Off Road Lights Need Help

[Guest socal-guy]

OK, I am just about ready to install my cheapo driving lights which I bought off ebay. The lights cam by themselves.

Each light has 2 wires coming out of the housing.

One thicker gauge one thin. I know this much

One is for power and the other to be grounded (smaller.)

I went to radio Shack and bought an auto switch, plus the Auto Relay.

The realy has 4 males

1. 12V out

2. 12V in

3. ground

4. on/off switch

 

My questions are:

Does each light must be grounded separately? or can they both be grounded into the same ground?

Where do the power wires which come from the speaker get attached to? which part of the relay?

Is there only one wire that gets attached to the swith, even though it has 2 male plugs? Or is one used to ground the switch? If so, does the ground wire come back to the relay (ground) or grounded separately?

Sorry for the many questions.

[statikuz]

1. You can ground the lights together. I think. Ground is ground, you can do it separate or together, doesn't really matter.

2. Speaker? You mean lights? The wires would go from the 12V out on the relay to the thicker wires of the lights.

3. Nope, the switch has to be grounded also, I believe. You can ground it anywhere you want.

 

I think that covers it. =) Someone correct me quick if I'm wrong on any of those.

[MatterHorn]

3. Nope, the switch has to be grounded also, I believe. You can ground it anywhere you want.

 

technically your switch should be the "circuit" that completes the ground for the relay so that it switches on... that way it isn't carrying any signifigant amount of current and is all handled by the relay

[statikuz]

Yeah, I was going by the way I wired my PIAA lights and remembered there were two wires for the switch, one to the relay, and I thought the other one was ground... it's the power for the little light in the switch. My bad.

[88pathoffroad]

OK people, Google.com is your friend...

 

http://www.carcentral.net/content/guides/H...liaryLights.php

[87mudfinder]

88 i had a cat just like your picture her name was mittens she had a baseball catcher mitts for paws.. Wished i could find another one.

[88pathoffroad]

Mine has six toes, too. Catcher's mitt paws! hehehe

[94extreme]

OK people, Google.com is your friend...

 

http://www.carcentral.net/content/guides/H...liaryLights.php

i have my lights wires just as the pic in the link but for some reason the relay isn't relaying.. when the lights are plugged directly to the battery they work but through the relay they do not. the relay i bought calls for the relay terminals to wired in a different pattern then the one in the link but i wired them both ways and still no go.. when the in cab switch is on i get power at 3 of the prongs at the relay but not the one going to the lights.. when i switched it with relays ground the power shifted to that terminal.. i am totaly cornfused at this point.

 

help! lol

[94extreme]

found my problem.. bad contact at the relay ground.. all is good.