Relays for the lights ... (1994 300tdi Defender)

A small job (I thought) fitting 4 relays to feed power to the lights bypassing the stalk switch/controls.

I bought 4, fused, relays from the Bay of E and bolted them to an alloy plate.
I connected all 4 pin 86's together and attached them to the base.
I also connected all of the inputs (pin 30 - red wire) together and ran the wires through some Lucas connectors to a 4mm2 cable.

The relays fit under the false vent on the OS wing, screwed to the inner wing which provides the earth for the relay.



Pin 85 (blue cable on the relay) gets its voltage from the feed to the light and pin 87 (white cable) feeds the bulb.
In that way the current doesn't flow through the stalk or through several feet of (thinish) cable.
The cable from pin 87 to the bulb is a 2mm (25A) cable and from the original feed, it's a 1mm cable back to pin 85.

To get at the feed to the bulb and to run the cable neatly I took the eyebrow off and connected behind the lamps using Lucas connectors.
The cable to the NS wing runs behind the heater ducts, past the heater, across the bulkhead and along the wing to the vent on the OS wing.



I got the pin 30 input power from the AUX connector on the ignition switch so, as before, the lights only operate when the ignition is on.

Looks like good job! I am about to undertake a set of wiring on mine for the additional equipment (lights, fan, winch etc). I am planning on using the aux ignition connections to feed the dash switches, with relay panels in the battery box. Do you know if the aux connector is fused and if so to what rating? If it is not or is too high I will add a fuse straight off it first.

dag019 said:

Looks like good job! I am about to undertake a set of wiring on mine for the additional equipment (lights, fan, winch etc). I am planning on using the aux ignition connections to feed the dash switches, with relay panels in the battery box. Do you know if the aux connector is fused and if so to what rating? If it is not or is too high I will add a fuse straight off it first.

Click to expand...

I believe the AUX circuit has a 20A fuse but am not sure if this connection on the ignition switch is the feed to the fuse so is therefore only protected by the main fuse under the bonnet, i'd be tempted to put an inline fuse somewhere accessible.