18 replies to this topic

[MRA]

For info only..... relay's are available to accept almost any current... I was looking at one the other day for a machine that we have, the manufacurer has them upto 2500A for 12v 30Kw that's 230 spot lights

Ok so they won't all fit on the front of a mini and they will weigh far too much, not to mention the cost and the small nuclear power station under the seat to run them

But seriously keep Fogs and spots seperate from one another and as above the fuse is for the wire not the item it's powering and the longer the wire the lower the current capacity, rule of thumb is 1mm^2 = 8A less if the wire is in a bundle.. (loom, harness etc)

[Dan]

im not intending to use them as foglights, theyll just be main beam driving lamps, and yes your right, high power lights like that do make driving in the dark and fog terrible, and dip beam is better, lol

What you intend to use them for is irrelevant, if you wanted four spot lamps you should have bought 4 spotlamps! They have a fog lamp lens so they are fog lamps and need to be setup like that, auxiliary main beam lamps and fog lamps are legally different classes of lamp.

but then the 12v hardcore feed for the spots was taken off the live feed at the fusebox on the bulkhead

VERY bad idea. If you have it wired that way the extra load is still on the original loom which is not up to it.

im going to take the lives for the relays off the starter

That's the right way to do it.

[Cooperman]

Unless you wire them as pairs rather than all 4 you'll find that you will be unable to have thenm on for any length of time as that'll be over 50 amps just for the lights, without all the other eletrical services. So, in wet and cold weather, when extra lights come into their own you'll have to switch them off to allow running of the wipers, heater blower, etc.
You will certainly need a 70+ amp alternator.
Use very heavy-duty wire and find a good source of supply power such as the solenoid and run via separate fuses before and after the relays.
One idea which I use to get auxiliary power from a reliable source is to run a length of additional really heavy cable from the battery terminal on the solenoid to one of those exhaust rubbers, the 'cotton-reel' type, which I bolt through the bulkhead. This gives an excellent additional power point and, in fact, can be used to attach a battery charger when needed to avoid taking out the battery box cover. From there I run to an additional fuse box and from there to the relays for the spots and fogs and to another fuse box for any other extras.

[samsfern]

well i have them fitted and wired up, went for a drive a while ago down some lanes, they are like virtual daylight!!! My alternator is a 70 amp one as well.

Their spots not fogs

The only bad thing is that it didnt like to idle with fullbeam on, lol but the alternator seemed to cope ok and my battery didnt go flat. Lol

thanks all