How many T taps are too many?

ThatRed4thGen

ThatRed4thGen

New member
I'm currently running two T taps on my green wire for my driving lights. One is for the lower driving light on my arb bumper and one is for my raptor lights. Is that too many? Should I put in the effort to relocate? TIA
 
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If you keep going, sooner or later the combined current draw (amps) of everything you've added could overload whatever circuit your green wire goes to, and the main fuse will blow or wires will melt.
 
fourwd1 said:
If you keep going, sooner or later the combined current draw (amps) of everything you've added could overload whatever circuit your green wire goes to, and the main fuse will blow or wires will melt.
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What do you mean by keep going? Should just the two be okay, or should I remove the rap and relocate my power?
 
How much more electrical stuff are you looking to add?

I ran my PIAA driving lights in my bumper off my fog lamp circuit since the amperage was within the circuits capabilities and I removed the factory lights. But generally I recommend running a separate circuit for things just for diagnostic simplicity. If I end up adding more electrical modifications and/or circuits I'll just go to secondary fuse box set-up, only need to add a power and ground from the battery and plenty of easy to tap off fused points.
 
BlackWorksInc said:
How much more electrical stuff are you looking to add?



I ran my PIAA driving lights in my bumper off my fog lamp circuit since the amperage was within the circuits capabilities and I removed the factory lights. But generally I recommend running a separate circuit for things just for diagnostic simplicity. If I end up adding more electrical modifications and/or circuits I'll just go to secondary fuse box set-up, only need to add a power and ground from the battery and plenty of easy to tap off fused points.
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1. 1 Driving Light on ARB bumper
2. 3 LED Raptor Lights

That's all that's going on that one marker wire.
 
ThatRed4thGen said:
I'm currently running two T taps on my green wire for my driving lights. One is for the lower driving light on my arb bumper and one is for my raptor lights. Is that too many? Should I put in the effort to relocate? TIA
Click to expand...


How many is too many? 1

T taps are the worst connection you can make.


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run a separate relayed harness thats fused at least 15 amps, im sure that is plenty for your raptor lights and bumper lights, maybe 10 amps is enough, just use the parking light wire as a trigger.

now if all your bulbs are LEDs, it shouldnt be too much of a problem. as [MENTION=66389]BlackWorksInc[/MENTION] said, add up all the lights amperage.
 
riceandpho said:
run a separate relayed harness thats fused at least 15 amps, im sure that is plenty for your raptor lights and bumper lights, maybe 10 amps is enough, just use the parking light wire as a trigger.



now if all your bulbs are LEDs, it shouldnt be too much of a problem. as [MENTION=66389]BlackWorksInc[/MENTION] said, add up all the lights amperage.
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I don't believe the bulbs in the arb bumper are led. The grill lights on the other hand are led for sure. But I see what you're saying. Run a dedicated power to the battery to a relay and use the driving light as the switch?
 
Without knowing what your current draw is it's complicated to say. The t-tap comment being the worst thing you can use, though may be not helpful, certainly is accurate.

Adding in-line fuses doesn't do anything up-stream on the tapped wire. You have to keep in mind that every wire gauge is rated for a certain amp rating (I would say that you could probably safely up the fuse by 5 amps on any given low voltage wire, though I certainly wouldn't recommend it), hence the fuse differences in the fuse box.

As far as what I do/have done.. I think you have 3 solid options , in the order of the "correct way" to "meh..this will also work" ..

1) ditch the tapping idea altogether and get a dedicated light control box (like the auxbeam < I think thats what its called? < from amazon) I run an amazon brand box and don't have to worry about tapping anything. It has a dedicated 12 volt source and a ground with each of the outputs having its own fuse that you can wire whatever wire gauge you please.

2) Use the green wire tap to trigger a relay, which will then send a switched 12v battery voltage to your light/lights. By using the green wire as a relay trigger, you aren't introducing much current draw at all, since you're not feeding power anymore, but only triggering the relay coil. The relay power wires can be sized appropriately to feed a large amount of lights without worrying about stressing the wire. I would recommend putting an in-line fuse in this setup to protect this wire.

3) Up the wire gauge of the green wire you are taping into all the way back to the fuse box and up the fuse to the corresponding rating.



More than likely, what you have will be just fine.. most low voltage wires are not nearly on the limit of melting from a few added lights... however... I've seen a few electrical fires caused by similar issues.. not to scare you or anything.. but if you have a easy way to do something the correct way I don't see a reason not to..
 
aemravan said:
Without knowing what your current draw is it's complicated to say. The t-tap comment being the worst thing you can use, though may be not helpful, certainly is accurate.



Adding in-line fuses doesn't do anything up-stream on the tapped wire. You have to keep in mind that every wire gauge is rated for a certain amp rating (I would say that you could probably safely up the fuse by 5 amps on any given low voltage wire, though I certainly wouldn't recommend it), hence the fuse differences in the fuse box.



As far as what I do/have done.. I think you have 3 solid options , in the order of the "correct way" to "meh..this will also work" ..



1) ditch the tapping idea altogether and get a dedicated light control box (like the auxbeam < I think thats what its called? < from amazon) I run an amazon brand box and don't have to worry about tapping anything. It has a dedicated 12 volt source and a ground with each of the outputs having its own fuse that you can wire whatever wire gauge you please.



2) Use the green wire tap to trigger a relay, which will then send a switched 12v battery voltage to your light/lights. By using the green wire as a relay trigger, you aren't introducing much current draw at all, since you're not feeding power anymore, but only triggering the relay coil. The relay power wires can be sized appropriately to feed a large amount of lights without worrying about stressing the wire. I would recommend putting an in-line fuse in this setup to protect this wire.



3) Up the wire gauge of the green wire you are taping into all the way back to the fuse box and up the fuse to the corresponding rating.







More than likely, what you have will be just fine.. most low voltage wires are not nearly on the limit of melting from a few added lights... however... I've seen a few electrical fires caused by similar issues.. not to scare you or anything.. but if you have a easy way to do something the correct way I don't see a reason not to..
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice! On using the Amazon power box, how do you still get things to work without tapping anything? Like for example, having the raptor lights only come on with the marker lights are on.
 
crawlingjunk said:
How about solder or military splice? Or make a harness


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Click to expand...
Is there some type of tool like this available?
TICONN 150 PCS Solder Seal Wire Connectors, Heat Shrink Butt Connectors, Waterproof and Insulated Electrical Wire Terminals, Butt Splice (150PCS) Amazon.com: TICONN 150 PCS Solder Seal Wire Connectors, Heat Shrink Butt Connectors, Waterproof and Insulated Electrical Wire Terminals, Butt Splice (150PCS) : Industrial & Scientific
 
 
ThatRed4thGen said:
Thanks for the advice! On using the Amazon power box, how do you still get things to work without tapping anything? Like for example, having the raptor lights only come on with the marker lights are on.
Click to expand...

The switch panel has a control box that you place inside the cab. I have an 8-gang switch panel, they have other options for less inputs. (Amazon.com: Auxbeam 8 Gang Switch Panel, Universal Circuit Control Relay System Box with Automatic Dimmable On-Off LED Switch Pod Touch Switch Box for Car Pickup Truck Jeep Boat UTV SUV, BA80 Blue 2 Year Warranty : Automotive)

you label each input you have an just use the control panel to turn them on and off. If you absolutely need auxiliary lights to trigger on and off when you put on, say your running lights, or something, then the solenoid trigger method is the route for you.

Military splicing, heat shrink, yada yada, all of that is fine and good, certainly significantly better than those crimp t-taps, but there are more proper ways of handling wiring.
 
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