| Author | Message | ||
     Greg Bright (Gregd2) Member Username: Gregd2 Post Number: 53 Registered: 06-2002 |
Well, recently I bought a 96 XD out of Atlanta. It originally had some Hella HID 4000's on it, then who knows what, and finally when I bought it, it had 2 Hella 1000's and 2 Hella 500's on it. (All on the roofrack by the way) It also had one Hella 550 on the back of the rack. Once I got it home, I was checking the lights in my drive way to see if they worked. I turned on the rear light and the ground wire burnt to a crisp. So needless to say, I started checking wires to see if everything was hooked up correctly. To my horror, I found all 4 lights on the front wired to one Hella relay that was melted on one side. If this wasn't bad enough, they used like 18 gauge wire, for all of them. They connected all four lights to one set of wire on the roofrack and then ran that one set of wires to the melted relay. So, at that point I ripped all of the wire out completely and started over. Sorry for dragging this out, my question is, I'm looking for some different types of connectors that are waterproof to use on the four lights on the roofrack. What do you like? Which ones work really well? and where do you get them? I want to be able to disconnect my lights easily to take off my roofrack. Thanks for your help. Greg | ||
| Bill Bettridge (Billb) Senior Member Username: Billb Post Number: 776 Registered: 02-2002 |
Use GM weatherpak connectors - available at parts stores, but the M and F connectors are the same as used by the OEM in all exposed to weather applications. Bill | ||
| Rob Davison (Nosivad_bor) Senior Member Username: Nosivad_bor Post Number: 310 Registered: 02-2003 |
Bill, would i ask for these at the parts counter or will they be hanging in the isle? (of say pep boys) rd | ||
| Steve Sherman (Ssherman) Member Username: Ssherman Post Number: 81 Registered: 11-2002 |
Rob, Pep Boys will have them hanging in the aisle. Steve | ||
| Richard Dekkard (Richard_dekkard) Member Username: Richard_dekkard Post Number: 63 Registered: 04-2003 |
save yourself a ton of money, and simply buy some heatshrink tubing, and then soder (sp?) all the connections. its the most durable and waterproof way there is.. And its really the only way to properly make wired connections. | ||
| Kinnie van Eeden (Yenza) New Member Username: Yenza Post Number: 6 Registered: 05-2003 |
I can honestly support Richard Dekkard's view. Solder and heatshrink is the way to go. And with a little gas lighter thingy, soldering and shrinking can be done in the field on trail. Regards, Kinnie www.yenzatours.com | ||
| Rob Davison (Nosivad_bor) Senior Member Username: Nosivad_bor Post Number: 311 Registered: 02-2003 |
problem is if i want to take my rack off so i can fit in the garage to do some work i don't want to keep hacking at my wiring system. otherwise i do solder all my connections. i'll peep this GM stuff the original poster might want to solder. rd | ||
| Greg Bright (Gregd2) Member Username: Gregd2 Post Number: 54 Registered: 06-2002 |
Bill, Thanks for the tip. I'll check those out. Richard, Read the post, I didn't ask if I should solder the wires or use connectors. I asked what connectors people were using to connect their lights with. If I wanted to solder them I would have just done it. I want to be able to take off my rack easily. Having to cut all the wires to my lights doesn't sound so easy does it? And as far as soldering being the only way to properly make wired connections, that's a load of crap. Go out and look at your rover and tell me how many of your turn signals, fog lights, etc. are wired in with no connectors. Are you saying that Land Rover wired all those connections improperly? Greg | ||
| Richard Dekkard (Richard_dekkard) Member Username: Richard_dekkard Post Number: 64 Registered: 04-2003 |
greg, huh? Whats the difference...? People only solder so they dont have to use connectors. I would'nt use the factory connections as the standard for a proper job.. Also, you dont seriously thing im talking about soldering the connections to your lights do you? they come with connectors with lockout tabs, so just plug em in. The proper way to wire anything is to solder it, unless your using a plug connector. Pretty straightforward theory. Using crimp on connectors on any of it is a bit of a joke. solder all wire to wire connections and all wire to relay connections, and wire to ring. Dont your lights have connectors at the light themselves? If your question pertains to the connections to the lights itself then my bad, but since all the lights on the market come with those already I didnt get the impression thats what your question was referring to. If you need to take your roof rack off just disconnect the plug from the lights and cut the zip tie.. They are cheap enough.. | ||
| Reed Cotton (Reedcotton) Member Username: Reedcotton Post Number: 81 Registered: 01-2003 |
Greg- "Are you saying that Land Rover wired all those connections improperly? " It's a possibility!  -Reed |
