Halo Wiring - Basics, Specifics, and Examples.

[Meathammer]

Subscribing so I can find this much easier later.

[Truth Kid]

Great thread, I'll come up with a schematic for my setup. The headlight switch provides the power, a switch in the cabin selects between the halos and amber running lights.

[Junior]

Can someone do a wiring diagram with the relay in line?

Here you go:

[bigblewwho]

PERFECT! Thank you very much!!!

[Junior]

PERFECT! Thank you very much!!!

No worries - I'd been meaning to for a while...

Also, it may not be clear, but you leave 87a unused. You only use one or the other (87 vs. 87a) It's a good idea to tape the unused one up, or protect it somehow.

You would use 87a if you were trying to "reverse" the circuit, i.e. turning something on when it's normally off...


Also: Open and Closed can be confusing - Open means unconnected, and Closed means connected - so Open is Off, and Closed is On.

[eGo]

Ok.. n00b question here.. I just installed some headlights with CCFLs & LEDs in them. There are two sets of loose wires on each headlight.. Two Hots, Two Grounds.. If I'm looking at your diagrams correctly, I can ground the grounds to the chassi and then run the hots to any 12v source (place a fuse/switch inline) like the battery or tap into the Parking Light wires on both sides to provide the juice? I could be and probably am wrong on this one haha.. I'm going to go back and reread your first post, but I'm trying to find an already switch power source (like the fogs or parking lights) and just tap into that instead of having to run my own switch and fuses. But I don't want to run all the way into the dash of the car either. If I could tap into the wires that are hooked up to the parking lights on the headlights that would be ideal.. Sorry if this has been answered, I'm fixing to reread the whole post just to make sure

TIA!

eGo

btw, I'll post pics when I get it all wired up! :D

[Junior]

Ok.. n00b question here.. I just installed some headlights with CCFLs & LEDs in them. There are two sets of loose wires on each headlight.. Two Hots, Two Grounds.. If I'm looking at your diagrams correctly, I can ground the grounds to the chassi and then run the hots to any 12v source (place a fuse/switch inline) like the battery or tap into the Parking Light wires on both sides to provide the juice?

Yeah, that sounds about right. Make sure to protect the new circuits with a fuse, like you said. It would be nice to know what the draw is (how much current the new lights demand), but I'd use 16ga wire and a 5A fuse for starters. If you tap into an existing circuit (parking lamps), the combined draw may be more than the original circuit's wire was rated for, but if that's the case, the factory fuse for that circuit will blow before any damage occurs. If that happens, you know you need a new source (rather than the parking lamps). I forget what amperage the parking lamp circuit is fused at.

On the other hand, if the factory fuse is, say 20A, and it holds, but the 5A fuse you installed blows, then you know that the new branch is drawing more than 5A - so then you'd go to 14ga wire and a 10A fuse, etc.

As a sidenote, I still don't know what any particular wire gauge is rated at in DC - I've never found a good chart. But based on existing circuits, I'd have to say that 16ga should be good for at least 10A, probably 20, but not knowing, it's best to be safe.

[eGo]

Third chart on this page

http://www.windsun.com/Hardware/Wire_Table.htm

And thanks for the info, I'll try and keep all of that in mind. I just wish that they'd include some generic instructions with these headlights to give you a better idea of what's needed to get everything up and running.

eGo

[eGo]

Ok.. I ended up hooking directly up to the parking lights and all is working great. The new LEDs/Halos were drawing less than an amp all together and now they come on and off with the parking lights.. woot!

Thanks again for the help, just wanted to let you know what I ended up doing

eGo

[Junior]

Right on, man! Glad to hear it. Make sure to waterproof those connections, if you do nothing else.

[Junior]

Updated Post #2 above, with a new trick for blacking out the back of the rings.

[imahemi]

mike... I am doing this right now... and I just figured out a easy way to get the paint nice and even on the halos rings... use q-tips instead of paper towels with the lacquer thinner


-Ryan

[Junior]

I like it!

[bigblewwho]

Ok guys I need some last minute help. I'm using the relay and have only 1 pair of Halos going for the headlights only. I have a switch too that i'm planning on using and going to get power for the switch from the parking lights. But, the main 12V source (high source), going into the relay, can I tap the battery/charging terminal in the engine bay right behind the wiper fluid tank? If I put a 5amp fuse on that line, will that be enough or should I pull my 12V source from somewhere else?

[Junior]

Quoted from a PM, so others can chime in too:

I think you're on the right track - the relay can take whatever you can source it with (the battery) - it'll take HIGH current into the relay with no problem. You'll only be using about one amp, but the relay can be supplied with much more than that. Again, the device being used,not the current being supplied, determines how much current passes through.

So yeah, you can come off the battery to the relay's pin 30, and just add a fuse in there in the range of 5A or 10A - that's just to kill the circuit in the case of a short to ground or something going wrong. You'll never draw that much unless something goes wrong.

Now for the switch, you only need a minuscule amount of current to operate it. You can come off the cigarette lighter or the clock circuit. You don't want to come off the parking lamp circuit for that, because you'll still be dependent on the parking lamps being on for it to work. You want them to be independent if you're using a switch.

Remember that if you do come off the cigarette lighter circuit, you need to switch the fuse in the rear so it's inline with the others in its row. Otherwise it's only hot when the ignition is on. Here's a pic that JamminWagon made, showing the fuse I'm talking about:



Hope that helps,
Mike