So i am wiring up all my offroad lights i just mounted. And the small wire connecting to the switch to gets SUPER Hot and melts and starts things on fire. Basically the The ground and the power wires get super hot. Is it becuase the wire is no small? Because the 12 gauge doesnt get hot. But the 18 does

 

18 gauge is to small of a wire for the power the lights require mine are wired with 12 guage and i have no problem with them at all i would wire them up with the 18 and make sure there is no break in the insulation on the wires and you will be fine

 

I agree, 18G is too small...there are two general rules I use when installing lights on any vehicle.

#1. Use no LESS than 14G wire (thickness should vary according to the wattage of bulbs)

#2. Use a relay, it saves switches.

 

x2^^^^

 

Your ground return should never be smaller than the power feed wire, so yes the 18 gauge wire is a problem. The other thing is, although I don't know how many lights, or what wattage they are running, but you definitely need to be running them through a relay. use your switch to send power to trip the relay, and run a heavier (10 ga.) power wire to your lights. The housing of the lights should get their ground return through the chassis, but if you must run a seperate ground wire, just make sure it is the same size or bigger than your power feed from the relay. They are easy to wire up, and will make your system much more reliable.

Corey

 

I gave up!! After about 6 trips to wally world for wiring stuff and about 100 feet of 12 gauge wire later Im just going to cough up the money and have a pro do it...

btw there 55 watt lights,4 lights, 1 switch=2 lights, i had in-line fuses.

 

What ground location were you using?

 

You don't have to pay someone to wire your lights, you just need a little guidance, and here it is....


When closed, the switch energizes the relay coil which pulls the contacts together completing the power circuit for tthe load (lights). The control circuit (switch) can be a smaller gauge but the load side (lights) should be at least a 14 gauge but a 12 gauge would be even better.

HTH

 

with a relay do you have to ground the switch?

 

No. As shown in the pic above, the switch completes the circuit to the relay coil. Grounding the switch would create a short to ground.