Spot/Driving light wiring diagram

[sparksy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sparksy]

Re: Spot/Driving light wiring diagram

Am I correct in assuming from the drawing that a Prado is wired Positive earth for the lights. The drawing shows the supply coming off the high beam cable, through the relay then the switch back to the common on the lamps. if its not then the indicating light on the switch wont work because there wont be 12 volt potential when the switch is on,ie the switch light will be on if the switch is off and the high beam is on and reverse if the switch is on. If a Prado is say the same as a holden the the switch supply is taken from the high beam cable through the switch then to one of the coil connections on the relay and the other coil connection then to earth.

Sparksy

[ozwapet2 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close ozwapet2]

Re: Spot/Driving light wiring diagram

Hi guys. Today I fitted some driving lights.
I did not want to bother running another wire and switch in to the cabin, and never got foglights fitted when I got the ARB bar, so decided to try and use the redundant foglight "on off" switch on the steering column stalk to turn on and off the driving lights instead. I didn't want to fiddle with the original vehicle wiring too much either. The simplest way was to use the switched voltage that normally powers the foglights to drive a relay . Those relay contacts then act like the switch you would normally have.
It works great and I'm quite happy with this because I can turn the spotties off and on using the same switch stalk as all the other lights. No need to reach down below the dash and fiddle around for the switch. Also you get a light on the instrument panel ( formerly the foglight indicator ) to tell you the spotties are active.
They still turn on and off with hi beam as normal ( and required by law ).
I will fit some 100mm spotlights in the holes for the foglights and then can wire these in to the same hot line as the other driving lights.

Oh BTW I found that the Hi Beam active terminal on the headlight socket ( referring to MickL's diagram) was the top horizontal one not the RH side vertical one ( as measured with a voltmeter )


Green denotes orginal vehicle wiring, black is new wiring.

[dave1972 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close dave1972]

Re: Spot/Driving light wiring diagram

Ozwapet2,

I'm just about to install some spots and I like the sound of wiring them in with the fogs.

As i understand, you're currently without the fogs.

I'd like to keep running the fogs and simply add the spots to the fogs switch (which i guess will be your end result once you get some extra lights to replace the fogs).

As you point out, to comply with the law, these would have to be activated only when the high beam is active.

On your diagram, it looks as though there are 3 representations. Green for original wiring, thick black lines for new wiring (as you mention at the bottom) and thinner black lines which i'm not sure if represent existing or new i.e. do these relays and wiring already exist also? I'm assuming they do, or at worst Relay 2 is new and the rest in 'thin black' is existing/original.

I'm a bit confused how you did this, but my brain might beable to come to terms with it if i understand this bit. :?

Any other thoughts/tips/tricks or helpful information would be appreciated.

[photoprado Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close photoprado]

Re: Spot/Driving light wiring diagram

As I understand what ozwapet2 has drawn.

The active feed taken from the fog light connector is being used to switch the active feed taken from the high beam connector.

This fog switched high beam active then is used to control the spotties relay in the normal way.

In this configuration, if fogs were fitted, they would always be on with the spotties.

Is that correct ozwapet2? It looks like a neat idea, and it saves on switches and running the wires for them. Too late for me...

Michael

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Re: Spot/Driving light wiring diagram

Guys,

I did this on my 95 series and it worked really well. I didn't worry about fogs on that installation and there was no real provision for them in the barwork anyway. Very simple install, very neat inside without having to poke wires through the firewall. Only problem I see with the proposal to include the fogs on the same circuit is that if you ever want or need to run with just side lamps and fogs because of the weather you won't be able to because you will also have high beam and spots on.

Not really an issue up here because fogs are not that commonly used except for the rice burners and XR/SS drivers who need the extra illumination during the day, night etc (must be to compensate for the extra dimness inside the driver's heads). I have driving lights instead of fogs in the bar on the 120 and these are wired separately to the spots. The driving lights are aimed wider to pick up the side of the track for animals and hazards and not used on the road.

Just a thought.

Michael

[ozwapet2 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close ozwapet2]

Re: Spot/Driving light wiring diagram

dave1972 - all the black wiring including the relays is new.
You should have got one relay with your spotlight kit.

I guess you COULD leave the foglights wired up. I only considered this method for people who had bars put on without foglights therefore had a redundant switch going spare.
Yes if you leave the foglights connected they will still work as normal. The spotlights won't come on because you haven't got Hi beam on. Then when you're using your main lights on Hi Beam the foglight switch becomes the spotlight on/off switch. Of course the foglights will come on too.
The only problem is that when you're operating with spotlights on and flick from Hi to Lo beam, the foglights would remain on, and I'm not sure that's legal.

