Auxiliary light wiring question

[dylans]

I just picked up some Lightforce 240 blitz lights. They're 100w each. The wiring harness I have in the truck for my previous lights is 12g from battery to light, power and ground. I'm stumped because the new lights are wired in 16g. They're a bipin type of bulb.

Will I be ok to add a connector to the 16g light wires and attach it to the 12g harness? I wanna get full voltage to the lights, of course, and maintain safety.

Any insight or advice is appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Saker]

I just picked up some Lightforce 240 blitz lights. They're 100w each. The wiring harness I have in the truck for my previous lights is 12g from battery to light, power and ground. I'm stumped because the new lights are wired in 16g. They're a bipin type of bulb.

Will I be ok to add a connector to the 16g light wires and attach it to the 12g harness? I wanna get full voltage to the lights, of course, and maintain safety.

Any insight or advice is appreciated.

Thanks!

If you are sure the harness is 12 gauge, and your light wiring is 16, you will be fine.
Larger wires can carry more amperage/ watts.

 

[Too Stroked]

If you are sure the harness is 12 gauge, and your light wiring is 16, you will be fine.
Larger wires can carry more amperage/ watts.

The smaller diameter wire is the limiting factor. If the lights he were adding were LED, I'd say he'd be fine, but 100 watts is a pretty decent load. I always err on the side of safety when it comes to wiring. I'd suggest a properly sized wiring harness (at least 12 gauge) for both safety and to allow full brightness of the lights here.

 

[lewdog998]

wire gauge and LENGTH will ultimately determine what will work.
But the short answer is ...yes, you will be fine with the 12g connected to the 16 (lighting harness) as long as it is not too long. Pushing 200w (about 15 amps) through 16g wire I would limit the 16g length to 3ft or less.

example. 200w load.

Battery ----12g (10ft) ----- 16g (3ft) ------light = OK

Battery----- 12g (7ft)------ 16g (6ft) ------light = Bad

 

[Ripper238]

Should be fine just make sure to run a relay.

 

[dylans]

Thanks for the replies. The harness is 12g all the way, it's got a relay and it's fused as well.

The 16g will only be about 1ft per light in length to reach the harness, I have to add some wire to the existing light wires to reach. I'm using weather pack connectors, so they're good quality too.

 

[BearBio]

Should be easy enough to bring the wiring up to standard (12g?).

 

[Saker]

That’s what I understood, the lights were wired with 16g from manufacturer. That’s why I answered the question the way I did.

 

[dylans]

Should be easy enough to bring the wiring up to standard (12g?).

Bring the lights up to 12g? I thought about it but the housing and socket are rivited together. I just didn't wanna take the risk of dissembling these new lights to the extent it would take. I'd love to just hook some 12g up to the socket...

 

[dylans]

I'm sure it's 12g, I built it and rewired my old IPF housings with 12g too. I just can't rewire these new lights unfortunately.

I found some step down butt connectors that attach 12/10g to 16/14g wire and they're insulated and have adhesive shrink too. I think that's what I'll go with and snip the 1ft or so of 12g off of my old lights and attach them to the 16g with the step down.

 

[dylans]

I want to update this thread for any future reference.

I ended up using a dual output hella relay. I purchased a blue sea battery terminal fuse holder and ran a 10g wire from it to the relay, 20a fuse. A single 12g wire for each light comes from the relay. Weather pack connectors to hook the lights up. Each light also has a 12g ground straight back to battery.

I added a 3rd 240 blitz and used a single output relay with the same wiring (except a 10a fuse on the fuse holder) as the dual output relay and lights.

To tie the third into the switch in the cab, I just tapped the switch wire from the dual output relay attached to the switch.

Done. Full voltage to all 3 lights.

 

[2021nightshade4x4]

I apologize in advance I don’t want to hijack this thread but it seemed like a venue for those who would know.

Does anyone have sources for “cool gizmos you can use for switch blanks” that AREN’T lights?

I believe I’ve seen one for onboard air, RedArc has a trailer brake gain knob, etc and that’s all pretty neat.

Anything else out there? (2021 Nightshade)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Saker]

I apologize in advance I don’t want to hijack this thread but it seemed like a venue for those who would know.

Does anyone have sources for “cool gizmos you can use for switch blanks” that AREN’T lights?

I believe I’ve seen one for onboard air, RedArc has a trailer brake gain knob, etc and that’s all pretty neat.

Anything else out there? (2021 Nightshade)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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