Front Spot Light Wiring

[tonykarter15 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close tonykarter15]

Wondering whether anybody can assist.
Is it a legal requirement for spot lights to have them wired into the high beam switch or can you run a separate dash mounted switch that operates the spot lights?

[Guest Close Guest]

They must be wired to the high beam. Spotlights usually come with a loom with the required relay and switch to wire off the high beam.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

ADRs require that spot lights can only come on in conjunction with the high beams and not separately. In Q you also have to have an isolation switch that allows high beam alone or high beam and spots. This may also come from the ADRs or may be local only. Haven't bothered to look but I suspect this is the rule right the way around the country.

[tonykarter15 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close tonykarter15]

thanks for your replies. I thought it would need to be wired into the high beam but wanted to check first.

[ywork Member Find all posts View Profile Close ywork]

Must be wired to the High beam and also have a separate switch in the car to isolate Spots from High beams. Not sure if this is only for QLD.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

The 150 high beam is positive switched so wire fused power to terminal 30 of the relay (I connected this wire directly to the +ve terminal of the battery and fused it as close as possible to the terminal) and take power from terminal 87A to the lights +ve terminal. Some relays you can buy have two terminals marked 87A and you can power each spotlight separately but if it has 87 and 87A then 87 is a normally closed contact and no use to you. Earth the -ve side of the lights to the chassis to a good earth point like an M6 or M8 bolt into a weld nut, preferably one that is already being used as an earth point. Test with a multimeter. You can run back to the -ve terminal on the battery but that just adds to the wires running around the place and isn't necessary. Depending on how you want to do this you can splice onto the black wire from the high beam wires (either bare some conductor and solder the splice in as I did or you can use a cable joiner like a Scotchloc) and run this to terminal 85 of the relay and then from terminal 86 run a wire to the switch in the car. The other side of the switch then goes to earth. Assuming you grab a newpro or ABR switch this will mean the light bar on the switch will be lit up when the switch is off, when the switch and lights are on this light is off. This is not the usual recommended way but what I do for reasons mentioned below. The recommended way is to run the wire from the splice on the black wire all the way into the cabin and onto the switch. The other side of the switch is then run back to terminal 85 (or 86). Terminal on the relay 86 (or 85) is then grounded. This will have the light bar on the switch illuminate when the spot lights are on. The reason I wire mine the way I do is that there is only one wire going through the grommet from the engine bay to the switch though this isn't a big deal and also means that the wire running through the rubber grommit isn't live when the high beams are on, again not really an issue if you run the cables in some conduit. I did it this way so I can easily see the switch in the car in the dark to turn it on. There are lots of switches 'down there' and I will be fitting front and rear diff lock switches in the same area.

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Must be wired to the High beam and also have a separate switch in the car to isolate Spots from High beams. Not sure if this is only for QLD.

Thats the case here in SA as well, so I would guess the same in most states.

Cheers Andrew

[truyen Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close truyen]

Where is the best place to mount the relay?

Thank you in advance

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

There is a bracket near the passenger side headlight in front of the battery. It supports The main wiring loom that runs in front of the radiator. I used an M6 bolt with some big washers and put mine there.

[hulbyw Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close hulbyw]

My bullbar fitter also used that bracket and just cable tied the relay socket on. Worked ok and is quite solid