I noticed that everybody is starting to get excited about our night runs after our trip  in October! So everyone is working on lights so we can see where we are going, right? Well we also end up in the dark on lots of day runs that end up turning into night runs. So lights can be very important on a trail vehicle. Aside from the regular flashlights that we carry, the next thing that come to mind is add some sort of off-road lights, right? But the problem is they are so bright they make it hard to see right in front of your rig. Go figure. So what do we do? Even our headlights can be too bright for low speed rock crawling. SO, consider for a moment, a set of fog, or driving type lights, or even some of those rubber reverse lights on the front, in addition to your regular off-road lights. A set of low watt lights aimed low can be great for a night run. Parts stores are full of cheap lights that we can use. Once mounted though we have a project ahead of us. We have to wire those things into our vehicle. But first some basics. All light systems that we add need to have some sort of relay. A relay is a small electric switch sort of. 

How it works is it takes the power from the battery and goes straight to the lights. Then power from the interior switch turns on the relay. Why the heck do you want to do this you ask? When you run off road lights, air compressors, electric fans, or other high draw type accessories, it is more than most automotive switches can handle. Most switches are only rated around 3 to 10 amps. Average off-road lights draw around 30 amps per pair. So if you wire a set of lights directly to a switch, more that likely it will burn up. Then you might need that fire extinguisher! Then Brian will get you for burning up your rig! When I was a kid I had 4 off-road lights hooked up to a heavy duty switch, with no relay. Well it worked great for about 10 minutes. Then it actually smoked and caught part of the dash on fire! Oh you are supposed to put a fuse in there too? Ahhhhhhh! So relays and fuses for me from now on. So where do I get relays and what works the best? Well there three ways to get some good relays. The first is a small black square relay you can get at most auto parts stores. They work okay, but I don’t think of them as very heavy duty. They are a couple of bucks. They are also included in most light switch wiring kits. But lets get a little better. 

If you go to a Dick Cepek store, they have a double light relay that works really well. You can use it for two sets of lights or electric fan and lights, or whatever. I have been using one for years. It has a fuse, and come labeled on how to hook it up. It is in a little Red box that mounts to something flat. It is around twenty bucks. Or another option if you want very heavy duty and a cheap price. You can use a Ford type starter solenoid. These are designed as a relay for a starter, and all electric winches use them as well. They can handle lots of power (insert Tim Allen grunt here!) and they can be had at the auto parts store for around eight bucks! These could be the ultimate relay! So once the relay is hooked up between the lights and battery (with 10 to 14 gauge wire), you just have to pick a cool switch to power the relay. You can use toggles, push button with lights in them, factory dash switches, or you can add small indicator lights above the switches or anything with out worrying about cooking them. Since a relay only needs a few amps of power to turn on, you can use some small wire (16 to 24 gauge) and not worry about all that power under you dash. So now you can get creative with your light set up and we can show off at the night run! Happy wiring! Macgyver :^)