1 (edited by fabtoys 2011-05-08 08:53 PM)

Topic: BEST WAY TO Wire Lights for nigjt session?

In the past I Just ran,
Fuse from power to switch, then to light.
I've Ran all sorts of night races in he desert that way.

Also seen circuit breakers used those on a Street Sweeper and when the circuit breaker got hot it would shut off like it should .

How about relays seen the ones with 4 wires, but never ran, forgot part number !

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Re: BEST WAY TO Wire Lights for nigjt session?

fabtoys wrote:

In the past I Just ran
Fuse from power to switch then to light.
Ran all sorts of night races That way.

Also scene circuit breakers.   

How about relays seen the ones with 4 wires but never ran forgot

Before you attempt any rewiring of your lights I suggest you replace your keyboard.  Clearly it is broken.

Speedycop/NSF Racing /Pinewood Dirtbags
'10 Summit, CMP3, Autobahn, '11 CMP1, NJMP, CMP2, Summit, G'man, Stafford, Charlotte, Autobahn, ECR '12 CMP1, NJMP, G'man, NHMS1, Summit, CMP2, NHMS2, ECR, '13 CMP1, ECR, Summit, NJMP, THill, CMP2, MSR, NHMS, Sears '14 Barber, Sears1, ECR, CMP1, NJMP1, BWillow, Sebring, CMP2, THill, Sears2, '15 Sears1, Barber, Ridge, THill, '16 Sears1

Re: BEST WAY TO Wire Lights for nigjt session?

Hey DC Doug I was on a Droid phone!  stupid little key spell check shit .
So what are you an grammar  teacher?

thx for wasting my time I was hoping for a little help about my lights not my fucking typing JACKASS!  LOL!!  Sarcasm just sucks when typing !

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4 (edited by DC Doug 2011-05-08 09:09 PM)

Re: BEST WAY TO Wire Lights for nigjt session?

fabtoys wrote:

Hey DC Doug I was on a Droid phone!  stupid little key spell check shit .
So what are you an grammar  teacher?

thx for wasting my time I was hoping for a little help about my lights not my fucking typing JACKASS!  LOL!!  Sarcasm just sucks when typing !

Hah!  It had to be said!

Try asking Doctawife... I recall they built some fantabulous lighting setup for their Neon/car.  From the looks of it someone on their team knows how to setup a great (or possibly only complicated) system.

In lieu of better direction, I would a) fuse the hell out of what you do, b) make sure your switch(es) run thru your kill-switch, c) use at least four lights... two forward firing, one each firing off to the r/l at 10-20 degrees for cornering, d) mount your lights well inside your bumper's outside plane.

I know, the last two have nothing to do with wiring.  Consider them free advice!

Speedycop/NSF Racing /Pinewood Dirtbags
'10 Summit, CMP3, Autobahn, '11 CMP1, NJMP, CMP2, Summit, G'man, Stafford, Charlotte, Autobahn, ECR '12 CMP1, NJMP, G'man, NHMS1, Summit, CMP2, NHMS2, ECR, '13 CMP1, ECR, Summit, NJMP, THill, CMP2, MSR, NHMS, Sears '14 Barber, Sears1, ECR, CMP1, NJMP1, BWillow, Sebring, CMP2, THill, Sears2, '15 Sears1, Barber, Ridge, THill, '16 Sears1

5 (edited by Sparky Pete 2012-06-03 08:26 PM)

Re: BEST WAY TO Wire Lights for nigjt session?

I personally like to;

-use a SPST (single pole, single throw, aka 4 blade) relay,
-fuse the hot lead near the power source (i.e. alternator or starter hot lead)
-wire it up so the actuating switch grounds the relay coil to turn it on.

Hot lead to 30 & jumpered over to 85, lights/load on 87, and switch to 86. Other side of switch to SHINEY bare metal, wipe some tune-up dielectric grease on the metal to prevent future corrosion.*

(See bottom of linked page for typical install) http://www.eurekaboy.com/f250/relay101.htm

That way if there is a short in your hokey-assed wiring or via sharp-edged holes in your firewall, the current draw is minimal and the worse that happens is the light just stays on vs melting/flambe'ing the whole damn car.

It is also the best way to get full power to your lights.

The problem with running power all the way through a cheap Chinese made switch and 10-20 feet of inadequate wire is that when those components heat up, their resistance increases, sucking up more power and making them even warmer, increasing their resistance and gobbling up even more power etc etc... One wrong move, bad crimp or pinched wire can fry your whole weekend.

Using ground to activate a relay keeps things semi-stupid proof. And things that go click sound cool.

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Re: BEST WAY TO Wire Lights for nigjt session?

...and that post, everyone should know, comes from an MG owner... so you know he knows something about wiring!

http://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af172/kirchbed/medium_Lucas-Electrical-System-Jokes.jpg

Sparky, I've bookmarked your post and the link.  You done learned me!

Speedycop/NSF Racing /Pinewood Dirtbags
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Re: BEST WAY TO Wire Lights for nigjt session?

Quick n dirty-  use DIN rail mount circuit breakers.  Do the math, 30 amps will give you roughly 360 watts of lighting.  Use appropriate size wires, be careful of sharp edges that could short out your wiring.  Use the beraker as your on/off switch.

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8 (edited by doctawife 2011-05-09 04:20 AM)

Re: BEST WAY TO Wire Lights for nigjt session?

DC Doug wrote:
fabtoys wrote:

Hey DC Doug I was on a Droid phone!  stupid little key spell check shit .
So what are you an grammar  teacher?

thx for wasting my time I was hoping for a little help about my lights not my fucking typing JACKASS!  LOL!!  Sarcasm just sucks when typing !

