Electrical advice needed!

What is the max load I can run off stock electrical system (single battery)? I'm wanting to run a lot of lights (10 forward, 2 each side, 2 back, some under). The 10 forward are 4 Light Force 240s and 6 Light Force 170s (I like LF). The other lights are undecided as of now - but I'd like to be able to run them all at once. Is that too much?
BTW: I'm not electrically savvy - so please keep responses in layman's terms lol

 

Buy lots of heavy wire and some relays. Even at only 50 watts per bulb your still talking around 60 amps.

 

What ga. wire would you say? And I think the lights are 100w

 

It really depends on how you wire things up, but 12 gauge to each individual light. Then, depending on how many you wire together going to the battery, you may have to go up to 4 gauge.

I would put together a different plan, that just sounds like way too much IMHO.

 

Do you really to run that many lights all at once? Regardless, I would recommend upgrading the battery to more of a deep cycle Optima battery.

 

I'm hopefully going to get a blue sea fuse box and run it like that

What can I say. I like being visible from space And I'll keep that in mind! Thank you!

 

So the lights are listed as 100W, but the specs say 55W (output is probably greater than power draw). So doing the math (A = W / V), and assuming the specs on their website are correct, each light draws about 4.6A. They recommend wire that supports 6A. So for 10 lights, that's 60A total. You could probably get away with 16 gauge to each light if the wires are less than 15 feet, but 14 or 12 would be better.

4 gauge to the terminal block would support the 10 lights.

I would be looking for a dual-battery setup, using yellow-top Optimas. And relays. But I like to over-engineer things so I don't have to mess with it again.

 

Unless you are pulling 30A off a light you could run multiple lights from 12 gauge wire. I use 12 gauge for almost everything though (except the winch of course..)

 

Thanks guys!

 

Damn! thats a lot of lights.. Are you spotlighting deer!?!?! Are you going to run all those lights at one time?? If you are, look into a second battery and putting it under the back seat or something along those lines.. Look into a Red top battery or Yellow Top Battery..Optima

 

#12 wire is good for 20 amps max 240 watts @12 volts.

 

Lots of electrical load it seems. If you are looking at 60 amps, then you will seriously affect the longevity of your alternator. I believe the Tacoma alternators are in the approximate range of 105 amps peak output. If your vehicle under normal operation draws about 30 amps, then the lights come on, you will be drawing 90 amps from a alternator rated at 105 amps at 2000 rpm. Alternator will go bye-bye pretty fast.

 

With voltage drop, which is gonna happen with this setup, you do want to oversize. I still think 16 to each light would be fine, 12 to 2 lights would be fine as well. But I wouldn't push it any further. Again, over-engineering is part of my nature, but hey, my stuff works.

Which is why I think a new plan is in order, this is just overkill. Having a dual-battery setup would help, but not for long periods.

Why not 4 of these lights and and LED bar? I doubt you would notice a significant difference.

Think of how you will be using the lights at any one time, and switch them in sets for a particular use so you aren't driving more than you really need at any one time. That would be a cool project.

 

I would do the 4 lights and a bar but the difference in tones would drive me mad. The lights will most likely not stay on for extended amounts of time - maybe half an hour max per use.
And would using the ultra-capacitor type battery be useful?
If you don't know what I mean...you need to see the video on YouTube. Just look up ultra capacitor car battery

 

This.

It's not just about the capacity of the wire.
That's just WAY too much current to be running on the stock system.

 

All right. So would just 4 of each light be acceptable? (4x 240s and 4x 170s)

 

I wouldn't run more than a total of about 400 watts.

 

All right. Thank you!

 

I had a Yeep with a 105 amp alternator and was running 1000W of total light. The dang thing would never idle on it's own with all of the lights on, and the alternator would whine like a Mofo with all of them on. I agree with Rich. No more than 400 watts at any one time. Nothing wrong with having a butt load of lights, as long as you make sure you never have all of them turned on at once. I was using some DPDT switches eventually on mine so that the side lights would not come on if the front were on, and the rear would not come on if either the front or sides were active. Only way I could save the third alternator I put in the truck.

 

I agree with Bill about the alternator sizing. I would add that when the alternator is not capable of satisfying the load requirements, i.e., at lower RPM, the difference is made up from the battery until it is discharged. You add the additional load of trying to recharge the battery to the original electrical load. The additional heat will eventually fry the alternator.

Car batteries are designed for starting an engine and a shallow discharge cycles. Repeated deep discharges of car battery will cause premature battery failures. That is why deep cycle batteries are better choices as the second "house" battery in a dual battery setups. Load is load no matter if it from aftermarket winch, lighting, or electronics. OEM electrical systems are not designed or prepared to handle a massive increase in load.