Spotlights - how to wire???

This site contains affiliate links for which LandyZone may be compensated if you make a purchase.
S

_Stingrey_

Active Member
Posts
157
Location
Wirral
I have fitted my spotlights to the front of the Landy. I have completed most of the wiring less one wire….it is labelled Negative/H’Beam.

Where should it go??? I’m presuming that if I simply wish to trigger the spotlights via a switch then it goes to earth???

If I wish to trigger the spotlights when I turn on my high beam then it goes to the feed to the high beam???

I’m by no means an electrician so apologies for sounding stupid. 🤦‍♂️
 
On a car, typically the Negative terminal of the battery is connected to the chassis and the engine or gearbox with a thick Black cable.
Pretty much everything else on the car is also bolted to the chassis (the bodywork etc).
This means that the structure of the car is Negative or Earth.
Many lights have a single wire that is connected via a switch and a fuse to the Positive or Red terminal of the battery.
Different colour wires are used to provide 12V to ancillary items (lights, indicators, fuel pumps etc) after the safety fuse and contolling switch.

To make a lamp light up you need to complete the circuit by connecting Positive to one side of the bulb and Negative to the other.
As the body/chassis/engine and gearbox is connected to the negative side of the battery you can connect your wire any metal that is nearby, the inner wing or the bumper or the radiator bracketry for example. You could drill a hole somewhere and put a bolt through it or a self tapping screw.

The key is to make sure the connection is good (ie you may need to remove any paint to find bare metal) and that there is a path through to the negative on the battery.
Some people put additional wires from the inner wing to the engine.

If you tell us what car you have we could be a bit more specific about where there are earth/negative connection points.
 
It’s a 300TDI CSW 1994. The below photo is the only wire not yet connected. I want the spotlights to come on with high beam. 👍
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    231.7 KB · Views: 7
  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    287.6 KB · Views: 5
Right, I have connected all the wires. Now I have other problems.... when I put my lights on high beam my spotlights operate along with my offside headlight but my nearside head light goes out. When I switch off the high beam the nearside light comes back on. Any ideas???
 
Swap head light bulbs. It could be that high beam has blown on your current nearside?

Also check fuses, I seem to remember each headlight is fused separately.
 
Check that you have voltage to the relevant terminals on your nearside headlight.

Check that the headlight unit is grounded correctly.

Check the fuses.

The trouble is once you depart from the standard setup no-one knows how your current setup is wired or should be wired.
 
So the multimeter tells me that on high beam there is no power getting to the connector to the nearside headlight????
Head scratching time.

Also for info I have spliced the yellow wire in the images shown above to the H'beam feed roughly 2" short to the offside headlight connector. (Might be relevant but then again it might not).
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
Led light bar wiring (range rover sport l494 sdv6 2015)
Replies
10
Views
2K
Skelo
S
A
Combusting wires - one big FUBAR
Replies
7
Views
1K
amsthenovice
A
J
Optimill reversing camera cabling
Replies
0
Views
456
jwrw
J
A
Help Needed - Freelander 1 facelift front fogs
Replies
6
Views
1K
Nodge68
Nodge68
stumpyj
TD5 Fuel line to fuel pump clip
Replies
10
Views
2K
Alan Henry Crossley
A
Back
Top