Wiring LED light bars into existing consol

[Tomassend]

I have a 2006 And recently purchased LED light bars which I would like to mount on the front of the vehicle.

I will be replacing the two lower stock fog lights with LED pods and adding a 20 inch lightbar under the grill between bumper to use for highbeams.

Ideally I would like to utilize the fog light function for the LED pods but leave the pods on when initiating the highbeams.

Speaking of the high beams I was hoping to incorporate the 20 inch lightbar into the highbeam switch that's located on the steering column, does anybody see any issues with doing this?

To summarize I suppose the total level of effort would be integrating the pods into the current fog light switch and then bypassing the fog light off function when initiating the highbeams; leaving all lights on. As well as including the 20 inch bar to turn on with the highbeams.

Any insights you guys had out there are greatly appreciated hope everybody has a great Memorial Day weekend.

Edited May 23, 2014 by Tomassend

[MnTom]

Without really studying the wiring the first thing that comes to mind is a relay and a diode. Wire the relay into the high beam circuit to energize the 20" bar and the fogs with the diode in the power wire for the 20" bar. The reason for this is to have the fogs wired to the fog switch and the relay so that you can use them and not back feed the 20" bar. When the high beams are activated then the relay pulls in and turns on all the lights. Now, keep in mind that just about all states say there can be no more than four white lights shining on the front of the truck at one time so you may have a problem with both high beams, the fogs, and the bar on at the same time.

[mopartechnician]

You also have to be careful with the tipm modules. If they see too many amps or resistance they freak out. You might want to just wire them up on their own switch, espcially for the law

[MnTom]

You also have to be careful with the tipm modules. If they see too many amps or resistance they freak out.

That would be why I was thinking of a relay. The coil won't (shouldn't) be enough of a problem to worry about.

[mopartechnician]

I had hid's that blew my tipm. I dont trust anything on those tipms anymore

[Ilikeoldfords]

Since they are LED they wont draw more than probably .5 amps per light. The bar might draw up to an amp but not much more. HID's draw a ton of power dont they? Even aftermarket halogens draw about 8 amps per 55 watt bulb. LED's wont put hardly any load on the system.

[mopartechnician]

Actually they are on relays just like the leds. I am just hesitant anymore. Extra lights arent worth a$700+ tipm

[Ilikeoldfords]

Im confused... LED's dont draw near enough power to require relays to run. Regular halogen headlights run what, about 20-30 amps? LED's wont even take 1 amp to run. Dont think you need a relay to run 1 amp....

[MnTom]

The only reason I was thinking a relay is to allow greater control and to be able to have two inputs to power the fogs. The tipm is kind of a second thought.

[Tomassend]

Lots of great ideas and discussion here.

 

After more research on the above, the TIPM is costly and not accepant of non-stock components......much like the HID mentioned.

 

The lights do draw some significant power, the 20" bar pulls 9 amps. The thing is a beast.

 

The game plan from here is to integrate the POD LED's into the existing fog light wiring and wire the bar separately with provided harness. This way the use of highbeams will still be there, but will likely never use it......making it obselete.

 

Thanks for everything above.

 

Dave