wiring gremlins

ok, so ive added extra driving lights to aid night time visibility. my only problem is that they are pretty dim, more of an orange glow. when i remove the earth from one of them the other brightens up and vice versa. ive checked all earths etc, but does anyone know why when they are both on they are dim but with one taken out the other gets as bright as it should be?

ive wired them up as per instructions that came with them and helpful tips on here but now im stuck and its really distracting me from the essay im trying to write.

cheers for any help guys.
ben

Are they wired in series rather than in parallel?

Sounds like 12v being shared across the two at the saem time, halving the brightness.

i followed the instructions that came with the kit and took one wire from the relay and attached it to the end of both lights. all three wires are connected in the same junction, is this my problem?

should i connect the two lights and then splice the wire from the relay into this wire at another point?

thanks

Would expect to have the feed from the relay going into a junction connector, and then individual wires from that Junction to each lamp

This any help?

http://www.4x4community.co.za/forum/showthread.php?t=8006

sorry, that is how they are connected, just my bad descriptions. thanks for the link, very helpful. its still not sorted though, ive been over it top to bottom and cant for the life of me see where this has gone wrong. i knew attempting anything electrical wouldnt go well, still they light up slightly so i suppose that is something.

Double check that the bulbs supplied are 12V bulbs.

If your lamps were supplied with 24V bulbs then you will get just a very dim glow when connected to a 12V system.

I know this as mine were originally supplied with 24V bulbs (not by choice). Changed to 12V and away I went.

unfortunatey not, 12v 55w h3 bulbs. before i start taking bits of the dash off again is it possible that a cock up around the switch, or where ive spliced into the main beam circuit could cause this?

thanks alot

Only other thing I can think of is that some of the wiring can't carry the load, but presume you used what came with the kit

If no better suggestions forthcoming, what happens if you wire the connector to the relay feed direct to the battery?

As station has said the wire is under too much load and cannot carry enough neutrons to power both lights

I've used what came with the kit, except for 2 of the earths (relay and 1 light) could it be down to the crimp on connectors I've used or is that unlikely? I think the wire is 2.5 gauge, that is it took the slot marked 2.5 on my wire cutters to strip it.

Thanks for the help, I know it isn't the most illuminating subject

where is the live to the relay coming from? have you got an online copy of the instructions?

However dim, do the lights come on and off when they should?
In other words ONLY when you've got full beam and the switch on?

Yes, lights work as they should. I'm quite pleased with myself as far as that goes.

Wiring goes:
To relay:
Battery +ve
Switched feed from main beam
Earth
Feed to lights (both lights wired together and then to relay)

Liverpool.90 said:

Yes, lights work as they should. I'm quite pleased with myself as far as that goes.

Wiring goes:
To relay:
Battery +ve
Switched feed from main beam
Earth
Feed to lights (both lights wired together and then to relay)

Click to expand...

Right, if the lights work when you want them to then there's nothing wrong with the switching side of your installation.

On the power side your cable (which should look about the size of one core out of a mains extension cable) should come from your battery positive to pin 30 on the relay. Then from pin 87 of the relay to the light. Then, using the same weight of cable to a good earth. My feeling is that your earth is at fault so try running a temporary cable from your earth point back to the battery negative, a jump lead is the normal trick.

I've got to be in West Wales EARLY tomorrow so I'm off for a bath and bed. But just before I go I've had one last thought. If the lights earth through their own mounts or you've used the mounting to fit your earths then, is that piece of metal earthed properly. If the place that you've selected is rusty (or aluminium oxide-y) where it connects to the main body then that will restrict the current flow as effectively as a dimmer switch.
Good luck.

The lights are earthed to the bolts that hold on my steering guard, all cleaned up and should be ok. Relay is earthed to the wing, again cleaned to bare metal. Switch is earthed to metal panel fuse box is attached to. I've checked every earth and no difference. I can't get to my battery as the new seats don't fold or have a removable base so I'll leave that till its light. I did get a length of cable and run it from each earth point (on light, switch and relay) to a new location to check but again no difference.

Short of anyone having a brainwave I think I'll just take it as a sign I'm not meant to have great visibility in a landrover and pull all the wiring out. Thanks for all the help.

Hmm there must be a logical reason. One of those things where in person people could have a proper prod about and see whats what. Don't give up on it altogether just yet!

This sounds like an earth connection faulty. Most lighting faults are down to earth. cant be the relay earth cos if that was faulty nothing would happen
Sounds like the lamps earth.
You said to the bolts holdingb the steering guard. Did you take just the bolts out and bare the metal back? What about the guard to chassis connection bet thats all crappy. Try another lamp earth.