and not that expensive to do it correctly.

If you use 5mm2 cable then the driving lights will be brighter and the globes will last longer and this alone will repay you for the little extra you have to outlay up front on the larger cable.

Don’t forget, to get the best result, you need both positive and negative 5mm2 cable and the negative should be run all the way from the driving lights to the battery’s neg terminal.

Cheers

FollowupID: 368076

Reply By: Member - Crazie (VIC) - Tuesday, May 17, 2005 at 22:55

Tuesday, May 17, 2005 at 22:55

Hi Spratty

You could you the existing wire and switch and it should handle the load fine. Your fog lights should be wired in with your parkers or maybe for low beam head lights, For legal reason, you should trace the wire and change the power up through the high beam by puting in a relay. If they are wire through or other lights, a relay should already be there. Just change the power wire

cheers

Crazie

AnswerID: 111723

Reply By: Member - Matt Mu (Perth-WA) - Tuesday, May 17, 2005 at 23:18

Tuesday, May 17, 2005 at 23:18

The result would be uselss for anything over 50watts, but you can still use the wiring. Just have to change the feed from park to high beam. Then down at the lights run some good suppplies from the battery and use the old wiring to switch your relay. That way your new heavy wiring is short and that means good supply and at low cost!

But apart from saving the fog light switch, I would prefer to get some holes cut in the bar, keep the foggies and just wire up the spotties well from scratch!
My 2c
Matt

AnswerID: 111726

Reply By: fatz - Wednesday, May 18, 2005 at 08:00

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 at 08:00

Spratty,
Any decent set of driving lights should come with a relay and a wireing diagram. But if not they are really easy to set up properly and not very costly. You can still use your foglight switch but this would only turn them off when you have your high beams on as long as the relay and wireing is set up correctly.

Mick

AnswerID: 111745

Follow Up By: Member - JohnR (Vic) - Wednesday, May 18, 2005 at 08:17

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 at 08:17

G'day Mick, nice to see you pop up here. Hope your cheese and kisses is well there too. How about a short drive down the Great Ocean Road again.

My decent set of lights didn't come with a relay and diagram actually. But you guys are right, they wire up easily....

FollowupID: 368108

Follow Up By: fatz - Wednesday, May 18, 2005 at 08:57

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 at 08:57

G,D'ay Jonh, always lurking on the forum, just dont get enough time to post! have a good read every day to keep up with whats going on.

Might be down your way in March next year for the Port Fairy Folk Festival, we'll see what happens. Bought a new Camper so are planning a looooonnnnnggggg trip!!!

Mick

FollowupID: 368112