Modifying wiring harnesses

Use the spade connectors they supplied you. I wouldnt trust any electrical connection with just tape. That's an accident waiting to happen even if you are just "testing" it out.

 

Sorry not entirely familiar with the terminology, just to clarify this is what your referring to when you say spade connector?

 

How do you mount a 40 foot light bar??????

 

The Little blue ones yea. The others are different amp fuses.

 

I attached a 18 foot pole on both sides of my rack, will fit like a glove

Oops I mixed up my ' and " didn't I?

 

hahaha yep! I would like to see this happen, I bet all the jeep bros would rock it then.

 

I apologize for all of the questions, just want to make sure I have full clarification before I jump into it.

Ah got it, I believe they are already connected:


And with the existing switch I would have to strip off all of the spade connectors so I can connect the wires to my new switch?

 

Being realistic here, sure a nice soldered joint with heat adhesive lined heat shrink is better but chances are if you make a good crimp with a quality heatshrink butt connector, the wiring will outlast the china light bar. Also, being new to a soldering iron hes likely to put a lot of heat into the wires and melt insulation and potentially just blob solder onto the joints instead of getting it to flow.

For these reasons Id suggest just using a heat shrink butt connector and youtube how to crimp and strip properly. Easier and will save you time.

I wouldnt skimp on the connectors though, get the heatshrink type.

 

Spade connectors have male and female ends.

Are you showing the end of the switch harness above with the spade connectors already attached? I would have thought the switch that came with the harness was already attached to the relay.

 

Great that some good info, I will have to check that out

 

Yea so the switch that came with the harness is already attached (second Picture) and I want to replace that switch with the button switch I purchased(pictured below), the first one is the ends that is supposed to connect to the light bar (which are the wrong connectors since I need 9006) so I will have splice the 9006 connecter from the second harness and attach it where the loose spade connectors are.

 

There is a wiring diagram on the Mictuning harness you shared. I have this same harness hooked up to my lightbar in my bull bar as well as running a dash switch like you have that I bought separately. Before we get started here, buy a cheap multimeter if you're buying a soldering iron. That shit will save your frustration when dealing with the switch and you can put it in end-to-end connection mode (beep mode) to ensure your wiring is good without having to test with power.

This is pretty much what I did as follows and please note that I can turn my bar on WITHOUT the key in ignition due to personal preference and how it describes below. You can make it ignition only but that isn't this process, there is an additional step to power it via fuse tap on a fuse that's only powered when the key is in the ON position.

You just tape off your shorter connection that won't reach the light bar (in this diagram it is the spade connectors going to the top left light) to ensure no water or anything gets in there.

The other two spade connectors sound like they aren't matching up with your connectors on your light harness so you can A) add spade connectors to the light bar wiring and remove old female connection, or B) cut apart other harness with the matched male connector and either crimp on spade connectors or cut those spades off and solder wire-to-wire to match up to your light harness shown below.

Bottom middle sections go to battery (red wire with inline fuse) and ground on chassis (black wire with round connector on the end).

The right side of this diagram you fight into your truck cab through the grommet to get to your switch. This is where things got weird for me because of the joy of switch poles and unlabeled wires. My switch had four wires as yours, green happened to run off the dash lights to dim but since it's LED it won't. I basically married the black and red on the switch to black and red from the harness, in this case your green wire should match to the white wire (this is what flips the relay on and off, thusly your light bar on and off), and the yellow you can attach to a nearby switch wire using t-taps, vampire taps, etc., to get that power to light up the switch when the other interior lights are on.

 

Forgot to add, I'm not responsible if you burn it down

Quick pro tips:
- Whenever you're cutting off an old connection ALWAYS leave a bit of wire at the tail end of it. Nothing worse than cutting off a connection and thinking you're done with it only to need it an hour later and have a hangnail of wire to deal with.
- Plan out the route of the wire and figure out how you're getting it from point A to point B, what it could get snagged/ripped on, and if you have enough. Straight lines are not a thing when going into body panels, grommets, etc.
- Know how to quickly disconnect if anything is being weird. That harness you bought that I also have isn't waterproof for shit and will likely turn your bar on randomly and at a low wattage so you can barely see it if it gets moisture in it. Quickest break on this will be the inline fuse to the red terminal, pop it out until you can safely disconnect.
- Be prepared to burn everything around you including yourself if it's your first time with the soldering iron. You have to burn yourself as well as knock it over and realize it's burning through whatever it's on top of.

Message me if you get stuck! Hope this helps!

 

You my friend probably just saved me a heap load of time . Would have taken me ages to figure out how to wire up the switch. I am going to do the install tomorrow after work, might shoot you a PM or tag you if I have any questions when it gets going!

 

Feel free to!

My dad was a master electrician for years and taught me enough to be dangerous with it. I've wired in a light bar in my lower bumper without the truck being on, auxiliary reverse lights that come on with the reverse lights when ignition is ON, drilled and installed LED bed lights into the liner that run without the truck being on, and wired LED lights into the footwells and under the seats that come on only when truck is running. I've learned a few things about it along the way.

 

If only you were in CA, I would trade you some beers for you knowledge

 

Just go for it. Get it all mocked up on a bench. Strip the wire back and twist them together with tape. Get it to work exactly like you want it with it all laying on a table next to the hood.

When it's working, take note of the connections, rip it apart and dress it in nicely through the firewall and engine bay and make your final connections with solder or crimp connections.

It's not rocket science. Aside from popping a fuse you're not going to start a fire.

 

Fingers crossed, tomorrow is the big day so I'll have to keep everyone posted