hella question

[jeep90]

i have installed many sets of fog lights before but they were just the kind that where direct wired to the battery, no relay. i have a set of hella 550's that i am going to install, but have a few questions. in the instructions sheet it only shows an install where you hook it up the your headlights, so that when your low beams are on so are the hella's, and off with the low beams. the way i want to do it is right to the battery with a toggle switch, so i can control when they are on. when i hook them up with a toggle is the relay necessary? how do yall have yours hooked up? hella's, kc's whatever.

thanks in advance

 

[White]

I perfer to not use the relay. But with multi sets I would use a High current contactor. For you jeepers with like 10 billizon lights good luck.

 

[derff96963]

Well I can tell you the reason for them being wired to the headlight is because in most states I know of they are required to be that way. They are considered fog light and fog light are not allowed to be on with high beams. You can just wire them straight off the battery but a relay is the much safer way to do it. If you do just go off the battery make sure to put a inline fuse right after the battery.

 

[jeep90]

i think that i am going to run them so that they will not work unless the key is on. i hate jumping in the jeep after work to go home and the battery is dead :roll: .....any ideas?

 

[White]

just come out of the fuse box. maybe your cig liter ? There alot of amps to just jump off any old circuit. I would take it from the heater or defrost circuit. something not that important.
Or get a battery buddy.

 

[XJNick]

Hi,

You really need to use a relay.
You can hook the switch to take power from a wire that is only hot when the ignition switch is in the RUN position or you can take power from the head lamp circuit.

Here is a very simplistic drawing of how the relay gets setup:

Note that the relay needs to get power straight from the battery or a heavy gauge wire to the #30 terminal. Also, use heavy ~14 gauge wire from relay terminal #87 to the fog lamps themselves.

All other wiring can be smaller sized such as 18-20 gauge, since only the power drawn by the relay coil (which is very little) will be carried over them.

-Nick :!:

 

[White]

its the relay that gets people freaked. Electeric jeep ? thats just crazy nick !

 

[jps4jeep]

If you do not want the light controled by the Head lights, instead of putting ot the low beam, T tap that into the parking light wire. that way, as long as the parking lights are on, the fog lights will have the option of being on (as in they switch is on)

About Laws

In massachusetts, any accessory light over 24 " from the ground is illegal to have on unless high beams are in use
Under 24" can be 35w or less to be on at all times
Under 12" can be 55w or less to be on at all times

 

[jeep90]

so today i installed my hella 550 driving lights. i took my time and made sure that everything was wired according to this diagram made by xjnick

http://www.jeepz.com/index.php?name...c+lights&sid=23cc8d4faa3ac9874a9d74b70c952241

now everytime i shut off the jeep and go to restart it it is dead. very dim dash lights and it wont even try to turn over. its kind of like the battery is shot now all of the sudden and it wont hold a charge from the battery. it was fine before i hooked up the hella's. any ideas?????

it also does this if i jump the battery and drive around for awhile without turning on the hella lights.

 

[XJNick]

Hi,

It sounds like you may have shorted a circuit to ground due to a problem with the wiring...

First things first: did you use fuses in the circuit powering the relay AND the power source to the switch? You absolutely MUST use fuses or a circuit breaker of the appropiate amperage at these two points in a relay controlled circuit for safety! Be sure both sources of power to the circuit are fused. If no fuses are present, a short will happen indefinately until one of two things happens: you melt you wires and start a fire or your battery dies from continued excess current draw :shock:.

Also, If you used my diagram above, note that the switch I drew in was supposed to represent a typical LIGHTED rocker switch. If you did not use a switch with a light in it, there will be NO ground wire attached to the switch. Except that missing note, the diagram is correct.

I could probably help you better if you took pictures of or better yet sketched exactly how you wired the circuit when installing it in your Jeep. :mrgreen:

-Nick :!:

 

[XJNick]

Hi,

I Forgot to suggest that you disconnect your battery ASAP if you haven't done so already until you solve this problem. Automotive batteries (and lead-acid batteries in general) do not like being drained down past about 50-70% of full charge, as if this occurs for any length of time the battery can/will be permanently damaged.

-Nick :!:

 

[jeep90]

after i installed the lights i turned them on to see if they worked, and they did. i then drove to the carwash to aim them on the brick wall there. i shut off the jeep, turned on the fog and the headlights, and began the aiming process. it took me maybe ten minutes or fifteen minutes to get them perfect. i then jumped in the jeep to start it and it wouldnt start.

do you think that i killed the battery by leaving the lights on for that long? and now it is just shot and wont accept a charge from the alternator?

as far as how i wired the circuit, it is wired exactly like your diagram.

