At a loss with spotties up front

[SonOf]

Hi Guys &Gals

Been trying to wire up a set of HID spots to the front of the GU. Had a set of hella on there when I bought it but wanted to add a little more light given I drive roads with loads of animals on them, like to see as much as I can. The old spotties were wired to the ihighbeam but did not have a switch so were always on when high beam was on. Decided to add a switch to make it legal.

I scoured this site and others for wiring diagrams so I could get it close to correct. The spotties came with basic spade plugs which I replaced with water proof ones. I have soldered every joint, spade attachement etc to make certain I get a good connection and tested each one to make sure they were sound.

I grabbed a new Narva 5 pin relay (30, 85,86, 87a, 87b) and Narva switch for the dash that has 4 pins at the back (acc, power, ground, relay(opt) wired it up as per the following but no good. I connected the spotties to direct power with a basic switch to test and they were hesitant to turn on but did though the light was very shakey. When I turned them off the + wiring was really hot, like way too hot.

I have checked the wiring, all fine. Earth points checked etc. I am at a loss as to what is going wrong. Anyone have suggestions?

[SonOf]

straight up, no idea. I have kept the wiring gery similar to what was already there, just added the switching.

[Yendor]

Where are the earths for the lights connected, bull bar or battery?

You only need the 87 terminal of the relay, the 87a terminal is not used.

How did you wire the relay, what feeds do you have to terminals 30,85 and 86?

[sil3nt_dr3ams]

Are you still stuck mate ? I'm working in my relay box atm I'll get some pics...

I'll extract my comment, because as usual I didnt spend the time reading the entire post.

[SonOf]

Are you still stuck mate ? I'm working in my relay box atm I'll get some pics...

I'll extract my comment, because as usual I didnt spend the time reading the entire post.

pics would be great please, have given it a break for now as was getting to frustrated and didnt want to crack a sh#t and stuff it up.

[SonOf]

Where are the earths for the lights connected, bull bar or battery?

You only need the 87 terminal of the relay, the 87a terminal is not used.

How did you wire the relay, what feeds do you have to terminals 30,85 and 86?

30 is to power at the battery with inline fuse, 87 is to positive on spotties, negative on spotties is direct to battery, 85 to common on hewd light and 86 to power on switch, highbeam lead to switch in csbin as well

[megatexture]

Maybe earth the relay to the battery also pin 85

[megatexture]

What amp/size wire did you use?

[Yendor]

So 85 is connect to the black wire at the headlight plug?

The high beam feed should go to the power terminal at the switch.

What size wire did you run from the relay to the lights?

Any chance you got the wires around the wrong way when you replaced the plugs at the lights?

[BigRAWesty]

What size relay have you grabbed, and what's the combined amp draw of the nee HID's?

[Drewboyaus]

The wiring shouldn't really be that hot. The HID's ought to draw the square root of 5/8ths of FA current by comparison with the halogens.
I had some dramas when I converted my halogens to HID's and it was earth related, especially that intermittent firing, that was very similar to the symptoms I had.
I'm no auto elec though.

Edit: Yendor is your man to help sort it out.

[SonOf]

I used 20amp wire for everything I wired. Lights came with their own wiring, about same diameter as the head light wire both positive lines each have a 20 amp fuse inline. When I tested the HIDs I wired them direct to the battery with no relay, both positive and negative with a basic on/off switch and the light was still shakey and took a bit to get them running, this is when the posititve wires got hot so not an earth issue there I think.

Never had an issue with the halogens.

[MudRunnerTD]

Are you fitting a HID kit to your halogens or fitting a set of HID spotties? The could be a fault with a ballast? Are they internal or external Ballasts?

[Drewboyaus]

Are you fitting a HID kit to your halogens or fitting a set of HID spotties? The could be a fault with a ballast? Are they internal or external Ballasts?

That is where my earth issue was. One of the earths connecting the ballast to globe. You'd think being Narvas they'd be ok but if you tested them beforehand and they were playing up, it sounds more like trouble with the lights.....

[SonOf]

internal ballast. They are the spotties I am wiring up. Had them for a while now just never got round to fitting them. They are outa china so if it is the ballast then I am stuffed

[SonOf]

going to put my old lights back on, will know if I have the wiring right.

Cheers for the suggestions/help

[Yendor]

Just make sure you have the positive and negative around the right way in the plugs at the lights.

Halogen bulbs will work if connected around the wrong, HIDs won't.

[threedogs]

Even 55 watt hid wouldn't be pulling big amps, what 4.5 approx.
you can reverse the plugs on the ballasts

[MudRunnerTD]

If you have a couple of alligator clips then fit them to the spottie and hook direct for the battery and see how they operate individually to check their operation. A nice strong connection to the battery will limit the likelihood you are getting a bad connection during your test causing them to flicker.

[threedogs]

They do flicker on start up I love them the way they get brighter and brighter

[SonOf]

If you have a couple of alligator clips then fit them to the spottie and hook direct for the battery and see how they operate individually to check their operation. A nice strong connection to the battery will limit the likelihood you are getting a bad connection during your test causing them to flicker.

Will give it a second go tomorrow -I did wire them to the battery via their leads - that is when the positive wire got hot, though I did both at the same time - I will do one at a time tomorrow and see how it goes - if still the same issues then I will swap em out.

[fracster]

Just a thought, why not connect your old lights up to the new wiring, if they work OK, then the problem is with the new lights.

[SonOf]

Will try that as well, shall report back once done.
cheers

[the evil twin]

The relay coil needs to be high beam + ve to pin 86 and a seperate earth to pin 85 of the relay so I don't get why the hi beam indicator is also wired to your switch

To get the relay to activate you have a choice
a) wire from the high beam +ve or the indicator to the Driving light switch then to pin 86 then a wire from pin 85 to earth (if you use the headlamp socket this requires two wires into the cabin to the switch)
OR
b) wire from high beam +ve to pin 86 then a wire from pin 85 to the switch and then earth the other side of the switch (in the cabin is fine and only needs one wire thru the firewall)

The switching circuit will carry bugger all current so 3mm is waaaay big for that purpose. It will work but must have been a pain to strip and connect.

Either way the relay will only pull in if both the high beam positive is available and the switch is on.

[the evil twin]

Sorry for the split posts but....

You say teh HID's are hesitant to turn on when you hook them direct.
Depending on how good the ballasts are it may take as much as 5 to 10 seconds for the HIDs to come up.
In the interim they may initially flash a time or two and come on dull.

If that is all that is happening then it is probably normal

[the evil twin]

In the piccy you posted up the relay you purchased is a "changeover relay" not a dual output relay. Narva make both types and they will look the same physically from the pins

In a changeover relay...
When the relay is energised then pin 87 is powered from pin 30
When the relay is de-energised then pin 87A is powered from pin 30.

If you hook the changeover relay up like your schematic then one HID will always be on and when you select high beam the relay will activate and the HID that is on will turn off and the other HID will come on... switch it fast enough and you can have a disco

To do it like your schematic you need a relay with two pin 87's not an 87 and an 87A

It's no biggee for you. all you need do is power both lights from pin 87 and leave pin 87A vacant

[SonOf]

Well I have finally got around to working on this again. Been out of action since Boxing day with the ongoing argument with my back.

Anyway Santa alos gave me a Repco voucher so after some thought I went and grabbed a Narva wiring harness for spotties. Result is spotties are working fine, no shaking, no hot wires etc. So in the end, I cannot wire for sh#t it would appear and should not be allowed to play with electricity or electronics!

Again thankyou all who offered advice and help.