blackcloud

I've been thinking about putting some amber lights on my rocker panels, front bumper, and headache rack. Im wondering how to hook them up. Can I just splice into the parking light wires or do I need to run relays or should I run them on a toggle switch?

wyododge

Depends on how many you want to add. The electrical system is not 'over' designed. I believe the brake and parking light circuit does have some extra room so you can plug in a trailer. You could test the circuit with a volt meter to see what the draw is and compare it to the wire length to see what the circuit can handle.

If it were me I would add a circuit and relays. I generally try to stay away from wire harnesses and splicing, but that is just my personal preference. You could splice into your parking light circuit to activate the relay for your new lights but then the new amber's would be on all the time. Maybe activate them with the fog lights?

Nick02Ram

I ran relays for mine. But I also have quite a few additional lights. I tapped the parking light wire to activate the relay, but put a switch inline with that wire so I can still turn them off manually if I want. That also makes it nice, you can't accidentally leave em on, they shut off with the stock lights.

blackcloud

Ok that sounds easy enough, What size relay would I need for 45-50 lights? Im not real good with electrical stuff, I can hook it up but figuring out what I need is a little foggy for me. thanks

CODODGE2500MAN

Big Rig Lights and line of fire w/ reverse from Recon... And a couple other LED's. Wired directly into the turn, parking, stop lights.

wyododge

Watts/Volts = Amps.

You will also need to size your wire correctly and take into account line loss for the given gauge of wire, for a particular length.

So -> ((watts/volts) - line loss) = circuit amps

I would design the circuit at 75% - 80% to avoid any strain or excess heat.

Sp -> ((watts/volts) - line loss) x .75 = designed circuit amps

You can decrease line loss by increasing wire size, or decreasing wire length within a circuit. Line length is the longest run of wire from the source to the last item on the circuit when there is a single wire run. When there are multiple wire runs the effect of line loss is cumulative.

((100 watts / 12 volts) - line loss) x .75 at a 5% line loss this would require a 6 amp circuit.

(8.33 - .42) x 75% = 5.9 Amps

Make sense? Made this post pretty quick, so if I have made a mistake, chime in guys.