Fitting light bar to Defender

Morning all,

Looking at getting one of these for my Defender:

Pro Trac Defender 6 x Spot Light Bar - With 6 x Rectangular Spot Lights

Just wondered if anyone uses one or has any reviews of them?

Also, whilst there are a million wiring looms that you can buy I just wanted to pick the brains of the forum to see if anyone could make any recommendations as to a preferred one? It will pretty much be the first thing I have done to it that involves wiring (apart from my winch) and I want to do a proper job of it.

Any advise would be appreciated

Just considering a low profile light bar as well...
Would I be right in assuming if the lights are LED and draw say 5-10 amps. I don't need to worry about heavy wiring as would be the case with traditional 200W * 4 monsters ?
Ideally I would like to be able to have them operable with main beam on however I want to have that switched so I can use main beam without them.

I assume just wire into the main beam wiring and take a switch back to the dash for manual over-ride ? Fuse both et voila ?

ER1C said:

Just considering a low profile light bar as well...
Would I be right in assuming if the lights are LED and draw say 5-10 amps. I don't need to worry about heavy wiring as would be the case with traditional 200W * 4 monsters ?
Ideally I would like to be able to have them operable with main beam on however I want to have that switched so I can use main beam without them.

I assume just wire into the main beam wiring and take a switch back to the dash for manual over-ride ? Fuse both et voila ?

Click to expand...

I'd wire them up in the same way as you would a halogen set- a separate fused supply, switched by a relay which is triggered from the main beam circuit. Optionally add an isolator switch in series with the main beam trigger to turn the extra lights off entirely.

It's just good practice to have them on their own circuit rather than piggybacking off the existing wiring. The wiring itself doesn't need to be as heavy, although you could find yourself doing the work twice if you later decide to fit halogen lights. Fuse the circuit at the correct rating for what you're actually using though.

Thanks for that.. When you say piggyback off existing wiring I assume taking from the existing lights into the relay isn't classed as piggybacking ?
What's the best way to get positive ideally into the main fusebox ? I assume I don't need to start at the battery ?
Any idea where the best location on the main beam would be to tap the relay into ? I assume there is a suitable location ?

I have my light bar switched two ways. On way is take a wire from the high beam light behind the dash up to the relay and I also have a separate relay that is switched via a separate switch so that I can have my light bar only on.

ER1C said:

(1) When you say piggyback off existing wiring I assume taking from the existing lights into the relay isn't classed as piggybacking ?
(2) What's the best way to get positive ideally into the main fusebox ? I assume I don't need to start at the battery ?
(3) Any idea where the best location on the main beam would be to tap the relay into ? I assume there is a suitable location ?

Click to expand...

1. Taking a feed off the main beam to trigger a relay doesn't really count as far as piggybacking is concerned- the current draw from the relay is very low.

2. There are a few options here. You can go directly from the battery positive terminal. Mostly if you're doing this, it's wise to have an auxilliary fusebox in the battery compartment, rather than going into the main fusebox. Another good place is the battery feed to the starter motor- an extra wire can be added to the terminal. The main connections to the alternator end up deep inside the dashboard and are a hassle to get to.

3. In my opinion, the best place to tap into the main beam is behind the instrument console. There, you can solder a blue/white wire to the existing connection and run this to your isolator switch. A blue/yellow wire then goes from the switch to the relay. There's a convenient hole near the fog light switch that's provided for the choke control on a petrol engine, and thus empty on a diesel. It's the right size to take a toggle switch and is ideal for the job.

Are those led spot lights?
If not it might be worth looking into them the money you will save on smaller gauge cable might worth it.

Also are you sure you want 6 spot lights, a mix of flood and spots might be better.