I feel comfortable with a 7 amp safety factor on top of the safety factor calculated into that. The fuse would blow before anything else anyway.

 

Gentlemen, led lights watt rating is not actual watt rating. If you want to know the actual draw you need to hook them up to a multi meter. Led lights work like house led lights. The watt ratting is an equivalent rating not the actual watt draw. I have 2 new 2x3 led cubes that are 50 watt "rated" and measured an actual draw of 1.63 amps per light. That's about 20 actually watts per light. Another good example, my 38 inch light bar has some stupid high watt rating and it's actual draw came out to just under 9 amps. The thing came with a 30 amp relay and fuse. Been running a 15 amp fuse for 6 months without it ever popping

As for relays, if you max rating is 30 amp, you stick a fuse on the power in line at a max of 30 amps. If you do have surge draw above that it will pop your fuse. I like to run a fuse 50 percent above measured draw but never exceed the relay rating on the fuse side.

 

I agree I went from Hid offroad lights on my YJ that were very bright to some little led cubes that put out the same amount of light but for 1/2 the power draw. The. Upgraded to a 50" bar in addition. With all my lights on in the middle of the desert at night it looks like noon infront of my jeep. I'll be upgrading my XJ with a 20" bar for the center hoop on the bumper and a 50" for the top

 

Btw... please stop looking at house wiring rating for the amperage... here is an automotive 12v chart. Amps vs wire length at 12 volts, number in the chart is required wire gauge for the load:
http://www.offroaders.com/tech/12-vo...gauge-amps.htm

 

Most people don't run every light they have all at once, no reason to. I bring them in pairs as needed for what I'm doing at the time front to back and have easy access to the switches even when its dark. Just barely have to remove a few fingers from my steering wheel to turn on/off each set.


I use over size wiring on all my lights because of the way I run the wires some are long runs for the rack mounted ones. The size also covers if I decide later to use a heaver draw light to replace one.


I still can add 2 more switches per panel if needed to the gauge pod.

 

Lol I always love seeing those switch pods

 

Thanks for the chart. To be honest, a lot of people use regular THHN wiring to run stuff on their cars. But to be fair, DC voltage does run different than AC.

 

it looks like its cheaper to by the lights and harness seperately than to buy the kit. 2Lights @ 49.83 and 1harness @ 21.43 is 121.09. The kit is 129.99. Am I missing something here?