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Installing
the HID Conversion
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After checking everything out and reading
over the installation guide, it was time to get down to
business. The first thing I had to do was decide where
I was going to mount the ballast. With the old lights,
I only had to install the light and run a wire to each
light. With these lights, since they are powered by an
variable voltage AC current ballast and the power output can
be quite high, I need to mount each ballast in a safe, dry
place within about 3 feet from the light itself. My
previously mounted Lightforce lights were mounted at the
lower corners of my windshield so a prime location for the
ballasts was below the dash somewhere. |
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I decided to mount them below the dash,
to the left of the Driver's legs on the tub's inner wall.
This put the ballast directly below the light within about 2
feet, close enough to run the high voltage wire. There
was plenty of room to work with and I came up with an
aluminum mounting plate to mount the ballast's mounting
bracket to. My mounting plate consisted of two pieces.
First an angled piece (90 degree angle), 1¼
x 1¼ about 3 inches long.
This was drilled and bolted to a seam in the tub. See
picture to the right. |
Driver side, angle piece |
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The second piece was a flat plate with 6
holes drilled in it. Four holes at the corners were to
hold the ballast's bracket down, the other two holes were to
bolt it to my angled piece already mounted to the tub.
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Passenger side, angle already
mounted, plate mounted. |
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On the driver side, I had to contend with
3 different things. First I had wires running behind
the plate and a grounding block (for grounding electrical
devices) located behind the plate as well. I
also had to clear my parking brake. I located the
mounting plate to clear all three things without any
problems.
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Next I mounted up the ballast mounting
bracket. I faced the wires down for clearance reasons
and also thinking about water shedding down if they ever get
wet. |
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The ballast clips in to the bracket
easily. I added a couple of nylon wire ties to hold
the ballast down to the bracket just to be safe. The
Jeep will see a lot of jarring around and I down want to
shake the ballast loose.
There are 2 wires that connect to the
ballast, the 12 volt wire lead to the ballast and the high
voltage wire that runs up to the lights. I ran both
wires behind the plate. In my case I ran the two wires
up to the bottom of the dash, then jumped out an inch or two
to the rollbar, up the rollbar for about 6-8 inches, then
forward again jumping over to the windshield hinge where the
lights are mounted. |
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Upgrading the Lights
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AS I stated before, I'm already using the
Lightforce RMDL170 'STRIKER' 170mm diameter lights,
which are mounted to my CJ-7's windshield hinges. The
kit comes with replacements for the two
2 RMDL-ARM assemblies (below). The lights were
removed from my
custom
windshield mounts and brought over to the work bench.
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At the work bench the two
2 RMDL-ARM assemblies were removed from the RMDL170
Lightforce Lights. The new HID bulbs are already
mounted to the RMDL-ARM assemblies so the only thing that is
needed is to swap the RMDL-ARM assemblies. With the
Lightforce Lights, the reflector un-screws off of the RMDL-ARM
assembly.
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Carefully insert the new RMDL-ARM with
the Xenon bulb down into the reflector and screw it in.
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Wiring the Lights
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In my case I already had the lights
mounted and powered. For more on this installation,
see LightForce Lighting
Install/Review.
However now the power would be
diverted to the ballast instead of the lights and a high
power wire would return back up to the lights to power them.
The wiring followed the diagram below.
Both lights are going though a 30 amp relay, which in turn
powers the ballasts, which in turn power the lights.
Read below about further wiring considerations. |
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My wiring connections to the ballast was
tapping into the pre-existing wires I ran to the lights
before during this installation: LightForce
Lighting Install. The
changes to the wiring were minimal. The 12 volt power
source (previously to the lights) was clipped and the
electrical ends pictured below were crimped on. The
wire lead that goes to the ballast was also clipped and
these ends added. When using these types of wire ends
a good suggestion is to crimp the female end onto the power
source so that if they ever became unplugged and powered on,
you won't have an exposed 12 volt end bouncing around.
