Fog Light Frustration with wiring

[mattmacklind]

OK, so I bought the HF fog lights and a small light bar to mount them on, got those mounted and went to work on the wiring. I used a relay and bought a new three prong switch to use.

OK, so I have the relay, from which goes one line to the positive battery, one goes to the lights, one goes to the middle prong on the switch and one is a ground. The "30" prong goes to the battery. I then have a line going from the switch (bottom or top) to the battery 12v, and the last prong on the switch is a ground. I have the lights grounded separately to the light bar. Lights don't work. From everything I've read this is right, the only thing I could see being a problem is that the 12V positive from the relay and from the switch are in contact with each other. Can this cause problems?

While fiddling around, switching positions of wires on the relay and switch, etc., the light on the switch was on, but no its off and never came back on. The lights never worked.

I hate electrical. Any advise?

 

[Bob L]

Your relay has a power in from Bat,a power out to feed the lights a ground and a trigger wire hot with your switch. The switch is a power in power out and a ground. To start dignosing you shoul put power to the + side of switch and ground to - terminal. turn the switch on and check for power out if wired correctly you should have power out and the indicator light on the switch should light. You need to get this working correctly first. Power in should be with the key on only to prevent dead batterys. When this is working you can hook up the relay. Your relay should have come with a diagram to show what goes where it does make a difference.

 

[shovelbill]

here's a "generic" diagram that works the same with most setups....you didn't say if you have one or not...power for the relay can come from various sources..double check your grounds with a multi-meter too.

http://www.kchilites.com/downloads/...stallation_guide_kc_6315_relay_wiring_kit.pdf

 

[mattmacklind]

The relay has a digram on the side of it. I think I have those connections right. One of the issues mentioned in that diagram link is to not fuse together the 12v from the switch and the 12v from the relay. This is in effect what I have done as they are both in the + terminal and are in contact with each other. I think I need the 12v from the relay out to connect to the battery, and the 12v from the switch should come from another source...

Thanks for the help so far.

 

[laidbackbigun]

Have you put just 12 volts to the lights to see if they truly work? I bought some walmart driving lights one time and both were defective

 

[mattmacklind]

Well, now that you mention I just did! I did connect the light power wire to the positive terminal-lights did not turn on.

 

[gmachinz]

Sounds like a faulty ground (or a non-existent one at all)

 

[shovelbill]

think of it simply...the relay IS the switch between the battery and the lights.....you have to turn on that power, that's what the cab switch does......now, power goes from a 12v source(battery or switched 12v) to the cab switch....from the cab switch to the relay.....the switch turns on the relay and that turns on the lights......the little light on the switch gets a bit of power from the battery too, that wire usually has a 3 amp fuse to the switch. relays don't need a lot of power to "turn on", but they can HANDLE a lot of power...like 40A worth......when you flip the cab switch the light(on the switch) goes on (to tell you it's working) and sends power to the relay(to turn it on), that closes the relay circuit and feeds the lights.......simply put.

nothing works if the grounds are not good.

 

[mattmacklind]

Interesting. I have each light grounded to the light bar-I drilled a hole and put in a screw for each. Maybe too much paint around them? I will sandwich the connection in washers to be sure. The relay has a ground to a metal screw near the fuse box. I will be sure that metal to metal as well. The interior switch is grounded to a bolt underneath the steering wheel by the column. I will need to mess with it tonight some more. That new wire is hard to work with its stiff and all kinked from being in storage for years before I bought it.

I have such a hard time believing the lights don't work so maybe those grounds to the bar are not doing their job.

 

[gmachinz]

You really should extend the grounds as part of the harness and run them to your relay 85's, then go to a known, good chassis ground. The core support already has factory grounds-on my 88-98 4-HI kits I suggest grounding mine at the same spots to eliminate adding extra holes anywhere.