Off road lights and accessories???

[badmix]

Dunno if anyone has followed my horrors of alternator and belt squealing. Anyways, I put in new alternator with new pulley and new belt, along with new water pump. No more squealing and its charging 14.3-14.5. Even my dual batt setup is charging fine.

Now, ive got 2 55watt driving lights and 2 135watt KC 8" lights. They are wired together to one switch. I believe they each have their own relay, but not 100%. When I put on off road lights weather headlights are on or not, the volts drop and the alt. kicks in tryin to keep up. Could jus a pair of off road lights cause this much draw? Also what about splices and wiring. I use crimp connectors and my wiring is clean and well routed, but I do have a few splices in it. Can this cause power draw above and beyond the lights themselves?

Im jus tryin to sort this out so I dont have more drama.

Thanks.

 

[Muddytazz]

I'd go thru your wiring and check everything with the off road lights. I'm running 8, 100watt lights up on my roof rack wired into 4 separate switches (1 switch per pair of lights), each pair of lights has their own relay. I'm running 1 batter and stock alt and when I have all 8 lights on, headlights on, heater on, radio on, my gauge still doesn't move.

 

[badmix]

I'd go thru your wiring and check everything with the off road lights. I'm running 8, 100watt lights up on my roof rack wired into 4 separate switches (1 switch per pair of lights), each pair of lights has their own relay. I'm running 1 batter and stock alt and when I have all 8 lights on, headlights on, heater on, radio on, my gauge still doesn't move.

Okay, this is good to know. Ive got something fubar'd then. Im goin to rewire the lights. I think ill jus do 1 pair per switch, and its own relay. When I hit the off road lights now, volts go from 14.5 to 13 and maybe a lil lower. So there is a problem somewhere.

Thanks

 

[Muddytazz]

good grounds are important, make sure you have a good connection

 

[cbbr]

I had a setup like Muddytazz. No problems at all except keeping the grounds clean. I blew my alt water so I now have a 140a, but no problems running everything at the same time.

 

[Cmoe]

Is your switch just energizing the relay or is power going thru you switch to your lights. Which battery is you KC lites running off of? What wires are you running? Are you talking about crimps or taps? Crimping bullet, spades type crimps are ok (sometimes good to solder also), but tap crimps cut wires and shouldn't be used for high power, their ok but I only use them for alarms..

 

[ntsqd]

You're pulling 32 amps in just those lights. That's a pretty good draw.

Can't stress grounds enough. Don't just look at where the lights ground to. Look at the whole ground path all the way back to the battery.

 

[badmix]

Okay, thanks ill be redoing the lights and making sure to have limited splices.

Im using Optima Red top to run everything.

The only power to the switch is connected to my key on/off.

 

[ntsqd]

snip....

The only power to the switch is connected to my key on/off.

Be careful there. If you're running relays there's no need for the light power to go thru the switch. Only the relay trigger power needs to come from the IGN switch. The high current power for the lights switched by the relay(s) can come straight off the battery with a fuse or breaker btwn the battery and the relay. Check Del City Wire or Waytek Wire for various fuse blocks or breakers.

 

[badmix]

I understand what your saying.

I guess I forgot an important part of the equation. Ive got PAINLESS WIRING AUX fuse panel, this is where im getting all my power from to run stuff. It has some circuits that only come on when key is switched and some that are hot all the time.

 

[Muddytazz]

That would be same as stock. Its just a matter of personal preferrence as to how you hook the power up as to whether you want it keyed power or non-keyed power.

 

[badmix]

Well the wiring is goin well. Hindsite being 20/20. I shouldve done it right (neat) the first time. Its nice and outa the way and cant get hung up on anything. Even under the dash for all the switches, gauges, tach, etc. I made sure to route it outa the way and ziptie like wires together for easy ID. (like the power, sending unit and ground wire all zipped together, etc).

Found out I had a bad pigtail connector on my Mean-Green alternator, so they are sending me another one. What is funny about these companies is this. When I was on the phone with them saying their alt. didnt work, they instantly said my wiring was messed up, my connections were dirty, I had weak batt. etc etc etc. Then thru some trial and error, found out the pigtail goin into their alt. was bad. Bad solder job or something. His tune seem to change once it was clear it was THEIR part that failed. lol. Oh well.