Hah!  It had to be said!

Try asking Doctawife... I recall they built some fantabulous lighting setup for their Neon/car.  From the looks of it someone on their team knows how to setup a great (or possibly only complicated) system.

In lieu of better direction, I would a) fuse the hell out of what you do, b) make sure your switch(es) run thru your kill-switch, c) use at least four lights... two forward firing, one each firing off to the r/l at 10-20 degrees for cornering, d) mount your lights well inside your bumper's outside plane.

I know, the last two have nothing to do with wiring.  Consider them free advice!

Thanks!  We did have some crazy wiring and some wicked bright lights at NPR.  However, I can claim no responsibility for that one.  I was just a sweat shop employee crimping until I could crimp no more.  So don't ask me, ask the husband (cpchampion).  I'll shoot him a message to check the forums and answer yer question.

I'm the doctor who is a wife. Which makes the grease hard to explain to my patients... www.tetanusneon.com.

Re: BEST WAY TO Wire Lights for nigjt session?

We got our relays from NAPA.  They are STDP (single throw double pole) auxiliary lighting relays.  It is black and about an inch square cube.  They are a very common relay. You will need one per 2 driving lights.  Be careful there is also a DTSP relay out there.  We wired the solenoids to the stock light switch. Solder when you can.

Re: BEST WAY TO Wire Lights for nigjt session?

I ran my lights through the factory wiring harness.
55 watt beams to the low beam circuit and the 100 watt beams through the fog light circuit.

Both are relay activated and fuse protected.


KT

TH 2009- 40th ~ SP 2010- 13th Class Bad win!! TH 2010- 17th ~TH 2010- 16th  SP 2011- 20th ~ RF 2011- 13th Least Horrible Yank Tank ~ TH 2011- 79th
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Re: BEST WAY TO Wire Lights for nigjt session?

We run our four lights on two switches.  In the event of a malfunction/failure we would not be 100% dark.

You are only entitled to the space you occupy.

12 (edited by cpchampion 2011-05-09 12:11 PM)

Re: BEST WAY TO Wire Lights for nigjt session?

doctawife wrote:
DC Doug wrote:

Hah!  It had to be said!

Try asking Doctawife... I recall they built some fantabulous lighting setup for their Neon/car.  From the looks of it someone on their team knows how to setup a great (or possibly only complicated) system.

In lieu of better direction, I would a) fuse the hell out of what you do, b) make sure your switch(es) run thru your kill-switch, c) use at least four lights... two forward firing, one each firing off to the r/l at 10-20 degrees for cornering, d) mount your lights well inside your bumper's outside plane.

I know, the last two have nothing to do with wiring.  Consider them free advice!

Thanks!  We did have some crazy wiring and some wicked bright lights at NPR.  However, I can claim no responsibility for that one.  I was just a sweat shop employee crimping until I could crimp no more.  So don't ask me, ask the husband (cpchampion).  I'll shoot him a message to check the forums and answer yer question.

I couldn't see well at Nelson Ledges so... um... maybe I overcompensated when setting things up for the Bayou. It could have been simplified in some ways but the light output was great. You be the judge:
http://ronman.org/pics/Lemons/nola10/img_8997_std.jpg
(picture by Ronman, one of many good ones)

DC Doug, Sparky Pete, and others have provided good advice already. As everyone has said, relays are your friend. We skipped the factory switch and used some simple PartsExpress or AutoZone switches to trigger standard Bosch-style relays. Two circuits so we could have two lights for the paddock, all 8 for the track.

Ingredients: Toyota Tundra light bar from Craigslist, including 4 lights. You'll probably be able to find a similar opportunity.
2 more Hella 500's where the headlights once were -- dirt cheap from Amazon.
Junkyard fog lights from another Neon at 45-degree angles outward as apex lights. Cheap chunks of aluminum to get them onto the bar too.
Run a good ground wire back to the battery for them. Doctawife picked up an E30 battery cable for $12 at a junkyard, Shauna ran it back to our battery box as another ground, and I put a marine battery terminal on the underhood end of it.

Small wires from switched side of kill switch to two dash switches, which sent power to three relays under the hood. A 10-ga wire from the kill switch provided power to a simple 6-fuse distribution block with only three spots used underhood. Things got over-complicated because I got paranoid about making sure each light pair was independently powered and grounded, which led to lots and lots of wires.

Instead of Doug's 4-light recommendation, I'd say you want six: four lights pointed forward plus two at extremely wide angles as apex lights. Most important point: aim them all carefully. Throwing lots of wattage at things is useless if it's all aimed incorrectly. For the mains, have 2 aimed centrally, about 2.5 degrees down, then 2 more aimed outward a little more and about 4-6 degrees down. I think apex lights are great, and junkyard fogs are great for them since they already have a beam pattern designed to be low and wide.

Only two of our lights were technically inside the plane of our bumper, but honestly if you tap someone/something out there hard enough to mangle your lights you're probably getting a trip to the penalty box anyway.

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Re: BEST WAY TO Wire Lights for nigjt session?

What Sparky said. Word for word.

Lemons South 2008 - Fail, Lemons South Spring 2009 - Fail, Lemons Detroit(ish) 2008 - Fail, Lemons South Fall 2009 - Fail, Lamest Day 2009 - Fail, Miami 2010 (Chump) - 2nd!, Sebring 2010 (Chump) - Fail, Cuba 2010 - Crew Chief, Roebling 2011 (Chump) - 8th!, Sebring 2011(Chump) - 19th!