 

[XJNick]

i shut off the jeep, turned on the fog and the headlights, and began the aiming process. it took me maybe ten minutes or fifteen minutes to get them perfect. i then jumped in the jeep to start it and it wouldnt start.

ok, this clue would make me wonder if you killed your battery due to draining it down too far. It seems hard to believe 10-15 minuets would kill it, but if it was a regular old car battery, that could be all it takes to drain it way down.

If you want to determine if the battery is bad or not, try the following. With all loads off the battery (i.e. it disconnected from the Jeep, or at least make Sure nothing is pulling power from it), put it on a good stand-alone 12 volt battery charger. When the charger is on and charging, you should read 14.2-14.8 volts at the battery terminals. Let it sit on a charge for some time (actual # hrs will depend on what kind of amperage the charger is dumping into the battery), then disconnect the battery from the charger. The voltage across the battery terminals will decrease some. If you've left it on the charger long enough,the battery voltage should remain above 12.4 volts. It should hold at a voltage above this even after sitting for 24 hours. If the voltage drops below 12 volts, and you know you charged it long enough, it's a bad battery. Also check the water in it before charging if it is a flooded battery.

Or you could save yourself the hassle and have it tested at an Autozone. It's still best to charge it up first, though. :mrgreen:

-Nick :!:

 

[Sparky-Watts]

It sounds like you may have a dead cell in your battery, either from a short or as mentioned previously, from draining power down too far. What is the brand, age, CCA (cold cranking amps), etc. of the battery?

In my YJ, the fusebox had two single post fuse attachments (not double so that you could put a blade fuse in, just one slot for one blade), and the KC wiring kit I bought had single blade adapters that could be put into those slots, or fit over the blade of an existing fuse. I used them in the single-blade slots, and they are only hot when the key is on, so it really worked well for me. I did notice, however, that two of the lights (one of the single-blade slots) will come on when the key is in the ACC position, but both sets of lights will come on with the key in the RUN position. The two slots I found in the fuse box were on either side of the box toward the bottom. Don't know if that helps or is even relevant at this point, but thought I'd throw it in for others with YJ's thinking about lights.

 

[exjay33]

impact wrench...

Sounds like the battery took a good dump ,before you toss it put a multimeter on it just sitting see if there is adraw on it. After that take that relay throw it as far as you can run some good wire to a good swtich (advanced auto 30 amp lighted swtich 7.00) from the battery and please make sure they are adjusted for all the truck drivers sake (lights in mirrors are 7 times brighter) also don't know where you live but if you cover them for inspection they don't have to work with headlights. Of course check your laws.

 

[XJNick]

After that take that relay throw it as far as you can

Why do you say that? Relays are generally very reliable and straight-forward to wire.

If you are implying that the relay caused the draining of the battery, well that is very very unlikely. Most standard automotive relays pull just milliamps of power to energize the coil... this small fraction of current flow won't cause the battery to die.

Jeep90 , now that you've said that you were successfully able to turn the lights on and off would indicate that you've got the relay wired correctly. Get your battery tested, still sounds like it could be the cause of your problem. :mrgreen:

-Nick :!:

 

[jeep90]

well there goes battery number 2. got another battery used it all day went to start it up about an hour ago and its toast now too......i am seriously gonna toss this relay soon.

 

[XJNick]

Hi,

Look, you need to check that the wiring is hooked up properly. You said before that it was hooked up correctly, but did you ever check it? By "check" it I mean do the minimum of getting out your multimeter (you do have one, right?), and measuring:

> The voltage of the battery with nothing attached to it: should be ~12.5 volts
> The voltage at the battery terminals with it connected and the Jeep OFF: should be ~12.5 volts
> The voltage at the battery terminals with it connected and the Jeep running: should be ~14.4 volts. If it is still around 12 volts instead of 14.4 then you have a problem with the charging system such as your alternator.
> The voltage at your new relay terminal #30 (w/ lights OFF): should be 12-14 volts
> The voltage at your new relay terminal #85 & #86 (w/ lights OFF): should both be 0 volts
> The voltage at your new relay terminal #85 & #86 (w/ lights ON): one should be 12-14 volts, the other should be 0 volts
> The voltage at your new relay terminal #87 (w/ lights OFF): should be 0 volts
> The voltage at your new relay terminal #87 (w/ lights ON): should be 12-14 volts

I still find it hard to believe you haven't blown a fuse yet if it truly is a short in your wiring (that is assuming you used circuit protection). :?

As I've said before, take some pictures or draw how you wired it. The more info you give, the more likely someone will be able to help you pinpoint your problem.

-Nick :!: