| Author | Message | ||
     Joe Eisele (Landgrover) New Member Username: Landgrover Post Number: 15 Registered: 02-2004 |
Well, I thouht I wired everything correctly but I still can't get the lights to go on. Everything is in correctly at the relay etc and the power from the battery seems fine but neither the hella switch or the LR aux switch does anything. I tried messing with ground wires but nothing there either. I followed a bunch of different posts on this site but something is still amiss. If anyone has ideas on what else to check, I would appreciate it | ||
| John Brazelton (Florida_rover) New Member Username: Florida_rover Post Number: 40 Registered: 07-2003 |
Bypass the switch and see if thats the problem.>JB | ||
| Paul D. Morgan (V22guy) Dweb Lounge Member Username: V22guy Post Number: 2598 Registered: 02-2002 |
Is the switch grounded? Do you have power going to the switch as well as the relay? If so, what is powering your switch? Parking light, headlight? What? | ||
| Ryan Taylor (Ryanspeed) New Member Username: Ryanspeed Post Number: 4 Registered: 02-2004 |
Do you have a relay in the under-hood fuse box, position R12 (DII, you didn't specify)? Although, this would only affect the LR switch. Try hardwiring the lights to the battery, if they work, you have a break in the wiring somewhere, if they don't, then something is wrong with the lights or your connection to the lights. | ||
| Chris Nuzum (Cnuzum) Member Username: Cnuzum Post Number: 119 Registered: 02-2003 |
Do you have your key's turned on, or your headlights, if you tapped into one of those wires in order to get power. Not sure how you wired it for power, direct or off the headlights. Chris | ||
| Paul D. Morgan (V22guy) Dweb Lounge Member Username: V22guy Post Number: 2599 Registered: 02-2002 |
Chris, That was the direction I was going above. When I wired all the Hellas on my roof rack, I hit all the switches. Nothing came on and I was like; WTF? Then I realized I needed to turn my parking lights on. | ||
| Joe Eisele (Landgrover) New Member Username: Landgrover Post Number: 16 Registered: 02-2004 |
Oh I didn't know I had to power the switch itself. All I did was run the two lights to the relay with hellas wire, the red wire from the battery to the relay, grounded the relay, and ran the yellow wire to the interior switch from the relay. The interior switch is also grounded and the lights are too. How would I go about doing this? I want the lights to run seperate from the LR electronics as my D1 has had problems with the headlight/dimmer switch. Can I have it so that all I need to do to turn on the lights is press the LR aux switch I put in the binnacle? By the way, I am using post 4 for the relay and post 5 for the ground with the LR aux switch so a total of 2 wires going to the switch . | ||
| Steve Rupp (Steve_rupp) Member Username: Steve_rupp Post Number: 132 Registered: 03-2003 |
If the aux switch does not have a light on it, you don't need to ground it. As long as you are using a relay it doesn't matter what you heat the switch with. You can use a switched hot or an always hot. It really doesn't matter what circuit it is on either. The relay draws a fraction of an amp. I don't know what kind of tools you have but hopefully you have a volt meter or even a test light. Take one of those and start probing wires. If you want it always hot, leave you key out. If you want it on a switched power, find something that is hot when the ignition is on and not when it is off. When you find the hot you want, jump it to your switch before you get your crimpers out and waste a connector. It is pretty elementary. One question I have is how did you figure out which posts to use on the LR aux switch? | ||
| Joe Eisele (Landgrover) New Member Username: Landgrover Post Number: 17 Registered: 02-2004 |
Hmm, so what your saying is that the switch does need power. So I guess the relay itself does not provide the switch with power? I thought it would be possible to set this up without using/cutting any land rover wires. After all, its just an on off switch to bulbs with the battery. Also, the aux switch does have a light that goes on and off like the cruise control switch, but I don't really need it to work. I figured out the posts on the switch from a previous post on this site which gave directions on setting it up, which I followed, but have hit a snag for some reason. | ||
| Steve Rupp (Steve_rupp) Member Username: Steve_rupp Post Number: 134 Registered: 03-2003 |
If your switch has a light then leave it grounded. The ground on the switch is a path for current back to the source in order for that light to work. You don't need to tap into any LR wires. The only reason I suggested that is to prevent having to run a wire all the way from the battery in order to power the switch. What I did was put an additional DC output (always on to charge my cell phone when the car is off) in my car and tapped off that to all my switches. Like I said though, relays draw a fraction of an amp so you really don't need to worry too much about overcurrent protection. If you are worried about it, put a small in-line fuse on the wire to the switch. I hope this helps. | ||
| Paul D. Morgan (V22guy) Dweb Lounge Member Username: V22guy Post Number: 2601 Registered: 02-2002 |
http://68.49.112.94/lights | ||
| Steve Rupp (Steve_rupp) Member Username: Steve_rupp Post Number: 137 Registered: 03-2003 |
Paul, I think wiring diagrams might be too complicated for Joe. | ||
| Joe Eisele (Landgrover) New Member Username: Landgrover Post Number: 18 Registered: 02-2004 |
Well I basically understand it but I am only using one relay and this setup does more than I need. I got some fuse clips and wire etc, so I will just sent the wire to the switch to give it power. That seems like the only thing wrong, so I will just give that a try. Thanks to all of you for your help in helping me decipher the one part of car mechanics I am usually hands-off with. | ||
| Mark Sager (Msager007) Member Username: Msager007 Post Number: 42 Registered: 05-2003 |
I just installed some 500's on mine and the wiring diagram that came with the lights was wrong on the relay pin out. Not sure if this is the problem with yours or not, but Hella.com has the right diagram | ||
| Paul D. Morgan (V22guy) Dweb Lounge Member Username: V22guy Post Number: 2603 Registered: 02-2002 |
LOL. Joe, Wiring diagrams are too tough for me! That's why I made the below with Visio Standard  http://68.49.112.94/lights/v22hella.jpg | ||
| Reed Cotton (Reedcotton) Senior Member Username: Reedcotton Post Number: 333 Registered: 01-2003 |
Make sure that the wires going onto the relay are going to the correct pins. Hella makes at least two different pin patterns on their relays. From my limited observations, the relays with the built-in fuse holder have a different pattern than the ones without. The best thing is to visually check the pin numbers on the relay. Then check the relay itself by putting 12v across the coil pins. You should be able to hear the relay open or close. If you do this with the relay in place you should be able to see the lights flash on and off. If this works, then start worrying about the switch. | ||
| Joe Eisele (Landgrover) New Member Username: Landgrover Post Number: 22 Registered: 02-2004 |
Ok, I promise this is the final mention of this topic but I put in the wire from pin 1 of the LR switch to the cigar lighter fuse with the fuse clip thing etc and when I hit the switch, the orange light comes on and I hear a clicking sound from under the hood when I switch it on and off. However, the lights still fail to go on. I hooked up the Hella switch the same way and it lit up and caused the same clicking sound under the hood. Now I am really at a loss because it seems as though the relay is clicking open and the switch is working etc, but the lights still fail to work. Does the clicking sound mean the relay is getting power or does it mean that there is something wrong with the power to the relay? Again I know this is beat but I would like to put an end to the headaches once and for all. | ||
| Robbie Donaldson (Robbie) Senior Member Username: Robbie Post Number: 586 Registered: 02-2002 |
ok, now i am going to show some real incompetence here and after this post, people can question my advice forever. but anyway, when i hooked up my hella 500s, i used the land rover switch and hella harness. thought i had it all set up perfect, but there was no light at all. switch lit up when turned on instrument lights, switch turned on when i hit the switch, but no lights. after connecting/disconnecting everything for at least 2 hours, i realized that i had only one wire coming from the lights. for some reason, i thought the lights were grounded through their mounts. i then realized that i needed to open up the lights and actually hook up ground wires to the mounts inside the lights. so, long story short, you have the correct connections inside the lights? power and ground wires coming from inside? | ||
| Joe Eisele (Landgrover) New Member Username: Landgrover Post Number: 23 Registered: 02-2004 |
Hmm I thought I grounded the lights ok, I fed them up through the grill and on top of the grill area I put them on a metal screw. I don't like my ground for the relay, as I have it on a bolt for a small reservior (brake?). I'll check the connections to see if that fixes it. | ||
| Alan Stuart (Alan_stuart) New Member Username: Alan_stuart Post Number: 29 Registered: 12-2003 |
