Light bar mayhem

[tom94]

Hi, i'm trying to finish my light bar wiring but im getting snagged on a few things.

I bought the bar from ebay -
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Osram-23inch ... 3ac79d0d7f
heres the back of the relay, nothing is labelled



similar to that and it came with a wiring kit, i had to cut out the switch because if i wired according to the plan it would be illegally hardwired and not switched with high beams.



so i bought a replacement switch -
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/262592853330 ... EBIDX%3AIT

thats the back (i connected the black to the body under the dash for a negative, that might not be right)

im confused how i connect all this up because every diagram is positive switched, different relay, or uses a simple switch rather than the 4 wires on mine.

i have had a look through the forums but didnt find anything matching up with my problem, almost threw in the towel today and went to an auto electrician but knew i could power through and get it done.

[NowForThe5th]

The switch is easy and I'm fairly sure I know what's happening with the relay but need a bit more information to be sure.

Can you take another picture of the relay and all the wires connected to it i.e. so we can see what's at the end of each wire?

[tom94]

ill try and explain the wiring:
one of the reds - battery positive (fused)
other red - light bar pos
black - light bar neg and also a tail thats about 10cm long
white is just a wire which i dont know if i should run it to the switch or to the hight beam wire behind the lamp
there is also a red wire that came with it (i think itd go to whatever the white doesnt go to

if you need a pic ill run out and grab one soon

[NowForThe5th]

Yep, thought so.

Ok, so battery positive is obvious.

The other red and the black going to the light bar are also obvious. However, as a comment, the practice of bringing the negative back from the light bar and joining to the earth side of the relay solenoid is potentially a bad one, with the risk of creating an earth loop or having current flow back through the solenoid. Cut the earth wire from the light bar where it joins at the base of the relay and take it direct to a sound body earth. The reason for this becomes obvious later.

The white wire is your switching cable. Connect this to the high beam wire at the back of the headlight. This will provide power for switching only when the high beam is on - thus legal.

Now, take the other black wire (the 10cm tail) and connect to a wire long enough to run inside the car to your switch.

Using the diagram from the Ebay seller that you provided:

switch.png

Connect your line, from the relay, to the point marked "12v input". Connect "12v output" to earth.

Connect the line marked "12v+" into something that is activated when dash lights are turned on. The light at the cigarette lighter is usually a good choice.

Connect "12v-" to earth.

Now, what should happen is that the top part of the switch will light up when your dash lights are on while the bottom part will light up when you turn the lightbar on.

One caveat. Sometimes these switches use a resistor to drop voltage for the LED so the LED will not always work when used in a negative switching application such as I described above. In that case you will need to connect from the back of the headlight and run a wire inside to the "12v input" and connect "12v output to the white wire coming from the relay. Then connect the black tail to earth. This is then positive switching - not ideal because it uses double the wiring but gets around the problem.

Test the first choice first and see if it works. If so, all good. If not, then go to the second option.

[tom94]

mate! this is exactly what i needed, everything makes complete sense

i cant thank you enough, ill rip into it this weekend and let you know how it goes

again thank you!

[tom94]

i've tried the first method and im having trouble keeping the light bar on, the lights and high beams are on, but ill hit the switch and it turns on but when released it cuts out, surely thats not how its meant to work. does that sound like a dodgy relay?

also i was trying to find a light for the switch to hook into (hoping to get into the feed from the switch next to it) as i was checking what had 12v with lights on, the dash lights, cigarette light, and switch lights cut out and no matter what i do they wont come back, i checked some fuses under steering wheel but nothings wrong there. ill try pulling battery and connecting back up to see if that helps EDIT: after a bit of searching its probably a random fuse, but it happened while i was using a multimeter on the back of the ASC switch.

[bigjobs]

Sounds like you have a momentary on switch not on/off, despite what the eBay link says.

As for the dash lights etc, maybe check fuses in the engine bay also.

[tom94]

fixed the dash light, it was a fuse for tail lights or something similar.
still having trouble with the switch

[NowForThe5th]

Sounds like the switch is momentary i.e. push for on, release for off.

If so, you'll need a latching relay.

[tom94]

so a whole new relay?

[NowForThe5th]

No. A separate relay which will take the signal from the switch (assuming it is momentary and not busted) and either turn on or turn off as required.

But, the switch should not be momentary. It should work by pushing once to make and hold contact, then push again to release. You should be able to feel that when you push it in - should kind of click and stay in. Then push again against some slight pressure and circuit is broken and switch comes out. If it doesn't do that then it's faulty and you might have to talk to the Ebay supplier about a replacement.

[ag9111]

Either way it has to go back

[tom94]

hi, im still waiting to get a new switch (my fault, ive been slack)
im going away this weekend and would like to use the lightbar, is there a way i can use the switch it came with? its very cheaply made and has 3 wires from it, yellow, red and black. I have 2 cables that i can hook up to it, 1 earth and 1 from the relay. how can i hook this up? or is it impossible without rewiring.
cheers guys

[Headley]

Hey guys,

In a similar theme, i jumped onto https://www.4wdsupacentre.com.au and found this light bar:

https://www.4wdsupacentre.com.au/specia ... t-bar.html

I'm pretty particular about what light bar i want (10w LEDs, actual bar and not circular, able to mount it on the roof) and this one seems pretty damn cheap at 70 bucks.

Worth buying do you think?

[ag9111]

Yep cheap
The powder coating is lifting on mine and its full of water.
You get what you pay for.

[Headley]

Just went for a drive and realised this won't be much of an option due to the MN's radio aerial being in the centre of the roof. D'oh!

[dieselweasel]

Blank it off dude and wire an aftermarket one to another point on the vehicle?

[Headley]

That could be an option.

Also, does anyone know a good retailer of 10w LED light bars?

They all seem to be 3w or 5w

[dieselweasel]

https://www.sunyee.com.au/

This is where a few people in my family bought theirs, including me. We're all very happy with them.

[Intruder]

Thought I'd ask this here instead of bringing up an new thread, searches bring this one up anyway when searching lightbar wiring.

I'm installing a ARB lightbar and am using their harness, but using an Air on Board Mitsi style switch instead of the crappy mouse style one the harness came with. Have installed the light and harness, connection to switch will be tomorrow.

At the switch end I have four wires to play with:

1. Red - to ignition on +12v supply
2. Green - to relay
3. Blue - to light that comes on with dash lights (easy will connect to light near cigarette lighter)
4. Black - earth

On the harness I have three wires:

1. Black
2. Blue
3. White - using the test light, this one has 12v going to it when high beams are on.

It seems a long day of work and then pre-footy beers has fuddled the brain - what switch wires do the blue and black harness wires connect to? As relay is fully sealed I can't ascertain which wire is coming out of which slot in the relay.

Thanks in advance, sorry for the fuddled brain!