dublove

hi hi, im the new guy. now that you know im a newchebag (just made that up, like it?) i can get on to my question.

i have 3 sets of lights. 1 set being LED lights (i mention LED because i know they use less power, and thats relevant to the question)
im trying to wire them all up, and get the max amount of output i can from them. now, you put a wrench in my hand and its "i got this!" but put a pair of wire strippers in my hand....

is it possible, to run all power wires from all 3 sets, into 1 wire. splice them all into 1, that 1 being the wire going to the switch.
do the same with the ground wires only, obviously going to a ground.

then have the power wire from the relay, splice with the power from the switch, to the battery obviously.
then the switch grounded like it should be....somewhere.

if this makes any sense to you, congrats you deciphered my seemingly drunk lunacy.
if it doesnt, i DID draw a crude (very crude) diagram of what i want.


obviously all power wires will be fused.


now, if you have a better idea on how to clean up the wiring for 6 lights, and get max output, please share.
and feel free to list everything you have used or would use. ill be putting together a list of what i need to pick up tomorrow.

MHoude36

Ha Finally something i know alittle about. Wish i could draw you a picture to make this easier, but what i did,

1) ran power wire from battery to a junction box so i could create a place to put power to my switches (im running two sets of lights off the same power feed) with a single power wire going to the switch

2) from my switches i ran a single wire to each set of lights with an inline fuse, from that wire i spliced both lights into the single power feed, grounding each light seperately. hope this helps!

dublove

now, when you say junction box, do you mean a relay? because i do have a relay, but it just seems to be complicating things for me.

as for the switch, i only plan on using 1. i do have a few others on hand, but i dont want to mount more than 1 unless i have to. which is why i want to splice the lights into 1 wire. but im concerned that i may have to run thicker wire to do that, and thats going to require rewiring the wires coming directly off the lights as well. or am i looking at this too deeply?

heres my cave drawing. the circles are my bumper and a pillar lights, the rectangles are my roof lights. the rest should be labeled.
but thats basically what im thinking of doing. all the power wires coming off the lights are being spliced into 1 wire going to the switch, and then theres another power wire from relay to battery to switch. and then all grounds are being spliced to 1.



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MHoude36

I think you might be looking too deep into this, your setup seems legit, for me i dont have a relay at all in mine, its all straight wired. I used 12 gauge wire all around plenty big enough to carry the current. As for my "junction box" i used something similar to this
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/Terminal-Strip-6YH68 , you just run your power wire coming FROM your switch to this and use small jumper wires to connect as many of the blocks you need for your lights and run the wires for the lights off of this bad boy (opposite the jumper wire) and makes it so you dont need eleventy billion splices in your setup, and each set off lights has its own power wire

dublove

too bad my work doesnt carry those. guess ill just maybe pick up some thicker wire, probably do 14g so i can hopefully still fit a few wires in 1 conduit.

sounds like using multiple switches may be the best way without the junction box.
unless theres another way.

ill pick up a 100' roll of wire and play with it i guess, see what works best. all i have to work with is what my work sells. wires, splices, fuses, relays, switches... all basics for the DIY'er.


still accepting input though. like i said im a dummy with this stuff so anything you can provide should help me, even if its something obvious like "you need wires"

MHoude36

I hear ya, fortunatly i work in an aircraft maintenance shop so i pieced my whole set-up together for free, minus the lights, from stuff around my shop. I'm running a pair of the red-guarded switches you have to flip up before you flip the switch, but mine got a bit complicated cause i had to solder some stuff together, mines a real frankenstein set-up, but the concept was alot like yours. Personally i like having mulitple switches, lets me pick and choose what lights i want on and alot easier to trouble shoot when something doesn't work. Can't wait to see how your project turns out, i'll try and get some picks of mine to show what i mean.

trisha farr

can anyone help me fix a vaccum heater hose on a 96 cherokee laredo please all i get is heat from my defrosr and i been told to check the vaccum and i dont know where it is at behind the batter i found one black hose behind the battery and it is not hooked up if someone can help with pictures or anything thank you so much