I then wrapped them up with electrical tape and wire-tied
them to the rollbar.
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Wiring
Considerations
Things To Consider
When Wiring Your Off-road Lights...
When wiring anything in your vehicle
that draws heavy current such as high powered offroad lights there are a few
things to consider. Number one, make sure you use wire that is rated for
the amperage that the accessories is going to pull. It is always better to
have wire that is OVER rated rather than wire that is not rated high enough.
If wire is used that is not rated to handle the current that your accessory will
pull, the result could be overheated wires that could melt the insulation,
causing a short or worse yet it could result in a fire. If you know how
much current your accessory will draw you can determine what gauge wire is
appropriate for your application.
Personally I like to use wire that far
exceeds the current draw of my accessory. It's overkill but in a few
applications I've used heavy gauge stranded industrial wire with water and
chemical resistant insulation. That way there is no question as to whether the
wire is rated high enough or not. If this approach is taken, it is very
wise to place a fuse at the battery end as close to the battery as possible.
Most wire in a vehicle, if shorted out, will burn up before the battery
overheats and possibly explodes. If wire that is over-rated for vehicle
use is used and a short occurs, a short will most likely result in damage to the
vehicle of some sort unless a fuse is put in line as close to the battery as
possible. With the fuse there, in the case of a dead short, the fuse will
burn out first before any damage could occur.
With accessories that pull a lot of
power it is always better to get your power directly from the batteries positive
terminal rather than tapping into the existing fuse block or wiring harness.
In most cases the vehicles existing fuse block is not rated to handle the
additional load of high powered accessories such as off-road lights. If
you are the kind of person that likes to add all kind of goodies to your vehicle
it might be worth installing an additional fuse block that handles non-critical
items like off-road lights, CB radios, power inverters, a compressor, etc.
This additional block can then be powered by a heavy duty wire capable of
carrying the current required of all the accessories on the block. Be sure
to fuse the block at the battery.
Using a
Relay
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current is required the switch use to turn on the power should not handle the
load. That is better left to a relay. What is a relay? A
relay is a device that, through a magnetic induction coil, turns on the power
for you. The switch that is installed in the cab of your 4x4 actually only
powers the relay itself which draws very little current. In my
installation I used a 30 AMP relay from Radio Shack (Auto Relay Cat. Number
275-226) to do the switching. I used an LED lighted switch in the cab to
let me know the lights were on.
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wiring the lights, for the most part, follows the diagram pictured above. In
my case however, I had installed a secondary fuse block for accessories which
was where I was tapping into the 12 volt power source. As in the
diagram I first ran a wire from a 12 volt power source (my secondary fuse block)
to the switch on the Jeep's dash and then to the relay. (Follow the relay's
wiring schematic when connecting the wires to the relay) One of the relays
terminals goes to ground. Then I ran a heavy gauge wire from the fuse
block to the relay placing a 30 Amp fuse in fuse block for the lights.
It's wise to disconnect the power at the battery until all wiring is
done. Then I ran a single heavy gauge wire out to each of the
ballasts and
split it into two leads, each one running to a ballast. If you do this be sure the single
wire is rated to handle BOTH ballasts since it will carry the current of
both. The diagram shows two leads coming from the relay to each of the HID
ballasts. Each ballast has a power input wire with a positive + (red), and
a negative - (black) wire, which I attached to using quick connects, pictured to
the right. High voltage output voltage from the ballasts is carried
by a wire connected to the HID light. If the wires will not be
soldered together and crimped connectors will be used it's a good idea to put a
dielectric paste on the connectors where they come in contact. This will
prevent corrosion as time passes ensuring a good connection. I then
double-checked all my wiring before applying power. |
Testing, Final Thoughts
& Additional Info |
Purchased from:
Off-Road
Lights |
Give them a call at:
253-256-4439
for a great price on a set.
www.off-roadlights.com
Lightforce@offroaders.com
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