Hahahaa.... Yeah, no kidding, Rob...they literally blinded me just looking at the lit up wall they were on, and they started to melt the hair on my arms from a foot away, hahaha. To be honest, I'm not sure they're 100W, now that I'm asking around to some guys who resell the DC's(DC discontinued their lighting dept. years ago...so anything out there is all people who bought up their inventory(I called and asked Dick Cepeks Cust. Serv. Head, today! lol). She said a guy there said he thought they were at least 130W.... AHHHHH! lol... I couldn't find the 8" Hard Covers(Dick Cepek Baja Laser), ANYWHERE! in fact, Not even 4wheelparts will have the 8" Soft KC covers for weeks! Grrr... So I ordered from this huge Truck Parts Warehouse I've dealt with before.... they ship in like 2 days....FREE! lol. Guess they feel bad for CA people,...because everywhere ships free and tax free as well,... EXCEPT FOR CA~! 8.75%!!! STUPID! lol.

 

no no I had said that if you run separate wires to the lights the 14ga would be fine, but if you were gonna splice the two together and run 1 wire to the relay then you would have to use either 12ga or 10ga. 10ga to be on the safe side.

 

GOTCHA, B-Loc', lol.....

I have plenty of 10G, weatherproof female connectors, and I already have my switch mounted in a bezel plug(the plastic piece on the right above the radio where 'SOMETHING' is supposed to go, lol.... I guess for an option I don't have? lol).... Pics of the switch, installed.....



I'm going to start separate threads for instructional "Off Road Light Install Done Right" and "BJ Spacers, A-Arm Bushing, BJ and Shock Install".... but for now, I just wanna say;

1. This pop out on the bezel above the radio is PERFECT for the install of the switch, granting nothing gets in the way behind it, haha.
2. To make that pop out piece house the switch(most are the same width in this type switch), ...to get it to fit you have to drill out a 1/2" hole in the center, AND you have to take an X-acto blade and shave off the back of the plug in piece so the backside housing of the switch can come all the way to the back surface of the pop out piece. I'll get pics, but the lock washer and nut that go on top WILL NOT fit unless you remove/shave off those ridges of plastic, perpendicular to the arms of the pop out piece.
3. To mount a smaller switch, you should only have to drill the 1/2" hole and use a washer from behind to hold it in.(I think I have one of those laying around, I'll show what I mean at a later time.

PS> This type install with that switch allows me to pop out the 'pop out plastic piece' with the switch attached, in case I have a problem with it or just to remove and unplug it.... I don't have to unscrew the nut and lock washer once it's all together, doing it this way^^! lol

PSS> They do make this switch with a LED lighted tip on the end of the switch arm.....but I don't need that, don't really care if it's lighted. The switch HAS to go off once I close the flip top....and I have to open it to switch the lights on... i like those features!

THANKS, SO MUCH, GUYS! It's finally sinking in... I'm sorry, I'm fairly bright.... not sure why the electrical education portion of this rigs restorations and upgrades/mod's are giving me so much trouble! hahaha

 

that hole is the hole for the cig lighter.

 

Noooooo, lol... The rectangular piece that the switch is bolted through...that pops out, ...the piece BELOW the lighter hole, lol. I know that, silly, ...I have a lighter in the one that's actually in my truck, haha... (although after trying to help me, I can see why you'd give me a shout out just to be safe! hahahaha). Don't you have that pop out piece on your dash, B? On my other side, in the one that's in my truck, the rectangular pop out is occupied by the antenna button(up and down it says). This side? NUTTIN, lol....so I'm using it.

 

I think the meant the hole where the stitch is actually mounted now

 

This way I don't have to drill into my cleaner bezel that's in my truck, now..... I just popped out this lil pop out plastic thingymadoohickymajigger, ......and voila,...lil shaving, it popped right back in there! lol. I know, B, you were probably razzin me, hahaha. S'ALL good! lol.

 

ur trucks coming along nicely

 

Thanks, Twisted! Very much appreciate it.

Hey guys, I measured out the grounds tonight, got connectors, heat shrink and flex loom on em,.....they're TOTALLY sealed! lol. Didn't have much time, but it's a good start. I'm now planning out the rest of the wiring and I think it's going to wind up REALLY clean. I'll get some pics tomorrow if I have time... just coming down to the wire on several parties and days before "SLAM'O'JAMMA!" lol.

 

I was planning on running the wire to the bolt or body for ground, and thought about it, .... "Hey, this thing has light housing screws..... Might as well take it apart", haha. Inside, I found this, and installed the ground, properly!(I guess the PO of my RAM yanked all the wiring out, harness, etc..... to spite me? hahaha)......



Ran the wire through the new grommet I installed..........



************************************************** *******

My only question to X, Ian, whomever.... I never really got an answer. Can I use this Relay AND BLOCK with the 14G wiring.....if I hook the lights separately to the relay? What I mean is... if I run each lights power wire to it's own pin wire in the relay block(guess it would have to be the 87A pin in the center? And would that work?)..... would I need 10G or 12G wire for anything but the fuse block to the relay? The Fuse holder block is waterproof(I got the right one like you posted, Ian), and it's got 12G wire to it on each side.

