High Beam Wire Size

Hello there,

Do any of you guys know what size wire is used on a 17' OR Tacoma on the high beams? I can't find any kind of labeling on the wire itself so I thought I would ask you guys. I would like to wire in a light bar to these high beams and I want to make sure the wire is capable of handling the amps from the light bar. My light bar pulls 15 amps and there's only a 10amp fuse on the high beams. I know I could put in a 15amp fuse for the high beam but I want make sure I can safely do that.

Thanks for the help!

 

Without looking at it it’s orobably a 14 or 16 gauge wire. You won’t be able to run a light bar directly off the high beam wiring. If you want to use it with your high beams, simply use a relay and trigger it with your high beam circuit. You don’t want to increase your factory fuse. It’s rated at the amperage for a reason. That’s a great way to burn up the wiring, a factory relay, or your BCM.

 

I would highly suggest running the light bar on a separate circuit and switch. It will save you on some electrical headaches down the road. You can use a fuse tap or even add a new fuse panel just for future accessories, but I would stay away from tapping any wires. And do not put in a 15 amp fuse where a 10 amp came from.

 

I’m getting ready to wire my light bar this weekend. I purchased an H11 extension to tap into the headlight wiring to avoid splicing factory wiring. You say this won’t work? Can I not use the high beam signal at the bulb connector to trigger the relay? It worked perfectly on my 2nd gen so that if the light bar switch was “on” and I selected high beams on the stalk, the bar would illuminate. I’m using a caliraised bar and harness and an air-on-board switch. I used this lower schematic on my 2nd gen:

 

You can. What OP is wanting to do is not use a relay at all, and splice a light bar directly to the high beam, greatly over drawing the circuit. Bad idea.

 

You can use the high beam wire to trigger the relay. The trigger wire takes almost zero amps and will be fine.
You cannot use the high beam to directly ‘power’ the light bar.

 

Thanks gents. I guess I didn’t read all the posts carefully.

 

On behalf of the rest of us that drive on public roads, please do not wire your light bar into your high beams. Don't be "that guy". Not to mention it is probably illegal.

 

I have mine wired into my high beams and it's excellent. So long as you treat high beams like high beams, there are no issues. No one should be rolling around with high beams on anyways if anyone else is around. That's a dick move in and of itself.

 

You’re using it to trigger a relay, which in turn is getting power from another source, in your case the battery. That’s acceptable. I’m talking about trying to run a light bar completely off of the high beam wires. Not using it as a trigger.


One recommendation I’ll give you is to put some dielectric grease in those connectors. That way it will help stop any corrosion between or on the contacts.

 

I'm sure it is excellent for you, but for the rest of the world, it is a pretty shitty thing to do. Even with your best intentions of dimming them, there are times when you will blind someone. Please do us all a favor and put them on a separate switch and only use them off road as designed.

 

How in the world do I blind people if there is no one around? I would argue it’s more effective with the way I have it wired than a traditional switch. That way if I see any car coming into view, I can swiftly pull my high beam stalk back and shuts it all off. No need to fumble with a switch to the side of the steering wheel.

Edit: I missed your last part where you said to only use it off road so my statement is irrelevant. We’ll just have to disagree on that one. Nothing wrong with using them on back country roads where no one is around IMO.

 

Because an instant after someone rounds a corner and you see them awash is an instant too late, they've already been blinded. If I'm lucky, maybe half the time they'll see my headlights and dim their high beams before it's too late.

 

I agree, which is why I watch for approaching headlights.

 

Cool, hopefully anyone who follows your advice also follows your example.

 

I assume that you have the best intentions of dimming in advance, but the reality is that there are times when you won't. I am very diligent about offering the courtesy dim as soon as I can, but there are times that I either forget or in situations that I can't do it quick. If that happens when you have your brighter than the sun set up on, you will flash blind the oncoming traffic. There is a reason that the DOT regulates the brightness and positioning of lights. I'm going to guess that if you happen to do this in front of law enforcement, you will get a ticket.

 

Hopefully. I like to be very courteous to others in general, and that extends to driving. I'm not rolling around downtown DC flipping my light bar on and off. I'm using it on some bumfuck highway in PA at 6am on my way to a wheeling trip.

I would assume the same as well, and I would expect it and be fine with it. It's a risk I'm willing to take to be able to see deer and whatnot.

 

Thanks for the response. After thinking more on it I would definitely have to agree with you. I believe I'll do what darkfader suggested.

 

Thanks for the schematics! I believe this will be the route that I go with.

 

If you guys need the 1 amp diodes I have a bunch of extras.