work lights, advice needed

[Lee J]

ok people, I'm fitting a pair of work lights to the rear/roof of my 2001 new shape tranny. I want to run these from the battery to an inline fuse to a switch then to the lights but can anyone answer me these:

1. how do I connect the wire to the battery?
2. where does the other wire go (earth). Can it go to anywhere on the chassis?
3. how do i connect the 2nd light?


this is what my battery terminal looks like...



So, have I got this right...

BATT ----------IN LINE FUSE----------SWITCH----------LIGHT(RED)
LIGHT (BLACK)-------------CHASSIS

[MarkM]

1. how do I connect the wire to the battery? Crimp a suitable sized round connector on the red wire and undo the battery terminal and put the connector on and then replace the bolt...remember you are about to lose the radio backup power supply so you will need the keycode afterwards

2. where does the other wire go (earth). Can it go to anywhere on the chassis? Yes but scrape down to the bare metal to be sure and use a nut and one of those washers that look like a crown. Or fix it to the base of the light you are using since that will be connected to the body anyhow so this will act as an earth.

3. how do i connect the 2nd light? wire it in parallel with the existing light

Personally I would "steal" a 12v feed from the rear of the van rather than running a cable the length of the chassis and feeding through bulkheads and having to remove headlining, still use the inline fuse and switch of course. I would also over engineer the switch by using a project box from Maplin with the switch and fuse holder all neatly included and then just the simple matter of fixing the box to the side of the van probably the best place would be towards the top of the door on the rear corner.

[Lee J]

Thanks mate. I had the general idea right then, thats good!

When you say 'undo the battery terminal and put the connector on' do you mean lift the whole terminal off the + pole completely?

Also, i assume when you say 'steal' a 12v feed you mean find another live cable and using a scotch lock tap into the feed? Could the interior light cable at the back of the van do for this or would I need the interior lights on to use the work lights.

SCOTCH LOCK onto 12v feed----------FUSE-----SWITCH--------LAMP

[MarkM]

Not the whole assembly just enough so that the nut comes off and then place the connector on the terminal, if you remove the lot them your radio keycode is needed, if you look at the terminal you will already have at least one factory fitted feed coming off in addition to the thick cable so that is how you are looking to fit it.
As for the scotch lock...don't like them but they will work and yes effectively that is the simpler solution. The interior rear light is a constant 12v feed, assuming you mean the one above the door the ones with the switch on the lamp holder often have a cab switch as well, so the cable would have to be metered and might prove to be a switched live....I would take the power from the rear lamps. Pull the connector off the rear lamp assembly and use a meter to find a constant 12v it won't take long.

[madvanman]

what power are the bulbs in your work lights?
if they are 55 watt bulbs i would recommend running a new wire from the battery as the additional load would be too much for the existing wiring.
if they are 21 watt or less you can get away with using an existing 12v feed.

[Lee J]

the worklamps are 55w each. I will probably run a seperate wire from the battery just to be safe.
Would this be ok...

BATT------FUSE------SWITCH-----LAMP1-----LAMP2------EARTH

on the lamps there is 2 terminals. If I attach the 12v live to the left one on LAMP1 can i then attach the right one on LAMP1 to the left one on LAMP2 then the right one on LAMP2 to earth point on the chassis? Would this work?

[MrMPuk]

You will need to put them both to earth otherwise the second lamp will be dimmer than the first!

[madvanman]

running two 55 watt lights i would recommend using a relay to prevent overloading the switch:

[Lee J]

that diagram is very helpful thanks!

So when I come to fit my bullbar with two spot lights fixed to it, i could use the same idea? or would you recommend wiring spots into the full beam circuit?

[madvanman]

that depends on which light you use:
if they are fog lights they must be wired to the dip beam.
if they are drive lights they must be wired to the main beam

[MrMPuk]

I never wire spots to any other circuit. I always run them off there own circuit, that way they can't affect the other lights or MOT!

[madvanman]

technically if they are drive lights they should fail the mot if they can be switched on without high beam, unless they are on an offroad vehicle and for offroad use only or if you get a daytime only MOT.
but most mot stations dont bother or dont care about checking.