Roof Lights

stumpjumper_09 · **Posted:** Fri May 29, 2009 11:12 pm

I am playing around with different roof light bars and i'm not sure how to run my wires through the roof. Was wondering if anyone had any suggestions. Pics would be great.

tommudd · **Posted:** Fri May 29, 2009 11:17 pm

several articles in the fabrication and electrical sections on how to drill a hole and run them or run them down along the moulding from the rack to the engine compartment

Kugellager · **Posted:** Sat May 30, 2009 1:02 pm

There are pics (and descriptions) of what I did for my light bar in my Mods thread.

John
];')

Boiler · **Posted:** Sat May 30, 2009 8:11 pm

I ran mine through my rack and all 12 wires (2 lights rear, 4 lights front)out the front right foot, through a hole in the roof under the foot, down the B-pillar, under the door, and up to my wiring kit in my underdash. Check out page 7 of my sig link if you want to see more.

Connection between lights & rack:

Pigtail at rack:

Ready to mount:

Wire entry on rack:

Wire exit on rack.

Prototype baseplate for my wiring kit:

Majority of the wiring was done at the workbench...so much easier. I used all crosslink type wire, top quality stuff. 14 ga for each light conductor, 16 ga for control circuit. I jumped an accessory circuit, which switches a relay. That relay allows power from the main battery fuse panel to the smaller "accessory" fuse panel, which powers my switches and other relays. Power from the battery fuse panel goes to the individual relays for lights. 6 ga welding cable with inline 60 amp MAXI fuse goes to battery. I basically set everything up to run 100 watt bulbs + whatever I want to add in the future.

Wiring complete:

Switch location:

Switches are powered with any key position other than "off". Switches have red LED's lit when off, Green LED's lit when on.

LibertyFever · **Posted:** Sat May 30, 2009 9:38 pm

I ran my roof light wiring through the weather striping along side of the windshield.

A single power wire for each pair of lamps and a single 14 gauge wire for the ground return.

works for me...

Boiler · **Posted:** Sun May 31, 2009 11:23 am

LibertyFever wrote:

A single power wire for each pair of lamps and a single 14 gauge wire for the ground return.

works for me...

How many watts are your lights? Many sources list the amperage capacity of 14 gauge as being 15 amps for under 10' length in open air. If you were using 100 watt bulbs in each lamp, the amp draw would be about 8.3 amps each. Thats 33 amps for all 4? I'd recommend using 14 gauge for each single light myself, as even two lights would draw 16.6 amps. I see no reason to play around and try to minimize when a fire is at stake.

Some places list more amperage for a wire that size, but I've never seen them over about 22 amps.

If you're using 55 watt bulbs, you're still running over 18 amps with all of them on. I'd be using at least one 12 gauge wire for negative return wire in that case. Just me though. I'm sure you've put yours to the test and it works ok.

0311_DoC · **Posted:** Sun May 31, 2009 10:01 pm

Boiler wrote:

I ran mine through my rack and all 12 wires (2 lights rear, 4 lights front)out the front right foot, through a hole in the roof under the foot, down the B-pillar, under the door, and up to my wiring kit in my underdash. Check out page 7 of my sig link if you want to see more.

Connection between lights & rack:

Wire exit on rack.

Wiring complete:

I did very similar altho not as pretty....

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Sun May 31, 2009 10:15 pm

Boiler wrote:

That's alot of unnecessary wiring there for 6 lights.Heck the renny lightbar has less then 1/4 of that wiring for 4 lights and it's a OEM option so no fire danger or overload with the four 52watt bulbs.

Electronic wiring should be wired via "K.I.S.S.".

Boiler · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:49 pm

tjkj2002 wrote:

That's alot of unnecessary wiring there for 6 lights.Heck the renny lightbar has less then 1/4 of that wiring for 4 lights and it's a OEM option so no fire danger or overload with the four 52watt bulbs.

Electronic wiring should be wired via "K.I.S.S.".

Whats unneccesary? A relay and a hot wire per light? The tie in to accessory circuit?

I have an accessory panel because if I didn't I either couldn't use those switches or I'd have them lit red all the time. Also makes me use an accessory relay to feed the panel. The point was to have the accessory panel be available for use down the road. If i'd have tapped right into a circuit to feed the panel, I'd not have been able to use it for anything else.

As far as the single relays for each light, it was more or less an amperage + fusing choice. I wanted one light per fuse, so I could fuse each wire. If you fuse two wires in parallel, you have to have a fuse big enough to handle the combined current, but then the fuse is too big to protect either wire by itself. And I had to have the fuses BEFORE the relays due to the way my fuse panel served as my junction.

Long story short I had my reasons, much of it was how the circuit is controlled and leaving myself room to upgrade and add on.

Could I have saved some money if I had done it differently? Yep. Did I think through my choices more than most would have? Without question. I want anything I touch to be the best. I'm not going to chince on anything I make, be it for sale or for my doghouse...just the way I am I guess.

FreedomKJ · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2009 3:37 pm

A word of advice for anyone installing lights or other electronic accessories: You shouldn't be running a ground back the the battery, fuse panel, or anywhere other than the closest spot you can find on the body.