I only ask because, well, I've read a couple electronics guru's posts on other threads, and they said, "USE A RELAY WITH FIXED BLOCK! They're far more waterproof than hooking to the bottom of the relay with connectors.....and you can use RTV up the holes where the wires come out of the relay block, as well, for extra waterproofing.... Also use Dielectric grease on the pin-into-block area, to avoid any water interference for less risk of failure as well"..... But I CAN NOT find a block that has 10G connectors coming out of it....or even 12G,....they're allllllllll 14G! GRR! lol. If I could find an 'empty' block housing, I could feed the female connectors, w/wire already attached, through the other side....I even tried to see if I could get these out from the one I have... but no luck...they're fixed or crimped inside, so you can't get them past the plastic pins inside.

?????????????? I can just run them to the relay for now, but I really wanted to do this TOIGHT, like a TOIGER, the first time! lol. The only thing I can think of that would be sealed would be a tapered heat shrink(or tie it off) of the right size into around 1/2" tubing.

Edit; I found an empty relay block at Alliedelectronics.com, but it seems to say it only takes from 16G-12G size wiring. And, to be honest, I would have to look up how to do that(wire a block up with connectors and wire....sure it's not too difficult, but I wanna get this done! lol)

 

yes the 14ga is fine as long as you are running separate wires to that single pin on the relay. It will be ok to join the two wires into one connector on the single pin on the relay. I believe it's the center one that gets power on the 5 pin relays when "activated".

The 12ga wire on your fuse holder is fine as long as your using that lower amp fuse we talked about. Do you see it manufactures selling them that way, yes, but that don't make it "safe". IMO 40 amp is too much for a 12 ga wire. And in these types of cases I would rather see someone err on the side of caution.

Everything else should really be 10 ga wire. ground, main power wire from battery etc etc.

 

sounds like less headache to run 10 ga on every thing..

 

it is, but since he's already got the stuff, he should be fine with what he has. He's just being over paranoid. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. hahaha.

He's actually got me a little paranoid, cus I can't remember what exactly I used in my headlight harness upgrade. lol. I wanna say 14 and 10 as well since I used this as somewhat of a guide http://www.go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoHeadlightLoom.htm.

In that tutorial, pretty much everything on the new side of the relay is 10ga and everything on the original harness side of the relay is 14ga. With the exception of the fuse holders which I believe was 12ga.

 

Yeah, you're probably right! lol. I think I will for now.... since I wont have any time to do any work on it till after thanksgiving, ...and I'm trying to head out to the mountains right after Thanksgiving for a Hot Springs Soak Weekend for my birthday! lol. Plus, it's the weekend now, so I doubt I'll get much feedback(aside from having probably driven everyone crazy already! lol)<< Just trying to learn, lol.

My light covers might be here today or tomorrow.... possibly Monday!

 

B-LOC! hahaha... how's it going?

So, ONLY THING I really need to know, Brandon.... Could I just run the lights, separately, using the 87A for my second light?(So I don't have to join the wires together?) Or is it just best to use the big roll of 10G and female connectors right onto the relay pin itself... and just join the light-power-wires together, right under the bumper, and run 10G from there to the Relay Pin you'd posted in the diagram? Even if I could use the relay block.....it still leaves me only 14G wire for the "Battery to Fuse" portion, etc., where you guys said 12G-10G would be best"...

PS> If you don't simply answer me......I'm going to whine and bang my palms on my head like a kook! lol. hahaha, jk.

 

PS> My question, Brandon, is only relative because I have a 5 Pin Relay, not 4... so I just need to know if that 87A works the same as the other Light power wire Pin.... ? lol

 

yes, but remember that "empty" pin you have is hot at all times unless you have the fogs on. Even when the key is off. For this reason, unless I have a use for that "semi" constant power, I do not like 5 pin relays.

 

Ahhhh, ok, THANK YOU, B! That answers my PM, ...ignore that! lol.

Ok, so I will just get a 4 Pin down the road(2 blocks at Radio Shack) and return the rest of this stuff, later on, or use it for something else. They have lots of Dual Relay and Block set ups, too.... I Guess that could have worked if I wanted to just run the both wires, independently, ...but it would seem overkill and 'more to go wrong' type scenario! lol.

Ok, so, I'll do it like the last diagrams said, and was just curious, do you have any ideas on the best way to seal the bottom end of the relay up? I'd like to avoid causing any shorts, etc. lol. It's going to be heat shrunk right up to the relay at the top of the pin...but Just thought it would be good to then seal it from there, too...so all the wires coming down are sealed, completely from any weather, etc. I think I can do it with the heat shrink idea...just has to be like 2" heat shrink, lol.

 

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHH!

hahaha.

 

that other guy had me confused for a second as well as that relay diagram I posted. the middle pin (87a) is the one on the relay that is powered on when switch is off. This is the one that gets "ignored".

Guess I am trying to do 3 or 4 too many things at once. haha.