Just wiring up some light on the front and want to activate the relay off my high beams.. Can someone tell me where the best place to hook into... I'm running it off number 1 upfitter switch. But also want it conected to the high beam switch as well.

 

I put my relay between the battery and under hood fuseblock so I could use the pass through wires for power. Ran the other wires under the battery tray and followed the headlight loom up and around and tapped in there. Everything in looms and taped. If your mounting on a brush guard bring loom around lower bolt and back up because you'll have be able to pivot guard down to remove grill to change headlights in future.

 

Russ,

If I understand your post correctly, you are installing extra lights that you only want on when two conditions are met: 1) you turn upfitter 1 on and 2) you have high beams on.

I have not done this, but looking at the factory wiring diagrams, you can access the high beam power wires at the BCM. Wires 7 and 8 in plug C2280E are for the right and left high beams respectively. Wire 7 is Violet-Orange and wire 8 is Gray-Brown. To locate plug C2280E, find fuse F48 (it sits in a corner), the plug you want sits 45 degrees from that corner. It has 10 total pins in it.

Obviously check things with a VOM. Another option would be to pull the grill off and access these wires at one of the headlights. Wire colors remain the same.

Again, this is only from looking at the wiring diagrams and not actually verifying on the truck.

Hope this helps.

Bob

 

Thanks bob. I did get it all wired up. I used a couple of relays because I have 4 lightforce lights up front. I powered the relay from the upfitter switch and used the highbeam wire at the head light to trigger the relay.. All works the way that I wanted it to. Thanks for the info

 

Glad I could help. Lights, both front and rear, are on my todo list. Of course, that means new front bumper and winch to go with it. Just got to convince the wife that I need it...

 

Well I thought all worked out well.... Here's what's going on... I keep blowing the fuse for the upfitter switch. I think powering two 30amp relays straight off the upfitter is too much for it. Im going to have to figure out something new.. Maybe power them straight from the battery.. but if I do so I won't be able to use my upfitter as well as my highbeam switch... If I had the switches that I did in my old truck it would work as it does in that truck.. Can I get access to the back of the upfitters easily ?? If so can I come off both side of it.. power in and out ??

 

It sounds like you have a hot wire arching on a ground somewhere or some other kind of short to me. It doesn't necessarily mean their is a short, but the way it's wired is causing an overload at the fuse panel and blowing the fuse. I'd get it right at the upfitter and make certain there are no shorts and your wiring is hooked up correctly. That's just me, but I also had to replace a battery, radio and wiring in a truck because I had a power lead short.

 

Assuming your wiring is tight, soldered, and not shorting..

Are your lights powered off the battery with your up fitter energizing the relays? Or is the power for the lights coming through the relay from the up fitter?

I'm doing two 30" light bars (only 25A total), but powering the lights off the battery terminal and going to a drilled chassis ground made solely for the front aux. lighting. Upfitter 1 will energize both relays, with the high beam wire being my switch reference.

This diagram as an example, your upfitter would be at the switch on/off, and switch power (by #3) gets tied in to your high beam wire. Essentially little load gets applied to the upfitter, it acts as a switch for your lights. Upfitter off, still have high beams. Upfitter on with high beams you'll get aux. lighting.

PIAA Relay Diagram

I'm thinking this is what your old truck had going on. I'm not sure if you wanted to buy a harness or if the relay your using had a type of reference terminal like this...

 

I powered the 2 relays with the upfitter switch... This is where the problem is coming from. It obviously doesn't have enough power and is creating to much load for it.... In order to do what the PIAA diagram says.... It looks like you need to access both sides of the switch !! Highbeam wire must go through the switch... So when switch is off it will not just go on with the highbeams ! Upfitter switch has one lead coming out of it under the dash... ?

 

Russ,

The wiring instructions you see about accessing the back of the switch and using both sets of terminals is for a different setup than you have in your truck. The upfitter switches control a relay. That relay only has a single set of terminals. So, disregard the instructions you found.

What is the combined amperage draw of all four of your Lightforce lights?

For my understanding, is this how you have your lights wired up:

You have two relays installed, one for the left side lights and one for the right side lights.
LEFT Relay
85 Ground
86 Left highbeam
30 Upfitter 1
87 Left Lightforce lights

RIGHT Relay
85 Ground
86 Right highbeam
30 Upfitter 1
87 Right Lightforce lights

Because you are using Upfitter 1 to provide power through both relays to all 4 lights, you are limited to a maximum of 25 amp total draw. If your Lightforce lights draw more than 25amps combined, your wiring setup will not work.

