scruffythewild

For some reason my Kc slimlighters wont light up with my relays...I tried to shortcut it a few days ago with no relays/fuses and almost had a fire. How would It work if I just used a Fuse? Right now its the last 20A fuse I have so I dont want to take the risk and blow it without asking if its a lost cause The attached link is the wiring diagram straight from Kc. Thanks, Rob

http://www.kchilites.com/wp-content/...3/6315-web.pdf

machinisttx

Test the white, green, and yellow wires for power with either a test light or a multimeter. Then test the switch and the relay. I'm guessing you got a bad relay or a bad switch. The 86 terminal on the relay is the trigger, so if you're getting power to that terminal with the switch in the on position, the relay is bad.

Those lights are going to pull about 9.5 amps. Most switches are rated at 15 to 20, and will eventually die with that much current through them.

Last thing.... If you nearly had a fire then you created a short somewhere. If you haven't already replaced ALL the wiring that was affected, you need to do so before you put connect power to it again.

kennzz05

dont know how electricially inclined you are so if this seems like a duh moment than im sorry, that link you posted there diagram makes it look like they want you to run both wires from the light to the #87 terminal. of course you dont, one wire from each light to the 87 term the others to ground,

94XjSport94

Why didnt you install them like they were supposed to be? When you wire them up correctly (link given) they will work, unless you broke something when you jerryrigged them up

scruffythewild

Long story short..... On a level of one to ten of being electrically inclined...I give myself a 7.5... What happened was that when I took everything out (for about a month or two) I put it in a box and when I decided to keep my car I went through the box and the original inline fuses/relay was missing along with the yellow wire. I didn't care and I bought a relay and some inline fuse holders after my little mishap. But anyway...I tried just running it with a 20A fuse and It blew...what a surprise. What do you think I should try to replace it with? 25A, 30A etc... Thanks, Rob. Thanks for all of the help so far.

94XjSport94

The KC link says a 20 or 25 amp fuse so no more than that... Are you using the wiring harness it came with?

scruffythewild

Quick update... I was feeling "ballsy" and I took the extinguisher that I keep in the back of my truck and I put in a 30A that I found somewhere lol...I hooked it up and I only ran it for maybe 10 secs which is longer than the 20A lasted. Its dark now and I will do more tests tmw. Now Is this alright or am I completely out of my mind for running no relay and one 30A fuse right before my battery? (Which is also hooked up to my one power wire that powers my fogs, strobes, rear light bar and other misc things...) Thanks, Rob.

94XjSport94

And why are you not doing it like its supposed to be?

mr white

The reason for the relay is so the switch to turn them on doesn't burn passing that much current.

94XjSport94

X2

alpine.adrenaline

In the OP's defense, that diagram in the PDF kinda sucks.

Get some more fuses. You shouldn't ever be down to one last fuse.

OK, let's get the concept of the relay down. A relay handles the amperage that your switch cannot. A switch's internal wiring is thin/dinky and should seldom handle more than 10 continuous amps. It also reduces the necessity to run high-voltage wires into your cab, past the firewall where they can be pinched or cut and lead to a short.

That diagram shows a double pole, single throw relay with two "87" contacts. One of them is more often referred to as "87a" and it is the one closest to the center of the relay. This should be the "hot" contact when the relay is at rest; i.e. when you don't have voltage across contacts 86 and 85. As soon as you apply voltage to 86 and 85, the voltage leaves 87a and outputs through 87. IF 86 and 85 have voltage, THEN the top 87 is energized.

It doesn't matter whether you put a positive(+) or negative(-)(ground) to 85 and 86, as long as it's one and the other. Either 85 or 86 can be grounded, and the other should get 12v. That 12v should come from your switch. Now, in that diagram, they show the switch needing a ground, but that's only if you want the switch to illuminate when it is on. You might leave that ground out of the equation for now.

Both lights should be wired to the top 87 terminal. The middle 87 (87a) terminal should be left unused or covered- this is energized when your switch is "OFF."

So, electricity is always available to the relay, you just tell it which terminal to output 12v to. To tell it to do that, you need a small 12v (from your switch) to energize 85 or 86.

In my first MS Paint artwork, the switch is open, or OFF. 87a is energized and the lights don't have any electricity going to them.

Now that the switch is engaged and 12v is supplied to 86, the lights have power.

Notice that I used a thicker line going to terminal 30. This is because this is the terminal all of your power is going through. 85 and 86 don't need much power for the relay to be switched, so a small wire from your switch is fine. 30 and 87 should be connected to a thicker gauge wire though, especially for 130watts.

mr white

I'd put the switch on the ground so you don't have to run power through the firewall and jumper 86 off 30.

94XjSport94

You dont have to ground to battery, just a ground on the body... Good explanation man...

scruffythewild

Lots of information since my last post and I like it. Alpine, thank you for your help and not jumping on the gun to say that I shouldve done it the way it was supposed to which I already explained in previous posts. I will try the relay again tommorow but my current question is that, my main concern is a fire while using the lights. Is it possible that by using that one 30A fuse, I can start a fire? I dont care if the fuse blows while driving. I am currently very paranoid and I pulled the fuse for the night anyway. (Which disconnected all of my power to all aftermarket electronic items besides two radios hooked up to my fuse box in the passenger compartment.) I will get more fuses as well. I dont really care if my switch burns out every month as long as there is no sparking or fire...I have ALOT of very good quality switches around. Thanks, Rob and especially Alpine but everybody please keep contributing, Thanks again, Rob.

94XjSport94

Sorry if you didnt like my answer but your doing it some boo witchery way lol. If your concerned about a fire while using the lights, don't. Gget your stuff tomorrow and we'll help you get everything set up right. Sounds like you have one wire powering everything... thats not recommended cause its a lot of current passing through one small wire. If you have all your stuff on one wire with a fuse on it and when you have everything running and then turn on the lights its blowing the fuse, you need to have separate wires cause its protecting you from a fire by blowing the fuse