Installing Lightbars - All round basics

Equipment Ectomobiles
1

I’m starting work on an Ectomobile for the GB:CD that will roll alongside the 93 Chevy in our possession. It’s going to be a 2000 Ford Explorer and the lights I’m installing are Whelen Edge 9000. The lights have a number of issues for me:

1: I have no switch box. I can get one from the net someplace, but I would rather make one. This has the issue of not knowing where to start in the wiring department because as I can tell, I might need relays

2: I’m not sure if I need to upgrade my alternator in the truck before trying to install the lights and make them run, let alone make use of a second battery.

3: Attaching them in a very safe and stiff manner. I don’t want to attach the lights permanently, but if i go with the Boomerjinks method of magnetizing the lights, if I get into an accident, those magnets only have so much grip on them. They could get launched from the top of the truck and into someone’s windshield and I need to know what can be done to make these lights hold as well as not make them high speed projectiles.

4: I need ideas on a removable wire hookup. Like I said, drilling holes into metal makes my skin crawl because god knows what’ll happen, but I need it where I can disconnect the wire packs and remove the lights. I’m thinking hiding the wires into the door jams until I’m finished with the lights. Do they make male/female connectors with at least 15 connection pins on them?

5: Wires are short. Looks like I’ll have to dig for replacement coil, but I gotta know if there’s a cheaper solution than going back to Whelen for the wire harness or going on ebay?

Okay, well, for #3, I would like to use magnets, but I need to know what ones would have the hardest magnetic pull. After that, i figure if I can get tiedown straps and loop the straps though the inside of the truck and the lights, it’ll increase the possibility the lights will stay on the truck. It would have to be better than using Duct Tape.

Recommendations and the sort would kick ass. I have manuals and stuff like that, but I’m looking to bounce ideas off someone who knows.

2

As far as switch boxes, I went to radio shack and bought project boxes, and bought some 50 amp toggle switches from oreillys for like 6 bucks each, and just went to town. On mine, I tried using relays at one point, as well as a continuous duty solenoid, and they got hot after about 3 minutes and burnt up. Right now I am just running inline fuses, and that has been the most reliable method I have found for my setup.

My setup is Battery - 8 gauge wire - 50 amp Maxi fuse - two ten gauge wires (one for each lightbar) - 30 amp inline fuse - 10 gauge wire - fuse panel inside project box - 30 amp fuse - 10 - gauge wire - 50 amp switch - lightbar

Overkill, maybe. better safe than sorry. I run two switch boxes, on for each lightbar. When I combined both lightbars into one switch box, it just burned up switches. Highly recommended that you use all metal switches instead of cheap plastic lighted switches. Those are the ones I kept burning up.

Hope that helps.

3

With EDGE9000s, the first step is to figure out what modes are available on your model and then decide what modes you will want to use.

My 9004AKs have something like 16 different modes and flash patterns, things like “work light,” “directional,” “rear-only,” “outer-only” and then high and low power modes for each of those. I would end up with more than a dozen switches for all of that.

Relays are going to be the way you want too go. You will save $$$ on wiring, with only 10 or 12 gauge wire coming from your battery, and then much smaller wire running to your controls. This is advantageous as the smaller wire is much much easier to run inside your interior trim, giving you a super clean install.

My magnets have worked great so far. You’ll need to buy the good ones, 95lb or higher rating. DO NOT purchase the magnets online or at harbor freight or something. Shitty magnets will rust and will not be strong enough. Ace carries the right type, but they are super expensive. My recommendation is to contact a lightbar or police supplier (http://www.thelighthouseinc.com/asp/locations.asp - http://www.precinctpoliceproducts.com/) and just order a set of magnets. The magnets should be fairly impervious to rust, but they will start to pick up metal from the atmosphere (particularly brake dust from other cars on the road) and THAT will start to rust. You can put rubber shoes on the magnets, but that will greatly decrease their hold strength. I coated my magnets with a light layer of plastidip, and the portions of the car where they attach are protect by a later of 3M clear-bra.

While having your bars fly off is real concern when using magnets, I assure you that the saving grace is the CABLE, not the magnets. Your lightbar could possibly detach, but you’ve seen how thick the EDGE cable is, so don’t sweat it. Just make sure you cable is clamped to your rack or secured somehow and you’ll be fine. The Outback was in two collisions, it drove off a cliff, and the lightbar once detached from the car at 114mph, but the cable kept everything attached to the vehicle.

As far as removable wire hookup goes, the Magnum has you covered there, too. I use Waytek molded connectors to attach the wiring inside the car to the lightbar itself. The connectors are very small so they can fit through the channels of your doors/hatches, and they are very much sealed from the elements. The cool thing about using those connectors is it allows me to run all my wire from my battery to the relays to the controls and all the way back to the hatch behind the interior trim. Power to the roof accessories runs up the hatch channels to the connectors, and then out to the lights. So 95% my wiring is COMPLETELY HIDDEN. And when I want to pull stuff off the top of the car, I just disconnect the last 3 feet of cable from the connectors, remove the lights, and then tuck the connectors back into the hatch channel.