If your lights draw combined less than 25 amps, I see no need for two relays. Why not wire like this?
Relay 1
85 Ground
86 either highbeam (doesn't matter which one)
30 Upfitter 1
87 all 4 Lightforce lights

You still get 25 amps total but remove one relay from the mix as it is unnecessary.

If your lights draw more than 25 amps but less than 30 amps combined, try wiring like this:
Relay 1:
85 Ground
86 either highbeam
30 Upfitter 1
87 Relay 2 pin 86

Relay 2:
85 Ground
86 from relay 1
30 from battery (with 30 amp inline fuse)
87 all 4 Lightforce lights

If your lights draw more than 30 amps combined but less than 15 amps each (less than 30 amps per side), try this:
Relay 1:
85 Ground
86 either highbeam
30 Upfitter 1
87 Relay 2 and relay 3 pin 86

Relay 2:
85 Ground
86 from relay 1
30 from battery (with 30 amp inline fuse)
87 Left 2 Lightforce lights

Relay 3:
85 Ground
86 from relay 1
30 from battery (with 30 amp inline fuse, different wire than goes to relay 2)
87 Right 2 Lightforce lights

This will allow each pair of lights to pull 30 amps and still require both upfitter 1 and the highbeams to be on in order for the Lightforce lights to turn on.

For a DC system,
voltage * amperage = wattage, so

amperage = wattage divided by voltage

Assuming a 100 watt bulb in each light:
amperage = 100/12 = 8.333 amps per light
8.333 * 4 = 33.333 amps for 4 lights. (16.667 amps per set of lights)

Bob

 

Bob.... You've hit the nail right on the head ! I thought about adding the 3rd relay into the equation last nighht while working a night shift... what you have described is exactly what I had planned on trying as soon as I can get another relay.. The fact that you came up with the same idea as I had, makes me feel a lot better about doing it though !! lol

Thanks for thinking all this through.. I'm quite good with the electrical stuff as I come from a family of electricians.... but hearing it from someone like you who knows how and why to wire it a certain way is comforting to say the least..

Thanks again for your time to describe it in detail like you did. Appreciate it and will keep you posted on how it works out.

 

[QUOTE=Trash Hauler;14063147]Russ,

If I understand your post correctly, you are installing extra lights that you only want on when two conditions are met: 1) you turn upfitter 1 on and 2) you have high beams on.

I have not done this, but looking at the factory wiring diagrams, you can access the high beam power wires at the BCM. Wires 7 and 8 in plug C2280E are for the right and left high beams respectively. Wire 7 is Violet-Orange and wire 8 is Gray-Brown. To locate plug C2280E, find fuse F48 (it sits in a corner), the plug you want sits 45 degrees from that corner. It has 10 total pins in it.

Obviously check things with a VOM. Another option would be to pull the grill off and access these wires at one of the headlights. Wire colors remain the same.

Again, this is only from looking at the wiring diagrams and not actually verifying on the truck.

Hope this helps.

Bob[/QUOTE

Hello Bob,

I just bought my first Super Duty, 2016, and its outfitted with the upfitter switches. I have two HID driving lights ready to mount into bumper. I plan to use a SPST relay that will be triggered by the high beam.

I would like to mount the relay under dash and tap into a high beam lead under the dash, if possible. I am just wondering if your description of high beam wiring/plug/fuse might be the same and if i can find this wiring under the dash!

Thanks,
John P.

 

John,

Accessing the high beam wires under the dash will be more of a challenge than what a mortal man will probably want to do. I recommend that you locate the highbeam wire where it plugs into the headlamp. I accessed the one on the passenger side. Was easy to find and to tap. I prefer Posi-Taps over the standard crimp with pliers style wire taps.
https://www.posi-products.com/posiplug.html
You can get them from Amazon or sometimes from Napa stores.

If you use a standard automotive relay with a mount hole, the relay can be easily mounted to one of the bolts that holds the air dam to the bumper. Works great, easy to access and wire. A relay socket like this http://tinyurl.com/zk3hova will make wiring much cleaner.

From there, determine the amperage draw of your HID driving lights and choose the appropriate wiring method from my post above.

Less than 25 amps for the two lights only requires the one relay.
More than 25 amps but less than 30 amps requires two relays.
More than 30 amps will require three relays.

Hope that answers your question.

Bob