Behind the grill led bar tied into high beams

I started with a OPT7 C2 22" led bar and their harness, which both are made very nicely. I wanted to mount it behind the grill but I wasn't willing to pay for a BAMF mount which I would love to have, but I'm to cheap. Lol.

I went on Amazon and bought a h4 wire extension for pretty cheap

I spliced into the high beam wire and ran it through a swtich into the trigger post on my relay. This way I can turn the switch on and control the bar to only be on while my high beams are on and off when they were off, or I could leave the switch off and turn the high beams on, and the bar stays off for on-road driving

I went to Lowes and bought a 1" by 1" angled aluminum bar 3ft long for about $15. Removed the grill and decided where I wanted to mount it, the length was perfect so I just cut one side to give me a flat section to mount it on the headlight support, then I had to notch a little section to clear the bumper cover support.

Then I installed the switch, which is from Toyota bought off amazon, and with just a little bit of trimming it fit perfect.

And this is the final product. Of course I forgot to get a pic with the grill. The light is very sturdy and doesn't shake when going down a rough dirt road.

 

So just so I'm clear on this, you used the H4 extension to splice so you don't hack into factory wiring? I'm going to be installing a light in the next week or two and I'm trying to gather all the materials and make a plan for the wiring. Also, what do you think of the OPT7 light? I'm considering their 32" bar. Thanks!

 

Could you show more on how and what you used to mount that light bar like that? I want to make my own mounts to put it behind the grill too.

 

how is the light output?

 

i like, post up a finished pic and a night pic when u get a chance,

 

I did something very similar only with two smaller light bars, and I didn't think to use the H4 extension. That's a great idea.

 

yes h4 extension to tap into the wiring. not to power the light just to activate the relay(only when switch is on at the same time). And i have no complaints about the light bar not a problem so far and pretty good light output too

 

Do you also have manual control of the light or can you only use it if your high beams are on? I have my spots set up to be independent of everything and I turn them on or off when I want to.

 

Sorry it took so long to reply this is my first thread an i didn't realize it wouldn't send me notifications

yes it might be about a week thou im swamped this week

light output its great. idk if its as good as a rigid but it didnt cost no where near as much. i would recommend it to anyone.

will do

Thank you

 

No I can only have them on while the high beams are in but the bar over powers the high beams so I dnt see a reason to complicate the wiring when you might only use the bar without the high beams once or twice. A couple other guys did it that way and suggested not doing it that way bc it jst complicated it for no reason but you can search on here how to do it.

 

Thanks for starting this thread. I stumbled on your post and it's interesting as I decided to go the same route with the H4 extension to avoid cutting my factory headlamp harness. I even used the same extension harness - great minds thinks alike.

Anyway, here is my issue, and it looks like you didn't run into it - when I turn on my high beams the drivers side high beam 10a fuse is blown (the passenger side high beam circuit still operates as it should); this happens every time. Now, I can plug the headlamp harness into the H4 extension and turn on my high beams and the relay closes (driving lights turn on). So the combination of drivers side high beam headlamp (the tapped circuit) and the relay powering my 2 x Hella Rallye 4000s is more than 10a? I find this odd as the relay is a standard 40 amp / 12v and should only draw around .10 amps to close the circuit.

Any ideas? I'm a bit stumped. The circuit is fine and nothing is shorting out. Hell, I even ran my volt test light the to input plug on the relay wiring harness and it lit up with the high beams. I've done this modification to every Jeep and truck I've ever owned as I like the driving lamps to supplement the high beams.

Thanks for any and all help,

-Stephen

 

My first thought is a short but if there isn't any my only other guess would maybe be current back feeding from the relay power to the trigger power(the H4 extention) if that's possible. I'm not a wiring wiz or anythng close to it by any means. Lol hope this helps

 

Well, did some trouble shooting...

Apparently the amps required to trigger a relay increase in relation to the circuit load of the device(s) the relay is powering (in this case driving lights). What I did was unplug both Hella 4000s from their harness (thus eliminating them from the circuit). Then I turned on my highbeams - "click", the Hella relay closed and the highbeam fuse didn't blow. All good, so I plugged in one of the Hella 4000s and again turned on the highbeams - bingo, the highbeams illuminated along with the single Hella 4000 and the highbeam fuse was not blown. I then plugged in the second Hella 4000 and turned on the highbeams - nothing, the 10 amp highbeam fuse blew. So, by process of elimination, I have concluded that a single 55w Hella 4000 is fine, but two 55w Hellas required too many amps for the stock highbeam harness to trigger the relay.

My assumption is that you didn't experience this problem as your LED light bar probably draws far less amps as LEDs are much more efficient. My plan is pull the trigger on the Lifetime H1 LED bulb kit offered by Southeast Overland as the combined draw of both bulbs will be around 44w.

Hopefully this helps someone else in the future who finds themself in a similar situation.