ok, so my beater has a set of shitty foglights, and an even shittier wiring install…im gonna be replacing these with a set of off-road driving lights that are gonna go on my tree bumper. i want to re-wire these things so that they run though the fise box. i would like to use one of those piggy-back things u just plug into the fuse box, but im not sure what size to use and what fuse to tap off of. i am also going to be installing some amber roof-mounded running lights, and ahve the same questions. if anyone isnt doing anything tomorrow and would like to help out, that would be awsome!
i would u fuse tap a radio fuse or the heater controls. that way u cant leave them on accidently. also run a switch as u can be ticketed for off road lights like that
Off-road lights eh? :snky:
How much total wattage are you planning to run for the lights on the bumper?
And how much for the roof lights?
should be a few open spots in the fusebox. run those and run a switch for both
i wouldnt bother rewiring anything if its a factory run to a switch inside.
You should not be running ANY aux lighting through the fusebox. Thats completely pointless and without purpose. Aux lighting current draw is also typically too high to load the fusebox with.
Any decent foglamp set will come with a harness which has a built in “turn on” relay and fuse. You should run the main power wire directly to the battery and the ground to a properly prepared spot on the chassis. The “turn on” wire should be hooked up to the positive on the OLD foglamp harness. The old switch will now propely run the new foglamps. You can cut the wiring harnesses down to a tidy size and neatly zip tie everything in place. You should put a thin film of grease on every bare metal surface where the ground bolts to the chassis. I would also pack any connectors or exposed terminals with grease… EXCEPT on the lamp housings.
im not sure how many watts the off road lights are…i got them at pep boys for like $30 and they have been sitting in my garage for a while…i figured i use them. like i said, if any1 is free tomorrow and would like to lend a helping hand, it would be much appreciated
prolly 55w
and has anyone ever put roof marker lights on a truck before? is this something i could do myself? im not too experienced with electrical stuff on cars
you do understand these require you to drill holes in your roof?
yeah i was thinking of drilling right though and running all the wires behind the headliner and then sealing up the holes with some silicone
Don’t do that because it will look like ass, usually a light bar is the best solution. Unless you want it to look like the TerCelica’s hackjob which was meant to look like crap. What kind of vehicle is this for anyways?
Basically even a half-assed homemade lightbar would probably be your best bet for roof mounting if you are on a budget.
Also of note, if you have any factory foglight switch I would recommend strongly against using that and use the relay/switch combo Violator mentioned above. Good way to prevent melted wires. Factory harnesses are not designed with extra load in mind
its for a 1988 GMC Sierra, and the only thing i will be siliconing would the the hole under the light, so i dont think u would see it
I think the drillling was for the Marker Lights/Clearance lights, not the fog/off-road lights. Eather way electrical is pritty straight forward shouldn’t be any problem as long as you think it out logicaly.
yeah…jsut to clear thigsn up: the fog lights (soon to be off-road lights) and the marker lights are 2 different porjects that i hope to take care of at the same time
Would probably work but it may be prone to leaks when tempatures change. What are you mounting the lights themselves on? The luggage rack?, or do you have a bar for them?
Do NOT use Silicone. Silicon is a piece of shit product and if you use it the lights WILL leak. I would never silicone anything, except a water pump gasket, on a car I cared about. I would get some plastic/rubber grommets from “Hectors Hardware”, run the wire through those and then COMPLETELY seal over the top of the grommets, roof panel, and wire with “JBWeld” epoxy , “3M Automix Seam Sealer”, or “3M Automix Panel Bond”.
just so we are all on the same page, these are the style lights im talking about for the roof
I kno
violator has the right idea, i wouldnt change anything hes said thus far. electrical isnt something to fuck around with. the fogs i would run completely independent from the fuse box, a light kit (from hella or KC) typically comes with everything you need to run them on their own (wiring, fuse, switch, etc). the roof lamps on the other hand i dont know much about.