driving lights wiring

[SweetWagon]

Hey, Iam thinking about adding some driving lights to my vn. My question is, say I use a relay and take a wire from the high beams (so they only work on high beams) which triggers the relay for a wire from the battery for the lights and simply duplicate this for both lights. So would this work and what size wire and relays should I use.
Cheers

 

[trepaul]

the driving light kit i bought came with everything i needed. you run both lights off the same relay.

 

[craigvk]

The lights you get should come with wiring and a relay.

Typical 100W lamps would draw about 7 amps each so a 30A relay will do. You should have one with dual outputs. 14 guage wire should be used.

I have posted about this before.
See this thread for more info:
http://forums.justcommodores.com.au/showthread.php?t=29275

 

[SweetWagon]

Thanks, i noticed the relays used throughout the car are mostly 30amp so i could probably use one of those but if it all comes as a kit it should be easy enough. I just have to get a bar (unless it comes with) to mount them.
Also where along should i tap into the High Beams power wire?
Cheers

 

[craigvk]

I just have to get a bar (unless it comes with) to mount them.

Most of the driving lights kits come with the lights mounted on a metal bracket of some sort, so all it is, is just a matter of bolting them on or below your bumper bar. There is usually three types of driving lights apart from round and rectangular. One is broad beam on both lights. This is good to see the roos coming at you from the side I prefer these because I like to see the whole road and sides lit up. The next type is pencil beam on both lights. This setup provides a much longer view than broad beam, but only on the approx width of the road. The other type is a combo set up. This is one light is broad beam and the other is pencil beam. This provides the both types in one. I think that set up wouldn't be too bad but never considered it as much as broad beam. I have had broad beam lights in the past and I find that they light up the road enough.

Also where along should i tap into the High Beams power wire?
Cheers

At one of the headlights in the engine bay, there would be a bunch of wires coming out of the headlights. One of them will be a high beam wire. Which one I don't know, but it would likely be colour coded. You could always unplug the wiring and have a mate turn on and off the high beam switch while you use a multimeter to test the voltage of the wire switching on and off. You only need one of those wires as it is basically used as a trigger like shown in my diagram in the other thread I posted. Make sure you use a switch like in my diagram because you don't want to be driving around built up areas with 200W driving lights on. They are especially best suited to places where it's dark like on country roads etc...

 

[SweetWagon]

Yeah the switch would be a good idea. Narva make some good kits i was looking at

The retangular broad beam would probably be the most suitable. Seen at the top of the page:

http://www.narva.com.au/ForwardLighting_17.html

Also a nice little gadget I came across was a fused relay seen at bottom of the page:

http://www.narva.com.au/Switches_18.html

Thanks mate

 

[craigvk]

Fused relays might be costly. If you use a fused relay though make sure you use a 15A fuse and not a 30A fuse. It would probably be cheaper placing an inline fuse and holder connected to terminal 30 which is the input than using a fused relay.

 

[SweetWagon]

Another question. If i wanted to wire a 3 position switch to the relay so the third position is a manual override for the lights to work anytime (mostly for driving on dirt roads i can use just the driving lights) etc. Would I have to wire the switch before the relay, not after like in the diagram in the link you gave me?
And take the constant power from the accessories for the switch in the third position?

thanks

 

[craigvk]

Another question. If i wanted to wire a 3 position switch to the relay so the third position is a manual override for the lights to work anytime (mostly for driving on dirt roads i can use just the driving lights) etc. Would I have to wire the switch before the relay, not after like in the diagram in the link you gave me?
And take the constant power from the accessories for the switch in the third position?

thanks

Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean.

The idea with the switch in my diagram is so you can have it on the driving lights permanently so long as the high beams are on and the switch can be turned off so the driving lights won't work when the high beams are on.
The way this switch is setup, you could virtually use any amperage switch because it isn't carrying any heavy current, it's just switching on the ground for the relay.

 

[SweetWagon]

I draw a diagram of what i mean. Its just the same but it has a 3 position switch instead of your 2, having the 3 position on the switch a constant power source it would operate the lights at all times.