If you have the 12 volt power coming from the cigar lighter circuit, you have to have the ignition on for it to work. Is it? Just a thought.... Also the pin out for the LR switch is: 1 - 12v DC 2 - dash lights 3 - not used 4 - accessory relay 5 - ground Be sure those connections are okay. Alan | ||
| James M. Reed (Utahdog2003) New Member Username: Utahdog2003 Post Number: 1 Registered: 03-2004 |
Robbie took the words out of my mouth. I was reading thru this whole thread thinking the entire time "ground the lights". If the switch iluminates, and the relay clicks and you still have no lights, then ground the lights. James | ||
| Steve Rupp (Steve_rupp) Member Username: Steve_rupp Post Number: 159 Registered: 03-2003 |
You guys are right...the ground is very important. More important than you know. I would make a central ground. If there are any electricians out there, we call it a Hogan ground. This means that you take a large wire directly from your battery to a isolated block and take all grounds there. You don't need to be really concerned with the size of your ground. Just use something very large like a welding cable. As long as you are doing something like this make sure your body and engine block are adecuately bonded to your battery. Just like A/C theory, you are going for a single point grounding system. Everybody thinks that current will follow the path of least resistance. That is not correct. Current follows any and all paths back to the source. Like I said it's the same idea as A/C. Current must get back to the source. Meaning your single point. The single point in a D/C circuit is the battery. Basically what I'm saying is that grounding directly to the battery is the best method. Using a "Hogan" ground like I said is the best method to do this. 99.9% of electricial problems are related to grounding. For example: Let's say you do get your lights to work and you ground them to the body. When you make a brand new ground with something like lights and you use the body, it's all fresh. No time for your connections to corrode. Therefore a low impedence path back to the source. Lets say that your ground to your starter has some corrosion on it. This means that your engine/body ground has a lower impedence back to the source. Here's where it get's interesting. If you just made this new connection to the body with your lights, there will be a lower impedence through the lights to the battery. Then, when you start your car, current will use the path of the body as well as the cable that goes directly to the body to get the current back to the source (battery). In this case the ground you made for your lights will carry more current than it is suited for and burn up. That wire that you ran from your lights to the body will most definately melt. If it is near something combustable it may catch fire. This is how car fires start. This goes back to my point that grounds are much more important than people think. Land Rovers have a bad electrical system to begin with. Don't make it worse by doing a half ass electricial job. Everybody thinks that they know it all when it comes to this. "It's D.C., what problems can I cause? It's only 12 Volts". A 12v battery can cause a fire just as easily as 120v or 240v. Do the right thing and make sure grounds are clean. When in doubt, go directly to the battery or to a central point such as a "Hogan Ground". I know that this is not completely geared towards this thread but I hope people have more respect for electricity. I have been an electrician for several years and am still learning. It's not something where you want to cut corners. Or if you do, make sure you have a couple of fire extinguishers. They may be needed. | ||
| Steve Rupp (Steve_rupp) Member Username: Steve_rupp Post Number: 160 Registered: 03-2003 |
Joe, if you are still enountering problems with your lights, email me with your phone number and I'll walk you through this. It's really an easy process. I'd be glad to help you through it. If you are really having trouble, try setting up the circuit outside the truck. You can use your battery and set up the circuit with a simple switch outside the truck to make sure it works. If your circuit works outside the truck, then replicate it in the truck. Let me know. | ||
| Joe Eisele (Landgrover) New Member Username: Landgrover Post Number: 24 Registered: 02-2004 |
Actually, I figured it out. I had everything wired right for about a week. Found out I blew the fuse sometime in my unplugging, replugging, regrounding etc. So it was all a big fluke, as I had done it right all along but failed to check the one point. I kept telling myself this should be easy, swith, light, battery, I'm not stupid, this should work so duh it was a blown inline fuse. Anyway, thanks to all of you for your help and hopefully this post will help others with wiring issues. |
