URGENT headlight wiring help!!!

Hey. Just fitted a light bar to my 2006 freelander I want to wire it in to the headlight flash. What wire do I need to piggy back on. Please. See. Photo. Any help Gratefuly received.

Get your tester out, and find it

Would have done but havnt got a taster.

Are you planning on running the light bar using the power from the main headlight loom?

Cheers

Yeah think so, just want the light bar to activate when pull the headlight flash.

So it will only ever be used when you pull the lever back. When you release the lever it will not be working??? Sounds strange.
You going to give it its own fuse and relay?

Cheers

I would suggest go buy a tester to start with. Great addition to any toolbox and they aren’t expensive
I would think there are better ways of wiring it in? (I know I will have to obey later and fit one)
You really need a wiring dia before you start piggybacking onto wires.
You might find it’s the same as the high beam line and then you will have them on even with high beam not sure.

J

You can't just hook it up to the flash. The flash puts the main beam lights on.
You can splice into the high beam circuit, but not directly it to the vehicle wiring without a relay in the circuit, as you'll overload the factory wiring.

Your best bet is to pop down to Halfords and buy a simple DMM for £10 and an auxiliary light wiring kit.

I've had a few beers tonight so will reply instructions tomorrow as I've just done this the proper way

Edit: as in I can choose if the light bar comes on with the main beam with a relay and switch

So the way I've done it is to hook the light bar up to a relay and switch. The signal wire for the relay goes to the positive wire on the main beam. I drilled a small hole in the cover for the main beam lamp fed the wire through and scotch locked the signal wire to the positive wire on the back of the plug. You can't get this wrong as the negative wire on the plug is black.

Doing it this way means the light bar is getting its power directly from the battery. With the switch off just the main beam comes on, with it on both the light bar and main beam come on. This should pass an MOT as light bars are not road legal.

Cheers guys. All sorted.

I put a switch in line with the exciter wire from the head lamps which enables me to switch the roof light off so they do not come on with the full head lights if needed

Hi all, I have a stupid question to add to this. I’m looking at fitting some LED light bars to my 2013 Freelander 2 SD4 GS, I was hoping to be able to take the feed for the relay from the cabin interior so I can easily put a switch in (as someone else has stated they need to be isolated as they are technically not Road legal) but all the research I’ve done so far suggests that it’s better to take it from the positive supple to the headlight itself. The question is, is there an easy place in the bulkhead I can stick the wires through from the engine bay to the cabin?

thanks for any advice.

Whulf

WHULF said:

Hi all, I have a stupid question to add to this. I’m looking at fitting some LED light bars to my 2013 Freelander 2 SD4 GS, I was hoping to be able to take the feed for the relay from the cabin interior so I can easily put a switch in (as someone else has stated they need to be isolated as they are technically not Road legal) but all the research I’ve done so far suggests that it’s better to take it from the positive supple to the headlight itself. The question is, is there an easy place in the bulkhead I can stick the wires through from the engine bay to the cabin?

thanks for any advice.

Whulf

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You have a few issues here. First off a Freelander 2 doesn't have a main beam relay as all lighting is powered by MOSFETs as is the norm these days.
Also if it has projector headlights, it won't have main beam bulbs, as later cars had a single bulb which does dip and main beam. The light angle is controlled by a shutter in the headlamp assembly, which cuts off the light output to prevent dazzling oncoming drivers, which moves out of the light path when main beam is selected.

You can use the shutter feed to supply a relay (suitably protected with a diode), which can then switch a fused higher current supply to an LED light bar.
There's no need for a separate switch for the LED bar, as they classify as auxiliary lighting when main beam switched, so shouldn't fail the MOT. However you can always pull the fuse to it if you're worried about the MOT. I definitely wouldn't go running odd cables about the interior just for a separate switch, especially as all wiring for an LED bar can be done under the bonnet.

Nothing like a computer to make things tricky lol

Going to go stick my head under the bonnet to have a proper look now, as far as I know the headlights are LED but use 2 separate “bulbs” altho it’s possible it uses a shutter, again with the stupid question tho, what’s the diode for?

Well, that shows how much attention I’ve been paying so far. It is indeed a shuttered system on the lights, so I’ll have to work out which wire controls that. As for switching, it’s more for a personal choice than anything, plus, who doesn’t like having switches and buttons to press

WHULF said:

Nothing like a computer to make things tricky lol

Going to go stick my head under the bonnet to have a proper look now, as far as I know the headlights are LED but use 2 separate “bulbs” altho it’s possible it uses a shutter, again with the stupid question tho, what’s the diode for?

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If it's got projector lights, then it's either a halogen bulb or Xenon bulb (also known as HID), halogen being by far the most common.
LED headlamps weren't properly developed when the Freelander 2 was in production.

The reverse biased diode across the relay prevents the relay coil sending a reverse voltage spike back through the MosFets, which it will do.

I can't remember how the shutter is switched, but connecting the relay coil across the shutter coil feed will do what you need.

WHULF said:

who doesn’t like having switches and buttons to press

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Not me unless they're supposed to be there. I don't like drilling extra holes in a vehicle, just in case I want to remove any additions later on.

Ok, hopefully the last stupid question

(and thank you for the advice so far)

so, I find the wire that feeds the shutter and use that to activate the coil on the relay that switches the light bar on, where does the diode fit into this, your previous answer says across the relay, but in practical terms, I have no idea what that actually means. Is it as simple as wiring it on line to the relay coil?

WHULF said:

Is it as simple as wiring it on line to the relay coil?

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You might well get away without the extra diode.
My thinking is that the headlamp shutter is a coil, so the driver circuit will already have a diode in the CJB to protect the MosFets.

Using this logic, you should just be able to track down the shutter wires, and use them to drive the relay coil too, adding a switch to one of those wires if needed.
You can take the live for the LED bar from the battery with a suitable fuse before the relay. My light bar takes about 20 Amps, so I used a 25 Amp fuse in my feed wire.

Thank you again for all the help and advice

I got a friend of mine who knows more about electronics to explain where the diode would need to be, slowly and with pictures, so I’m happy that I’ve got that nailed down, I’ll throw a diode in anyway, just to be extra safe.

I’ve got a fuse block ready to wire in to the whole thing, and as you advise the plan is to take the feed for the bars off the battery, fuse then relay then bars. There are 2 light bars going on the grill which will be wired in parallel on the same circuit and a third bigger one which will hang under the roof rack on a separate circuit.

next step is to take the bumper off (I’ve already checked the YouTube videos and Haynes manual so should be ok with that but)

I’ll throw some pics up when it’s all done.