I have wired in some cheapo fog lights to the rear bumper. They are those blue oval shaped ones from autozone and do not give off much light and I will most likely replace with better NAPA cheapos. I do NOT want them wired with the reverse lights. I want to be able to turn them on while truck is off or on.

I have a lighted switch in the cab, connected to a relay. I need a constant on power source for the switch.

Is there a difference whether I tie into the bottom cigerette lighter (tiny wire), or straight to the battery (big battery)?

Is there a danger of overload with the lighter wire?

Do I need a fuse for that wire whether it is to the lighter or battery? I am assuming I need one for the battery, but not the lighter.

Which would you do?

Thanks

 

if it was me i would hook it derict to the battery with a fuse inline

 

get a painless fuse block from genosgarage.com i get the ppp-70107 it will make future add ons easy. the relay is also already there

 

If you are referring to finding power for just the control side of the relay, you will be fine using the lighter, as the relay winding will only add 100mA or so to the circuit. You won't need a fuse, as the circuit is already protected by the lighter fuse.
As far as finding power to run the lights themselves, you will need to tap into something heavier, under the hood is best, and fuse it close to the source. I don't like hooking a mess of wires to the battery directly, but I would find a heavy 12v terminal close by to use.

 

EPCO,

You can use a single pole double throw switch (SPDT) three position on-off-on

This will allow you the best of both worlds as you can have the lights come on with the backups, on all of the time with the switch or off all of the time..

To wire this up use the center switch terminal to feed the relay that controls the lights, use one end of the switch for the feed from the b/u lights and the other is the feed from the lighter wire as you suggested.

Self resetting relays or fuses is always an added protection to the circuits..

 

Thanks guys. I ran it straight from the battery. Looks like a rats nest, but I didn't want to go cutting up all of the provided wiring harnesses. I would have to make a lot of splices. I will get a fuse block and clean it up when I get new batteries.

Does it hurt to have a lot of splices? I wanted to keep them to a minimum.