When I wire up the 100mm spotlights they will be powered directly off the hot side of relay 2 ( ie the same thick black line that runs the main spotlights). That way they'll only be on with the big spotlights.

[dave1972 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close dave1972]

Re: Spot/Driving light wiring diagram

Thanks Ozwapet2 - this should help me get my head around this now.

i think your last sentence "When I wire up the 100mm spotlights they will be powered directly off the hot side of relay 2 ( ie the same thick black line that runs the main spotlights). That way they'll only be on with the big spotlights." is the key to what i'm trying to achieve i.e substitute a spotlight switch with the foglight switch and have the foglights active with the spots.

Cheers

[DocK Member Find all posts View Profile Close DocK]

Re: Spot/Driving light wiring diagram

Has anyone used the stalk mounted fog light switch for a spotlight switch? It would be a nice neat solution but I dont know where the wiring goes to tap into the line from that stalk switch and take that to the relay of the spots. Any wiring gurus out there with some ideas?
Cheers
DocK

[photoprado Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close photoprado]

Re: Spot/Driving light wiring diagram

Has anyone used the stalk mounted fog light switch for a spotlight switch? It would be a nice neat solution but I dont know where the wiring goes to tap into the line from that stalk switch and take that to the relay of the spots. Any wiring gurus out there with some ideas?
Cheers
DocK

Dock, look at the bottom of page 1 of this very thread to find a description and wiring diagram from ozwapet2 of that very idea.

Michael

[DocK Member Find all posts View Profile Close DocK]

Re: Spot/Driving light wiring diagram

Oops - missed that ops: ops:

[AndrewW Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close AndrewW]

Re: Spot/Driving light wiring diagram

This thread just keeps giving 8)

Lightforce 170's are on, they were a nice size on my old Hilux, but are tiny on the prado....

Thanks to the contributors for the diagrams and info 8)

[bacdj Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bacdj]

Re: Spot/Driving light wiring diagram

Firstly I must say that I do not have any professional mechanical/auto electric qualifications, but do have many years of DIY vehicle maintenance/repairs experience.

A couple of weeks ago my son-in-law wanted to fit a set of spot lights to his new 120 Prado. He researched the internet for instructions, in particular this thread, made good notes and went about the task. After finalising the fitment the initial and subsequent tests blew a fuse. I checked his notes from this thread and his actual vehicle wireing and everything was done exactly as suggested in this thread.

I also have a Prado, but a 95 series. I installed spotlights on my Prado several years ago and after inspecting my installation immediately, saw that the high beam activator wire came off the top socket of the H4 Globe Socket, not the right side socket as described on this thread. I had a workshop manual for my 95 series with me and again checked and found that the high beam socket was in fact the top socket and therefore the activating wire for the relay (86/85) had to come from this connecting wire.

He changed the activator wire from the right side socket to the top socket and everything worked perfectly.

I am posting this additional information just in case someone else has had difficulty following the instruction of this thread.

Perhaps some vehicles have different wireing rules, but for both his 2009/120 Prado and my 2001/95 Prado the top socket of the H4 globe socket is the correct high beam wire.

Brian DJ

[MickL Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close MickL]

Re: Spot/Driving light wiring diagram

Perhaps some vehicles have different wireing rules, but for both his 2009/120 Prado and my 2001/95 Prado the top socket of the H4 globe socket is the correct high beam wire.

Thanks Brian,

As you can read thats how it was originaly drawn and on peoples input to the thread, and now two so called auto electricians, I have changed it twice.

At this stage I'll leave it as is with the added advice of :

Probe the socket to check the high beam hot wire on your vehicle before tapping into it!!!!

Mick

[Schaffer Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Schaffer]

Re: Spot/Driving light wiring diagram

Perhaps some vehicles have different wireing rules, but for both his 2009/120 Prado and my 2001/95 Prado the top socket of the H4 globe socket is the correct high beam wire.

maybe. Possibly also different for drivers side and passenger side light altough I doubt it. I have a 2006 TD and followed the original diagram (from top pin) and found that the driving lights could be activited when low beam was on so i changed to the right pin and now they only work as the legally should when the highbeam lights are engaged.

[switched Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close switched]

Re: Spot/Driving light wiring diagram

Perhaps some vehicles have different wireing rules, but for both his 2009/120 Prado and my 2001/95 Prado the top socket of the H4 globe socket is the correct high beam wire.

maybe. Possibly also different for drivers side and passenger side light altough I doubt it. I have a 2006 TD and followed the original diagram (from top pin) and found that the driving lights could be activited when low beam was on so i changed to the right pin and now they only work as the legally should when the highbeam lights are engaged.

It was a while ago Nick but I think when I checked the voltages on both sides it was different... too long ago to remember clearly (my model). As Mick points out, the best way is to get a test light or even better a multimeter and find what works for your vehicle.