Fitting spot lights to the rear!!!

[Benji]

Right, first off im not stupid but i just want to clarify something!

I want to fit a pair of lights to the rear of my disco to light up the road when im reversing my trailer down my road and into the garden each and every night.  Im going to put them on the bumper corner stops as long as i can get the bits of plastic screw down tight, if not, then onto the body just below the light cluster.

Im going to wire them into a spare switch, below the clock, and not to the reversing lights as i want control over them.

Is it a simple matter of wiring direct to the battery with an in-line fuse on the live wire and from the battery to the switch then onto the lights on the neg wire?  Will i need to use anything else like a relay or go through the fuse box?

OK, i might be a bit thick but at least im using your brain too!

[scorpio]

Personally i would take them through a relay just to be safe and tun the switching side of it off the side lights then you cant leave them on accidentally during the day

[Bush Tucker Man]

Relay them like you would a pair of spots on the front, otherwise you'll get a lovely smell of burnt switch sooner or later.

I'd also take the switched side (low current) from an ignition controlled source, so you can't leave them on accidentally & flatten the battery.


Don't forget the (legally required & sensible) warning light on the dash-board.

Regards
Non Lord-Fraud B :lol:

[Lostboy]

Ooooo - excuse me, I have to go make my car road legal again...

Tanks for that!

[ChrisW]

Benji,

If you look on page two of 'Disco Mods' on my webshots there is a wiring diagram for a rear work light/reversing lamp with details of part numbers and relay connections etc etc.
If you just want it switched from within the cab forget the second relay that is switched from the reversing light!
http://community.webshots.com/user/chrisw70

(Too slow Tim!   )

[muddyweb]

(Too slow Tim!   )

 [-X  :-$

[Range Rover Blues]

If your car is wired up with 2 trailer sockets you could fit reversing lamps to your trailer like on modern caravans, I find it useful with my trailer.  If you do wire them on your car then I would suggest the ignition live source for your switch should be the reversing light circuit, then you don't risk them being on either when the car is parked or traveling forwards.  Halfords stock a decent fused relay that I use for all the auxiliary lights on our car.

[Benji]

Thanks for your replies guys.

Think i need to have them on the car as its a long trailer and its quite tricky getting it along side the house and into the garden so if the lights are on the back of the trailer ill still have a dark area along side the trailer. I did consider wiring direct to the reversing lights but i don't think the cable will cope with that. Any thoughts???  (Haven't bought the lights yet but most of them seem to be about 55W)

I also considered using the 12S socket but i will still need to have a switch somewhere and i also want to use them to sort the dog and all my gear out after the shoots on dark evenings.

What is involved in a relay?  Is it just an in-line box wired up similar to a switch?  I couldn't really make out the wiring diagrams from Chris.

[ChrisW]

The relay is basically a heavy duty remote switch. The idea is if you're taking two spotlights @ 110watts (55 each), this pulls just under 10amps - if you didn't use the relay you would need to have a heavy duty switch on the dash and all the wiring would need to be uprated.
The relay comes as a small black box with four spade terminals on the end, numbered up as my diagram - as you said, just an inline box wired up as a switch  

[Range Rover Blues]

If wiring up spotlights is not your thing think about buying a ready made wiring loom for the spots, some Ring lamps come with one in the packaging or they cost about £12 to buy separately, a good relay costing half that on it's own.
Another quite useful option is a remote control accessory switch, designed for fitting spot lights to cars where you don't want to pull the dashboard out to 'hard wire' the switch.  Added bonus, you could operate the switch from anywhere near the car, like an alarm.  Again look in Halfords for this.

NOTE:  As previously stated you must have a warning light/buzzer on the dashboard if the lights are not switched by the gear selector ie they could be left on when driving.