Lightbar installation help!!

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kbooneKJ

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i just bought a lightbar off craigslist last week and i finaly got it mounted to my roof (what a pain in the @ss that was!). but i was so excited to get it that i never took out my A-pillar to check for the preinstalled wiring, when i got to that step i looked and looked but couldnt find it:mad:. i should have looked before i even bought it but now its drilled into my roof! i called three different dealers and NONE of them will sell me the wiring kit that tonyCRD had for his install. can anybody who has installed one tell me where and how they got that wiring kit, or if anyone has jerry-rigged up one themselves? i feel stupid when people ask me to turn on the lights and i tell them they dont work:(

as of right now i DO have the switch and the cord that comes down from the lightbar


WAIT A MINUTE! :0 after reading tons of other posts i am now wondering that if i just buy two "add a fuse" things and put one into the parking lights (so the mopar switch lights up at night), and then if i put the other fuse into an empty one like the sunroof, then id put those wires into the mopar switch-----will that work?!?!?!?! if it would, i would put on the female connectors to connect to my switch, but what "pins" do what on that switch (i have the rocker type switch)
if i need a relay which one should i buy? and what do i wire it to? http://www.autozone.com/autozone/catalog/search/searchResults.jsp?acceCurrentPage=1&fromString=&vechileId=&accessoriesNumber=1&partsCurrentPage=2&partsLastPageNo=11&filterBy=&searchText=relays&partsNumber=2
 
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AMPlibby06

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I had the same parts as you, and I just used some spare wire I found in the garage. Just wire the positive and negative to the battery with a switch and a fuse on the positive wire. I assume you already sealed the grommit in place? If so, just wire up that positive and negative. As for the factory switch, it's meant to be used with factory relays. So to use that, you need to do some more complex wiring that wires the lights into the factory lighting system. I skipped all of the factory wiring and did it the simple, more obvious way. Works for me, but do whatever you want/are comfortable with. Hope that helped!
 

kb0nly

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Don't run all the current for the lights through the switch!!!!! Nice way to start a fire.

Use a good 30/40amp automotive relay, and have the switch turn the relay on an off. Easy as pie and a lot safer.

I assume you have the wiring and the grommet that goes through the roof from the lightbar? If you have that then its easy, just have to install a switch and a relay.
 

kbooneKJ

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wow well you guys make it sound so simple to do, but im no electrician. heck, the last time i wired an amp and a sub to my old cherokee i fried the amp and it started smokin:eek:. i do have the wire with the gromet thing, and i do have the mopar light switch. could anybody draw a picture of their wiring. i can read electrical diagrams easily. i would just need to know like what guage wires, where they go, fuses, etc. i have heard of relays but i dont know what they do and how to use them.
 

kbooneKJ

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i looked all over the mopar site and couldnt find wiring diagrams, all i found was the same installation manual for the wiring that i dont have. so it didnt help me one bit. is there anyone on here kind enough to help me out or at least point me in the right direction?
 

kb0nly

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Sorry it took so long for me to get back to you, i was digging all over the place...

Can someone please post up the Hella wiring diagram?? If not i will find my copy of it. It's basically the same as what you need to do.

The wires coming down through the roof, ones positive, ones negative. The positive one needs to go to the output side of a relay, the input side of the relay gets a fused lead to the battery, then the ground and the relay coil ground need a good ground connection to the body or battery, and last but not least you run a wire from the relay coil positive to the switch, and the switch gets another fused lead to either the battery or one of the headlight wires depending on how you want it to function. On all the time with the switch, or only on when the headlights are also on, etc.

If nothing else i can scribble something out on paper and scan it!
 

kbooneKJ

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oh thank you!:). if you could find those diagrams they would realy help me out but i understand how to do the relay now. i posted an autozone link on the first post of a bunch of relays, which one would be the best for me to buy? and also, do you know how to make the "stock" switch work with the relays? i really really like the look of that switch and i dont want to get rid of it
 

kb0nly

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Go into Autozone or Advance Auto, whatever you got handy, go the wiring and lighting section and look for a 30/40 amp accessory relay, get one with a screw hole mounting tab on it so its easy to mount somewhere, around $5-$10 at most of the stores around here. It's just a relay in a retail blister pack, nothing special. Some of them even come with a plug and pigtail to connect to it, but if it doesn't just get some 1/4" female crimp on terminals to push onto the blades of the relay.

If you can't find it tell them your looking for a relay for fog/driving lights that your adding to your vehicle. Most of them even have a wiring diagram on the package showing how to hook up!!

As for the stock switch... I think someone posted a while back what the pinout was of the switch, the could wire to that. How many pins on the switch? There must be a power, switched power output, probably a ground for the indicator lamp in it?

I haven't even seen one of the stock switches so i couldn't tell you for sure! I just used a lighted round rocker switch that came with my Hella 500FF's and the relay and plug came with them also.
 

kb0nly

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Oh, while your there also get some inline fuse holders, but not the cheap glass fuse type, get some nice blade type fuse holders, one for the supply to the relay, and one for the switch. The switch supply can be a light gauge wire as its going to be an amp or less to actuate the relay, but for the supply to the relay for the lights i would go with at least 12 or 10 awg for that roof lightbar.
 

kbooneKJ

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this is what the switch looks like. i took it apart but i have no clue what the prongs do. the four little ones down the center is what is throwing me off.
 

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kb0nly

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Let's make this a nicer list..

Switch Pinout

#1 Not Used
#2 Fused B+ (Battery)
#3 Switch Output (To Relay)
#4 Ground
#5 Ignition Switched B+ (This keeps the lights from being turned on without ignition on)
#6 Panel Lamp (Switch backlight for night)
#7 Left Headlight Low Beam (Fuse 5)
#8 Lightbar Switch Sense (Tells BCM to turn on lightbar indicator in dash)
 

kbooneKJ

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ok i understand what the wiring diagram is telling me but the switch has 7 pins and they are not numbered at all. i have attached a pic with numbers that i put it, are my numbers in the correct places that you know of?
i made a crapy wiring drawing, from what you told me and what i read is this crappy layout correct?
 

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kb0nly

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Just a slight change to that.. You don't want to power both off the same fuse.

As for the pin wiring on the switch, i don't know, i will look through the service manual some more but i didn't see the pinout.
 
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kbooneKJ

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oh sweet! your a life saver. BUT when i tried to match my switch up to the diagram it doesnt. i have a pin #1 but no pin #2 and if i flip it over o still have pin #1 but no pin #3. look at the pic i posted of the switch
 

kb0nly

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The picture i posted is the plug that would mate to the back of the switch, so the plug has one unused hole.

Think of that going into the back of the switch. On your picture #2 would be #1, etc, just line it up.
 

kbooneKJ

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haha ya i was thinking about that last night and then i figured that your diagram must be the harness and it was.
 
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