I placed a old Yakima rack on my truck and wanted to put some cheapo harbor freight lights on it two facing forward and Two facing to the rear i have a switch i have used before for a turn blinker switch on my motorized bike it works by up is on center off down is on so i plan to use it for the lights that way i will only have to power two lights at once.

so heres the question will the little stock alternator be strong enough to power these headlights ive used some cheapo harbor freight lights on motorized bike for a headlight powered off a motorcycle battery so no alternator thier to slave into


heres a pic of the old girl any input would be greatly apreciated oh and heres the link to the lights http://www.harborfreight.com/off-roa...source=linking

 

let's see: an 1156 or 1157 bulb (used in brake lights and turnsignals) puts out about 27 watts. the cheap lights you are talking about put out about 100 watts each.
Do you really think that a switch designed for 1/4 the power is gonna handle the lights?
Good luck

as far as the alternator..as long as both sets of lights are not used at the same time and they are not on for an extended period of time you will probably be fine...

 

the switch will handle it wasn't originally for turn blinkers my other life is coming up with little things for my motorized bicycle ( wana see some super cheap mods look on a motorized bike forum its all they do ) used the switch to do a fog light that ran a motorcycle battery that battery ran the one light for about a hour and a half before light got dim and i would turn it off and throw it on the charger .

bought a couple of these switches incase i wanted to do anything with them or one broke .

thanks for getting back they shouldn't be on for to long say a hour or two at tops will only be for hunting season till i do the gm alternator swap PO put a new alternator and belt in so can justify replacing it just yet for 50 bucks for lights will do till i ultimately get some better lights

 

FYI: Harbor Freight is cheap crap. Try Northern Tool if you want inexpensive but not stupid crap.

 

i would run a relay in line anyway.

those likes make great work/area lights but horrible offroadlights. will get some pics in a few here

 

x2 go to NT

 

the reason why you use a relay instead of wiring the lights directly into a switch is because if the wires happen to short on the body you don't have 30 amp of power shorting you only have a miliamp or so which will not cause a fire. It has nothing to do with the switches capacity.

 

I run 2 5" HF "work type" flood lights. (http://www.harborfreight.com/automot...ght-93904.html) I put a 5k HID kit in them and let me tell ya, they are really really bright. Makes my headlights look plum pitiful. They cast a huge wide light. Stock halogen was 55w, drew 4.58 amps each. HID kit is 35w or 2.91 amps. I have less than $50 into both of them.

 

and, yes your alternator will handle them with no problem.

 

good call on the relay i almost overlooked that one

i like the hid mod that sounds like a relay good idea i used that same light on my bike for a long time till i crashed it and replaced it with some little chrome light the neighbor had a spare of blew up my bike engine though so no more off road bike just cruiser

 

A little punctuation wouldn't kill ya Cool bike! I was picturing a motorcycle, and was curious why you didn't just say "motorcycle" instead of motor bike.

The HIDs quite literally took 5 mins per light to install. 2 year warranty on lights and ballasts from some Ebay company. You wouldn't believe how bright they were unless you saw them.

 

Don't mean to hi jack the thread but...where does the motor sits? I'm curious...I see the chain laying on the ground..

 

I dont see how a relay reduces the amount of power in a short.. A relay is used to power large loads with the ablility to use a switch that doesnt have to carry the load only power the relay. the fuse is what prevents the fire so make sure to put a fuse close to the battery on any new lines you run. Being an Electrician we do this all the time with commercial lighting where we use lighting relays and use a normal switch to work the relays. Correct me if I am wrong but thats my experience. I have the HF lights and they work ok. not as bright as I would like.

 

because it takes only a miliamp or so to trip the relay closed allowing the amperage of whatever your powering through. Which means if the short is between the relay and switch ala firewall or something only a very minute amt of amperage is going through that particular wire. And that's exactly where the most chance of a short will be, not between the relay and lights.

 

the engine did go inside of the frame till on day i heard a sound resembling two bucks in pennies in the dryer the inside of my engine became confeti it was my fault put way to much hurt on those 49cc 's but i was doing 45mph at the end of the day till it blew oh well 200 for a new engine and it was one of three motorized bikes i have anyway



the relay thing toook me a minute but i get it know makes perfect since to will have to post a pic of what these lights look like next thursday when i get them

this guy has super easy to understand diagram http://http://www.classictruckshop.c...h/foglites.htm

 

I bought the 6" chrome off road lights. They are GARBAGE. I haven't gotten them to turn on yet (still chasing a ground issue, I think.)

Regardless, the wiring run out of the light uses a plastic nut which conveniently snapped off. The chrome is already pitted and rusted and they've been on my roll bar for less than a month. They look like they've been on the car for 10 years already.

They are awful, awful, awful. Sure, you get what you pay for at $12.99/each, but for that I should have sucked it up and at least gotten the Pilot brand knockoffs from Pepboys.

I have the real deal KC HiLites on my front bumper and the difference in quality is unreal.

 

I have no complaints about my $9.99 HF work lights. They have a rubber surround, so no pitting, glass lens, and h3 bulb. Simple as you can get. The ground was stuck under a rivet in the housing, but I cut that and ran a better ground when I did the HID conversion. If I were to purchase the chrome lights, I would immediately sand and paint them, based on what I've read here and on customer reviews. For driving lights, I guess the quality of the reflector starts coming into play more? For floods, not so much.

 

ddmtuning is where i got my HID's

cheap and durable, had them since christmas and love em!

 

You are correct about it only taking a very small amount of amperage to power the relay but here is the problem with that theory. in most setups where do you get the 12v for the switch? usually right at the relay from the same source that powers the lights so you still have the potential for higher amperage. Just because the relay only uses a small amount of amperage there is always the POTENTIAL to have much more. As much as the battery can supply before the wire melts. this is why you put a fuse in that will blow before the shorted wire has any chance of melting or causing any fire. and you always want the fuse as close to the battery as possible to eliminate any short between the battery and the fuse. I hope this makes sence to you and anyone else reading this. all the wires in the truck are coming from the same battery.

 

I give you my new mickey mouse ears other than looking Disney their adequately bright about as much as my high beams im going to keep these for now and put some rectangular ones up their when i can think it will look better .

i think ill keep these and mount them on a new bumper when i finally get one think it will look better their

gota finish up some wiring sun snuck up on me little ods and ends but will have better pics tomorrow fingers crossed