Connecting lights to battery

Im about to add 4 lights to my truck, do i need to add anything to the battery to connect all of them, like a terminal multiplier or something?

 

Spod

 

I have all the wiring harnesses and switches, I'm just wondering about connecting all of the lights to the battery.

 

I used a Blue Sea Bus Bar, connected to the battery with a 4 gauge starter cable.

 

You wouldn’t happen to have any pics of your setup would you?

 

I'll try to take some tomorrow, but it's easy to do. Bolt the bus bar on drivers side fender wall. Run starter cable between battery and bus bar and you're done. I tied into the existing ground bolt that is right there for the ground wires. The bus bar comes with a cover but after I finished wiring everything up I covered the buss bar connections with JB Weld black rtv silicone. That's over kill but it keeps all the connections dry and no chance of anything shorting on the posts. It's easy to peel off if you need to get to the connections later.

I used a short piece of aluminum bar to make a mount for the relays. I bolted it to an existing nut in the fender well. I think it was a number 8 bolt.

 

You should be using a relay.

Relay gets connected to the battery, the lights are connected to the relay with the proper fuse.

 

Another vote for SPOD, or in my case Switch Pro. At least consider it depending on your needs and future plans. If this is it for add on electronics let it ride. If this is only the beginning, well "buy once, cry once"

When you say 4 lights, you mean 2 pairs (IE 2 switches) or do you actually mean 4 different switches? If it's just 2 switches you should be able to find room on the battery, or maybe upgrade to a dual post battery now for a hundred bucks. If your talking 4 sets of lights on 4 switches, that's a hole lotta switches.

 

These are all the electronics I'm about to add


40" roof Light bar -HereticStudios
20" bumper Light bar- HereticStudios
Bought switches and Harness's which i believe comes w/relay fuse?

Fog lights- HereticStudios

Ditch lights/ brackets, wiring harness and switch - GGlighting

Warn Zeon Platinum 10k winch

Rock lights - bluetooth - Caliraised

Also already have the Toppersezlift on my truck

 

Awesome thanks for the info, how many electronics do you have on the bus?

 

You need a relay to run the lights off the battery; otherwise your truck is a potential inferno.

 

Take a look at powertray's forum here in the vendor section. They also are really helpful and will steer you right.

 

How is it naive, I clearly stated what I am trying to do and asked how to do it and what I need?

 

I believe the relays are connected to the wiring harness’s

 

I have five relays hooked to the bus bar.

Like Johnnymoto and Mr-Paul said be sure to make solid connections and know the requirements (wire gauge, etc.) of the device you are installing.

I noticed the question mark after "harness w/relay fuse" in your list. If the harness didn't come with the device you are installing make sure you are using the correct wire gauge and fuse rating for the device.

The hot wire from the relay with inline fuse should connect to the bus bar and the inline fuse should be close (within a foot or two) of the bus bar.

I use Solder Seal connectors covered with marine grade shrink tube to make any butt connections and Posi Tap connectors for any taps that are needed.

It seems we never have the time or money to do it right, but we always have the time and money to do it over. So take your time and don't make any costly mistakes. The last thing you want is to be stuck out in the boonies with a fried ecu or vehicle fire.

There are many excellent threads here on properly wiring different devices so do some research, and like Johnnymoto said ask questions if you can't find the answers.

 

Yes, those are for the factory lights. If you are installing high amp draw lights or other accessories like an air compressor, you will need separate relay and large gauge wire with a fuse close to the battery. Otherwise it could be a fire hazard.

 

Thanks for the reply, all the harnesses i bought came w/each product. So is having 5-6 things hooked up to the battery w/out a Spod a hazard then?

 

I got one of these instead of the spod. It’s basically the same thing minus the slick interface inside the cab. Maybe you should think about something like this to make managing what you’re doing easier.

https://m.ebay.com/itm/Universal-Wa...ibution-Cooper-Bussmann-Off-Road/323094255041

 

All my harnesses have relays and are specifically for each product, so shouldn't I be fine? I don't see where the spod or a similar product would be beneficial? I'm hear to learn though, so please explain!

 

So with a bussmann you keep your switches/wiring going into the vehicle, just send all the wires there with 1 going to the battery/earth ground? Sorry new to this as well and I have a ARB Twin to add on. I don't particularly care for the switch pro (500 price tag is hard to justify.)