How to run wires from roof lights?

[mknherhappy]

I mounted two 5" round lights on my roof rack, just trying to figure out how to run the wires from the lights to the dash.

Any advice?

Thank you

[balloo93]

Cheap Walmart lights pics...

[Heartless]

Dude,
Im at a simular stage in my Jeep build, and encountered simular dilemna's building my Baja Bug. Some of the problems with the wiring in the previous threads is that they look bush league, are exposed and will fail due to crimping.

The way that i hope to tackle this issue is to use a "Waterproof Surface mounted flanged plug." This is in my opinion is the only professional way to run as many wires as you need without comprimising your roof or your wiring.

Depending on how many wires you need, you can select from 1-6 per connector, i believe. And when you think about it you may need more connections down the road. I would consider; 2-4 wires for aux lights, 2- grounds, 1- rear back up/ utility lights, 1- rear grounding and 1- coax cb antenna, for example.

9 sounds like too many but check these out. They look like they would be good quality. Pull the head liner on one side, drill hole to fit surface mount connector and waterproof with urethane based sealer. Its over building to some degree but why cut corners right. check it out. Put all your wires in a nice loom, or even shrink wrap where you can. Tuck it all in and mount using tie raps then replace the headliner. A professional job should not reveal any wires.
http://www.suresealconnections.com/index.html

I would wire up 4 lights in pairs using toggles, and rear lights on another toggle. you should have a few spare ports left in the fuse box if you like, or use an inline to the battery. Never skip grounding on the lights, because they need to cycle or they heat up like mad.

If your using big lights it gets increasingly important to ground. Also use the same guage as the light harness. If you can solder i would suggest you solder all connections that are within your wiring harness. This will save looking for that misconnection in years to come.

I hope this can help a bit.

Heartless



Let us know how it goes...

[gijazbo]

what i did was run them inside the roof rack rails and down underneath the weatherstriping of the liftgate. There is a gromet next to the tail lights on both sides. I then cut a small hole in the gromet and ran my wires under the interior trim to my relay. It makes it easier if you ground the lights in series and you can do the same with the power wire as well if you use thick enough wire. I chose 10 guage for my power and ground. This way yo only have two wires to worry about running down. The hangar pull method worked for me to pull the wires through. I like it instead of running them over the side imo it looks better as it is in the back. I just put about 6" of wire loom over the exsposed wires. And hey if you lift you jeep high enough no can see you roof anyways.

[BigPete]

When I got my 4-8" Hellas and mounted them on my Carr light bar i had the same dilemma. I ended up drilling through the roof rack rail into the cab under the headliner and running the wires strait down the A pillar to the switches and relays. Just get a grommet where the wires meet the metal roof and silicone the crap out of it. And sense you drilled through the roof rack the hole, wires, and silicone that you use is mostly hidden from view.