The body is negative/ground. Ground your lights right to the roof rack mounting bolts.

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2009 3:46 pm

Boiler wrote:

tjkj2002 wrote:

That's alot of unnecessary wiring there for 6 lights.Heck the renny lightbar has less then 1/4 of that wiring for 4 lights and it's a OEM option so no fire danger or overload with the four 52watt bulbs.

Electronic wiring should be wired via "K.I.S.S.".

Whats unneccesary? A relay and a hot wire per light? The tie in to accessory circuit?

I have an accessory panel because if I didn't I either couldn't use those switches or I'd have them lit red all the time. Also makes me use an accessory relay to feed the panel. The point was to have the accessory panel be available for use down the road. If i'd have tapped right into a circuit to feed the panel, I'd not have been able to use it for anything else.

As far as the single relays for each light, it was more or less an amperage + fusing choice. I wanted one light per fuse, so I could fuse each wire. If you fuse two wires in parallel, you have to have a fuse big enough to handle the combined current, but then the fuse is too big to protect either wire by itself. And I had to have the fuses BEFORE the relays due to the way my fuse panel served as my junction.

Long story short I had my reasons, much of it was how the circuit is controlled and leaving myself room to upgrade and add on.

Could I have saved some money if I had done it differently? Yep. Did I think through my choices more than most would have? Without question. I want anything I touch to be the best. I'm not going to chince on anything I make, be it for sale or for my doghouse...just the way I am I guess.

I don't doubt the redundancy but it just makes a simple operation much more expensive and more complex.More complex makes it easier to fail and even harder to find the problem,not to mention that the more wire and more components the power has to travel through actually decreases the voltage to the component you are trying to power in the first place.

Boiler · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2009 4:30 pm

FreedomKJ wrote:

A word of advice for anyone installing lights or other electronic accessories: You shouldn't be running a ground back the the battery, fuse panel, or anywhere other than the closest spot you can find on the body.

The body is negative/ground. Ground your lights right to the roof rack mounting bolts.

Really? Why not? I thought that you just didn't NEED to run it back to anything in particular, that they just mount to the body because it is adequate and it saves on wire.

I ran mine about half way back to the fuse panel, because I didn't want to terminate them outside the jeep and it was the handiest place to terminate them. Is there a problem with an 6 foot long ground wire over a 1 foot long ground wire?

XC204 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2009 6:02 pm

I agree with boiler on the ground. I ran mine for BU light inside to nearest factory ground but going to battery would be best if wire size has less resistance than body ground. His sys has a lot of parts but its should be much easier than all lamps wired together to trouble shoot

SkinInc69 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2009 6:20 pm

Nice install Boiler!

Boiler · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2009 9:52 pm

Thanks. I wouldn't assume anything automakers do is the best solution. It is usually the most economical one that will have acceptable quality.

My circuit is probably easier for me to troubleshoot and repair than most more simple installs. I have a color coded, NUMBERED, wiring diagram with a seperate schematic...Diagram shows what wires go where, schematic shows how things work. Both show the little numbers and terminals in the actual position and orientation of the part. It's the way I do them at work, because our customer service dept. has to troubleshoot over the phone off my drawings. If it is a machine I designed, I can usually troubleshoot strange behavior based on descriptions of the problem.

I'm the AC guru at work though, I've only dabbled in the DC realm. I love doing AC wiring designs, etc. My reefer cart had a 480 3 phase heater, personal computer, 12 volt radio, 48 volt powered, proportional control hydraulic drive & lift system, flourescent lighting, cordreel with trouble light, 110 volt outlets, refridgerant reclaimer, craftsman tool box, 110 volt compressor, breaker panels, chargers, air tools, and oxygen and acetylene on board. That thing was freakin fun to design. All powered by a 480 3-phase tether.

XC204 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:03 pm

Is that a Frankenlift?

Boiler · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:38 pm

Thankfully the Frankenlift doesn't cost as much as that monster.

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2009 11:00 pm

Looks awesome boiler. Not sure why you think you cant understand DC if you fully understand AC. DC was much easier for me to learn than AC was/is.

LibertyFever · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2009 11:04 pm

I like your roof basket/lightbar setup Boiler

As for the rest of the replies they have me rethinking my entire light wiring harness. I'm going to make some current & voltage measurements and will likely upgrade/change the wiring.

I'm actually considering removing the 55W Hella500 lights on the roof and mounting a single pair of 100W Hella700FF on the bumper. Depending on your state or province non-stock roof mounted lights may be illegal.

Boiler · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2009 11:15 pm

Jeepjeepster wrote:

Looks awesome boiler. Not sure why you think you cant understand DC if you fully understand AC. DC was much easier for me to learn than AC was/is.

It's not that I don't think I understand it, I do. There are just guys that have been doing DC a long time at my work, who have more experience with it than me. Our DC units are usually quite a bit more involved than our AC ones too. I'm the AC guru because the rest don't want to touch it, and I took the initiative to learn about it.

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