Whoops! Lighting question

Ben Up North

Ben Up North

can only hope to improve
Joined
Oct 1, 2017
Messages
2,115
Location
FNQ
Car Year
2004 | 1992
Car Model
SG Forester X MY05 | 92 SVX
Transmission
5MT D/R | 4EAT
So I've wired up my spotlights lights and done something wrong..

I've been working under the assumption that Subarus are negatively switched, so wired up the loom that way.
Just using a lightforce loom, everything went together well, than when I tested:

  • Lights off dash switch off, spotties stay off.
  • lights on lowbeam & dash switch on spotties stay off.
  • lights on highbeam & dash switch on spotties turn on. Yay!
  • Lights off, dash switch on Spotties are on. What the?
Having reached this conundrum I redid the loom so that it was for a positively switched vehicle.

  • Lights off dash switch off, spotties stay off.
  • Lights off, dash switch on Spotties are off.
  • lights on lowbeam & dash switch on spotties turn on. What the?
  • lights on highbeam & dash switch on spotties stay off! Gaah!
Have I tapped the wrong wire for the high beam?
Should I tap the low beam instead of the high beam?
 
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They are both positively and negatively switched. It is was the method that involved the cheapest wiring to switch the lights in the combinations they wanted. (Least wires and least solenoids)

Obviously better off with the first wiring method as its easier to dim the spotlights with a simple switch to low beam. You just have to turn the spotties off before turning the lights off.

When the lights are off but in lowbeam postion they get partial negative power (enough for parkers) while highbeam position gets full power. Different spotlights will respond differently to the partial power.
 
Well In the tradition of bodge as an art form, I tapped the low beam and set up the loom for positive switch.

Success! although I'm not sure why...

Dash switch on or off when headlights are off: Spotties off.
Dash switch on headlights on low beam: Spotties off
Dash switch on headlights on high beam: Spotties On. Yay!
 
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Ratbag said:
Ben, I had all sorts of fun wiring up my light bar ...
Click to expand...

Jiminy Cricket you did!

Makes mine seem a walk in the park. but I haven't run a multimeter over anything either so it might all melt. :surprised:
 
Ben, at least yours was a LOT less painful than mine!!

PS: I do hope yours doesn't melt ... Without a multimeter, just (carefully) feel the wires for excessive heat after they have been on for 5-10 minutes.
 
...And now I'm worried that I'm going to melt something.

Given the tiny size of the switching wire (? The wire that connects to Low Beam) in the lightforce loom, hopefully that will go first.

Still don't understand why it's working.
 
I don’t understand how yours works either lol
With all of my led bars I have the led bars switch wired to the high beams and the relay +&-directly to the battery.
Then I flick the switch on and that primes opens power to the led bar but won’t engage the light until I flick to high beams, then if I switch my led bar switch to off and flash my high beams nothing but my highs come on


I honestly wouldn’t worry about it melting if you have a fuse in line.
My roof bar(200w) and my 2 side led’s (160w)are all wired to the same harness and switch and my roof hasn’t caught fire yet lol

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1WD
 
I should take some pics now it's all done. Might do that tonight.. :)
 
wouldnt that be best to connect those extra lights just separate straight from battery make new switch with relay and fuse.? thou i just connected mine leds from fog lights and they work , but when i tried to put led bulb into daytime light they didint worked because it was connected negative, so i just switch wires and made it positive . but for biger led bar or another leds i would just connect them separate i guess.
 
Scalman, in Australia, all forms of driving lights (not including fog lamps) must be switched with the high beam lights.
 
Leds are not driving lights. Cant use them on road at all. You wann tell me that you will drive on road against other cars with those led bars switched on ? So my leds not for road with that means i can connect them as i want because i will never use them on actual road .
My leds now connected on fog lights because fogs lights removed but i cant use them as fog lights . just on foreste roads, trails.
 
Laws differ from country to country.

In Australia, light bars are considered to be driving lights. Here you might drive a hundred miles at night without seeing another vehicle - but plenty of kangaroos, cattle, sheep and wombats, among others.
 
well i wouldnt want anyone would drive i nfront of me with my leds on . because they are working led lights, they not road legal led lights. i dont think any country could let them be road legal to drive. they not focused light , i was standing i nfront my car with those leds on and they blind you so much .
sure if road is empty as australia have then sure you can use anything. same as here i think. and those big 4wd in australia using those extra leds from separate switches.
legal use of lights is when im goin to pass MOT , then no extra lights can be on car, everybody put everything off, all 4wd cars going on factory shocks and factory tires, bumper and so on. after MOT test they all putting everything back. Police dont spot those cars because they lifted or have large wheels or stuff. so i duno what is called legal. by legal mean i cant have anything extra on car as MOT rules say. but noone drive like MOT needs to.
 
I'd like to put that lightbar up against my Blitz 240s (halogen).

The Blitz are pretty good, although not sure if they're up to Cibie Super Oscar quality. The Cibie has the edge on the lens without a doubt.
Not nearly the spread of that light bar of course.
 
I've found the Stedi to be very good, almost like driving in daylight and makes everything around crystal clear. Only downside is that the reflection off some road signs nearly blinds me! ;-)
 
Stedi Sounds the same as my Black oak led bar, made in the USA from quality parts unlike the cheap ebay led bars going around.

1WD
 
Kevin said:
I've found the Stedi to be very good, almost like driving in daylight and makes everything around crystal clear. Only downside is that the reflection off some road signs nearly blinds me! ;-)
Click to expand...

I'm pretty good at ignoring signs at night, I can't read them anyway with the spots on. At least my GPS is pretty accurate..!

To me it's not much worse that drivers who run aftermarket LEDs in their headlights. No wonder hardly any of them are ADR approved, too freaking bright for drivers when going past in the other direction.

I'd still love to find someone who can explain to me why my lighting setup works, I'm sure the headlights themselves aren't wired wrong but it doesn't make sense.
Why would tapping the low beam wire for the spot light relay switch wire thing make the spotties work when the high beams are switched on?
Plus the spotties are wired for a positively switch setup when everything I've read suggests Subaru are negatively switched?
At least it works!
 
Where are you getting your positive?

If you are tapping low beam then you are tapping neg as there is just one pos wire at each headlight and 2 negs one each for hi and low beam (which are switched).

PS Bennie's thread here is good: https://offroadsubarus.com/showthread.php?t=1464
 
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