541_halseth

Hey guys, i have a surco rack and i want to wire up 2 sets of Hella 500's. Ive searched and read a good write up by Aircruiser, but i was wondering if can ground my lights the to the actual rack instead of running 4 ground wires down the rack and the hatch and to an interior screw. And next has anyone mounted them to a surco rack without the adapters by just drilling a hole for each light. Its aluminum square tubing and i have a feeling its going weaken it. Thanks for any help or suggestions.

caged

aluminum is not a ground source.
you will have to run ground wires to a clean body ground.

you can use a ground in the stock rack mounting screw, but you may have to clean it up a bit to get a ground.

541_halseth

Hey thanks, haha easy to tell i this is my first real wiring job other than a wall outlet. Still wondering if its smart to drill the holes in it. Anyone have any fab jobs they have done other than buying up the 100 bucks for adapter brackets.

peep

I run two supply 10ga wires from good relays up to the lights, trigger the relays with toggle switch. The roof rack tracks are insulated from the chassis and do not make ground. I run two 10 ga grounds down to a sheet metal screws directly into the cab posts between the doors. One ground fails or gets ripped off your still good to go. Supply your lites from a relay to carry the heavy load, just a low load thru the switch that way. I mount thru the stock roof rack crossover with stainless bolts. 3rd season year round on the system, no problems. I have some parts jeeps to contribute additional roof rack parts. Calculate your amp load. Watts = Volts x Amps
Amps = Watts / Volts. Volts = 12 Watts = Total of the lights you intend to run. Mine runs 5 x 55watts= 275 watts / 12volts = 23 amps. You want those amps thru a relay, not melting down your toggle switch. Hence also the 10 ga supply and ground wires.

541_halseth

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to run two relays and two switches with a 12ga wire for power supply from each relay. Im my mind this job seems like it should be easy but im sure im going to be hating myself as i get going. Just praying i can drill straight and not weaken the rack to much.

peep

Take your time, allow 2x your estimated time for the real job to get done and finished up rite and all the cleanup after. Drill steady with light pressure. Don;t get flustered. Don;t get impatient and then get rammy. Take your time do it steady, do it right. Remember your goal, your Jeep is getting new lights, its a good thing, a very good thing, have fun with it.

caged

i would make up some mounts that wrap around the aluminum tubes and tightens with a pinch bolt somehow rather than drilling holes through the aluminum, unless it's large enough diameter tubing and use a sleeve for the bolts so the aluminum doesn't just crush while tightening the light down.

541_halseth

Well i drilled me some holes last night, that was easy enough. I question the strength now, it 3/4 inch square tubing. But with the bolts in it, and lights on it seems pretty sturdy, im going to add another cross bar in the front for added strength so when i have a heavy load up front when camping.

541_halseth

So this morning i got playing with the wiring. I'm running my power to my lights inside and out threw the hatch. I went the opposite of aircruisers write up and put my relays inside the engine compartment instead of the in the rear. So instead of running my wire to my battery from the rear, I'm running a wire to my lights.

My question now is there any negative to running the wire to lights that long it's most likely going to be around 20ft between lights and relay. And can I run my grounds from the relay to the same screw In the engine bay.
Thanks

541_halseth

So i got the lights up and wired, all i have left to do is wire in the switches. So now for the questions, i took all my grounds and wired them in them into a 12ga wire and ran it down, and because the power supply is just a 16ga wire that comes spit into a "y" i cut out the y and extended my y to the rack. The extra 9 feet shouldnt cause a problem right. Thanks