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Danger Electrical help 

 

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 Post subject: Danger Electrical help
Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2011 8:56 pm 
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hi new to forums,
im currently wiring up the driving lights on my ford ba falcon xt.
and im wondering as i am not using the genuine lighting kit or bulb, just the genuine fog light it self.
my question is this,
is there any danger in hooking up your own electrical circuit/ wiring your own fog lights in your car?
i mean danger as in any sparks that could occur and create a fire, or explosion or anything like that?

im attaching my earth connection to the negative bolt on my battery instead of the cars frame as its just easier. thoughts?
and no relay, (not sure what a relay really does, but the lights seem to work with out one)

so overall is there any danger in doing this? and if so what should i look out for?

thanks.
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 Post subject: Re: Danger Electrical help
Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2011 9:13 pm 
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look out for smoke... because once you let it out it's hard to get back in.

your headlights do use relays. you need a relay to switch the power needed to run the driving lights also. If your unsure, then yes there is a risk of watching your car go up in smoke.

These driving lights weren't adr approved even with factory wiring as i understand, which is why they became turning lamps on later models.

 

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 Post subject: Re: Danger Electrical help
Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2011 9:20 pm 
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Run a relay. Yeah they will work without it but with a bit of current draw the switch will start to melt.

A relay is just a big tough switch.
You run any 12v source to a relay (you can get different sorts that trigger at differents voltage of course) and when the relay gets the 12v, it joins 2 other pins of the relay together. Meaning you run a thicker positive wire into the relay and a thicker positive out of the triggered pin to the lights. If you dont run a relay, after a while the switch will start to get really really hot and catch fire/melt. Need the watts of the lights and voltage (12v obviousely) to work out the current draw and then ask where you buy the switch what the rating of it is. Or you could just buy a relay for $3. Or you could buy a spotlight wiring kit from supercheap for $10 (includes relay with plug and switch + heaps of wire).

As long as you solder properly you shouldnt have too many problems. The earth doesnt have to go on the cars frame. Nearly anything metal will be fine as itll touch it somewhere along the line (I like to take an existing screw out and use a crimp terminal as a washer then screw it back in). Just get a drill and a self tapper screw and a round crimp terminal if you want to mount somewhere else. Saves having to run another wire which will look pretty crap. I know a bloke who ran the pos wire into the normal relay box for the lights and crammed another one in there for driving lights. Looked good.

You do know you can have them turn on with your headlights/parkers if you want, and have the switch to override that? Theres a lot of ways to do it, an on/off switch isnt really the best way.

 

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 Post subject: Re: Danger Electrical help
Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2011 9:53 pm 
Fordmods Newbie
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Age: 32

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Location: melbourne
VIC, Australia

hi
i can see that you know alot about what im trying to do, and i dont have much of an idea,
to wire them up to the parkers,
how would i go about this?
if i buy a wiring kit from supercheap, which i have, and the result being this,
i can get these lights to work with this kit, although there is no relay etc and its obviously a separate switch...so this is unsafe?

if i were to connect it to parkers, how hard is it to do this, also would this mean the come on when the low beam lights come on aswell,
as i want an option, if available, as to when i want to put the fog lights on at different times

thanks
93_eb_fairmont wrote:
Run a relay. Yeah they will work without it but with a bit of current draw the switch will start to melt.

A relay is just a big tough switch.
You run any 12v source to a relay (you can get different sorts that trigger at differents voltage of course) and when the relay gets the 12v, it joins 2 other pins of the relay together. Meaning you run a thicker positive wire into the relay and a thicker positive out of the triggered pin to the lights. If you dont run a relay, after a while the switch will start to get really really hot and catch fire/melt. Need the watts of the lights and voltage (12v obviousely) to work out the current draw and then ask where you buy the switch what the rating of it is. Or you could just buy a relay for $3. Or you could buy a spotlight wiring kit from supercheap for $10 (includes relay with plug and switch + heaps of wire).

As long as you solder properly you shouldnt have too many problems. The earth doesnt have to go on the cars frame. Nearly anything metal will be fine as itll touch it somewhere along the line (I like to take an existing screw out and use a crimp terminal as a washer then screw it back in). Just get a drill and a self tapper screw and a round crimp terminal if you want to mount somewhere else. Saves having to run another wire which will look pretty crap. I know a bloke who ran the pos wire into the normal relay box for the lights and crammed another one in there for driving lights. Looked good.

You do know you can have them turn on with your headlights/parkers if you want, and have the switch to override that? Theres a lot of ways to do it, an on/off switch isnt really the best way.
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