Detaching and re-attaching wires using quick disconnects used to take 30 minutes or so, now I can do it in about twelve seconds. HIGHLY recommended.

If you don’t have space in your dash for the controls, a radio shack project box with industrial velcro is an ideal solution.

For the truest, most-amazing electrical help and inspiration, I HIGHLY recommend Charles Kline (cklinejr), He is the reason that the Magnum is outfitted with such awesome electronics, and his kung fu is strong.

4

That’s what i need to hear. The fact that the lights still have a possibility of flying off, wiring in place be damned, I just wanna make an assurance that no one will be hurt by my actions, should the occasion arise. After all, one overlooked thing could still cost a life and the best I avoid that, the better.

Is there a particular relay (voltage/amperage/manufacture) I should look for? After all, I don’t wanna have to replace lights every 15 minuets.

5

I’ll dig up the ratings on the relays I have tomorrow.

6

Dan, I made you a present.

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As the image says, they are Bosch 12 volt, 20-30 amp relays. That’s not a range of parts, that’s actually the type -( 20-30 amp)

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■■■■ my car is dirty from winter.

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Need to bust out the armorall and get ready for show season! What you’re seeing there is a shaped bar of wiring. The cable for my rear lightbar comes out of the right side of the hatch, and the front lightbars cable comes out of the left side. Right there is where you would connect the bar cable to the car cable. Everything is housed inside that channel so it isn’t visible from the exterior or the interior of the car. The big fat gray cable is pinched firmly when the hatch closes, securing it. The cable has very little slack, and you’d need a set of bolt cutters to get that lightbar to detach from the vehicle entirely. Worst case scenario, I hit a cement truck and bar slides forward two inches until the slack of the cable is taken up.

7

The relay info kicks ass, Kevin. I would like to know in what configuration the Relays are, like if they’re SPDT or SPST. Is there also a specific way to hook the lights to the relays? I’m sure it’s not THAT big a deal, but I guess going with what works is the better way of doing it.

Thanks for the info.

8

I’m also curious about how to wire everything for my light bars, and Dan’s right - it’s not exactly universal for everyone it would seem.

Kevin - you’ve got a great setup there, and I’m curious to hear more info on how you’re channeling the cables in the car. I see that you’ve got some coming out of the taillight assembly into the hatch channel … once it goes into the taillight though, where is it going? Is the wiring inside the car’s panels all the way to your switch board? Also, where does the cable from the hatch channel to the lightbar itself come out. I can’t glean that from the pics or your descriptions.

Another question is: are relays always needed? Of course I understand the requirement for custom switch panels, but if I’m going to use something like this:

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That’s a Unitrol control head that’s designed for this stuff. Am I still going to need relays, or will the controller be able to handle the wattage?

9

I’ve been using OEM whelen magnets and industrial 250lb neodymium magnets. More powerful hold, but their cups pull brake dust and the like much faster.

What do you reccomend for cleaning them? Or just toss and replace?

Awesome idea, we have a 12’ cable harness that is a pain to wrangle every time I take the rack off. I know what my next project is after the window tint.

10

I notice there are six there, but I saw on my lightbars’ control cable that there were multiple flashing options and I was curious if just that one bank of relays controlled one lightbar or if it controlled both of your lightbars.

11

A bit of both. I have certain settings linked to individual switches, and other switches that control each lightbar independently.

12

I take the strobe circuits are linked together, and the takedowns/alley lights and independent?

13

What are the Relays for? Ive never seen relays to wire up a lightbar. Being a Volunteer firefighter ive had numerous lightbars on the roof of my vehicles and Ive wired dozen and dozens on police cars and fire engines and never used a relay…

Just curious to why the relays..

14

If I had to guess, it’s for when the car is shut off, the lights can’t run while it’s off so that way it won’t drain the battery. Another reason is I guess to make sure the amount of power going through the lights doesn’t backfeed into the electrical system and fry either the lights themselves and the rest of the vehicles electrical systems. Since he isn’t using a control box, he has to use the relays free standing to make sure nothing gets cooked running the lights.

15

The controls for the lights are custom switch banks instead of normal EMS controls, hence the relays.

Everything can be run with the car on or off. We’ve managed to get up to four hours of full light use, combined with LED boards and music.

This is correct.

16

Interesting… 4 hours wow good to see that worked out for yah…

17

Anyone interested in Lightbars or head light/tailight strobe kits and etc.. I recommend checking out GALLS.. Tons of vehicle lighting and accessories..

http://www.galls.com/category.html?assort=general_catalog&cat=9552&reflink=hdr_vehicleEquipmentCategory

18

You mostly use relays to handle the heavy amps, all your switch is seeing is 12v to activate the relay. The reason you don’t see relays in emergency vehicles is because they have the proper switch box to manage the bar. Here, we are making that box up using relays.

Dan, what’s the max amperage of your bar…12g seems low for a lightbar.

19

20/30a. Like I said, they’re strobes, not rotors like on your bars so they draw less juice compared to yours.

20

I think mine draw 32 amps each, but that’s with strobes, flashers, take downs, and both alley lights on.