Hot Switch

I have a 30" LED bar and 3 red ring HID lights wired to one toggle switch. After running the lights for about half hour, the toggle switch is hot as hell. A buddy says I have hot power and that it's hard to explain what he means and told me to turn to google. I went this way instead. What do I do about this?

 

Are you using a relay?

 

Nope...would this be the problem? Haha

 

Hot power? No clue what that means....

You are pulling too much current through the switch.
The fuse, switch, and all wiring need to be rated for the full current of the switched devices. High current switches are expensive, bulky, and not pretty on the dash.

Good news... Use the switch to trigger a 30a relay and you're golden.

Personally, I would run two relays... two HIDs on one, and the 3rd HID and LED bar on the other.

 

Maybe two switches as well as the separate relays. Give you a little more flexibility. ...

Don't forget to fuse everything as well.

 

Yeah sounds like you need to re-do your setup. Like others said, relays and separate switches are a must. Wire size, length of run all have a major play. I would not run those lights till you address this issue . You stand a big chance of melt down and possible fire.

 

^ This
Resistance causes heat, and the switch can't handle that much power going through it, hence why so hot. I'd get that fixed ASAP.

You don't want to think someone is BBQing when you're getting a cold pop and then realize oh lawrd Jesus its a FIRE.

 

Thanks for the feedback.. I think that's the plan. Just gonna run two switches.

 

You say this...but I ran the 3 HIDs on one switch and never had a problem with the switch getting hot. I'll probably just wire the HIDs to a switch, then the LED bar to another switch. Thanks for the help!

 

It depends on the switch.

If the switch is rated for the current, and the conductors are sized properly, then it won't be a problem.
Big enough wire and a big enough switch and you can run 50 kilowatts on it.

Just because you did it before with a different switch doesn't mean you can do it with THIS switch.
You have a hot switch... that means that the switch IS overloaded whether you want to believe it or not.
There is no such thing as "Hot power"... your friend doesn't now what he's talking about.
I've been a traffic signal electrician since 1992.

 

I am using the same switch as I did to run just the HIDs..and I never said it wasn't overloaded.. I'm just going to run 2 different switches, with 2 different relays.