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Let me start by saying this. I do not understand auto electric. All the fuses and relays confuse the heck out of me. That said...
I have a 2011 F-250. I recently bought the Rough Country 30-INCH CREE LED GRILLE KIT Dual Setup. I was able to cut up my grille and install the actual lights today but am really unsure about connecting their harness to the upfitter switch.
Here's my initial embarrassing questions...
I have two lights so does that mean I need to use both harnesses?
I want to use one of the upfitter switches for both lights so when do I splice them together? Before or after the relay?
Do I really need to connect to the battery? I thought the upfitters had power and fuses built-in.
The two lights together draw 25 amps so I assume I can put them on one upfitter, correct?
Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions. I have attached the diagram for the harness. See this link here for the actual instructions that came with it. I'm not getting much from it though...
I want to put one of these on my Jeep too so I was hoping to do it myself. That one will probably be easier since it doesn't have the upfitters.
put all the relays under the hood somewhere. You can use one UF switch to power both the relay harness they gave you. just cut the switches off and find out which wire needs to be 12volts for lights on. tie them together and connect to the UF switch output. Elect is like water it flows in the wires.
Thank you so much for the reply. If I connect both wires to one upfitter does it need to be a 30amp? Or is that unimportant since I am keeping the fuses and relays from the harnesses?
And they're 150 watts each.
Thanks again.
Last edited by falloutboy89; Feb 20, 2016 at 09:09 PM.
Reason: forgot to answer a previous question
You are using the upfitter switch to operate the relay. The relay is nothing more than an electrically operated heavy duty switch.
When you turn on the upfitter switch, it will energize the relay which closes the circuit allowing power from your battery to go to the lights.
The power requirements for the relays are low, so one upfitter can operate two relays, but the power requirements for the lights are high, so they need to be individually wired to the battery.
Let me start by saying this. I do not understand auto electric. All the fuses and relays confuse the heck out of me. That said...
I have a 2011 F-250. I recently bought the Rough Country 30-INCH CREE LED GRILLE KIT Dual Setup. I was able to cut up my grille and install the actual lights today but am really unsure about connecting their harness to the upfitter switch.
Here's my initial embarrassing questions...
I have two lights so does that mean I need to use both harnesses?
I want to use one of the upfitter switches for both lights so when do I splice them together? Before or after the relay?
Do I really need to connect to the battery? I thought the upfitters had power and fuses built-in.
The two lights together draw 25 amps so I assume I can put them on one upfitter, correct?
Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions. I have attached the diagram for the harness. See this link here for the actual instructions that came with it. I'm not getting much from it though...
I want to put one of these on my Jeep too so I was hoping to do it myself. That one will probably be easier since it doesn't have the upfitters.
Thanks again, Tom
not to discount any of the other information, but plain and simple, you don't need to use the relays as there are relays associated with each of the upfitter switches.
I've got the single light (another 53" bar already in use & would block the light from the second Rough Country bar) & the upfitter switches are a breeze:
1) first and foremost, you'll need to determine if a single switch will actually handle the draw of the lights: from what I found, for the 2011, switch #s 1 & 2 are both 25 amp circuits..a little bit close to the total draw to use one switch for both lights..but that's simply my opinion. switch 3 is 10 amp & #4 is 15 amp.
1) ground wire from harness to battery terminal
2) power wire from harness to pass-through wire by fuse terminal in engine compartment
3) pass-through wire under dash to switch wire (#1: yellow, #2: green/brown, #3: violet green & #4: brown)
I"ve never had any problems running my lights to my switches this way & I've checked at the dealer & they've informed me that additional relays are NOT needed
Last edited by 14SD4Jeffro; Feb 21, 2016 at 02:33 AM.
Reason: photo
not to discount any of the other information, but plain and simple, you don't need to use the relays as there are relays associated with each of the upfitter switches.
I've got the single light (another 53" bar already in use & would block the light from the second Rough Country bar) & the upfitter switches are a breeze:
1) first and foremost, you'll need to determine if a single switch will actually handle the draw of the lights: from what I found, for the 2011, switch #s 1 & 2 are both 25 amp circuits..a little bit close to the total draw to use one switch for both lights..but that's simply my opinion. switch 3 is 10 amp & #4 is 15 amp.
1) ground wire from harness to battery terminal
2) power wire from harness to pass-through wire by fuse terminal in engine compartment
3) pass-through wire under dash to switch wire (#1: yellow, #2: green/brown, #3: violet green & #4: brown)
I"ve never had any problems running my lights to my switches this way & I've checked at the dealer & they've informed me that additional relays are NOT needed
So you are recommending using switch one to power one light directly and switch two to power the other light directly?
That makes sense.
not to discount any of the other information, but plain and simple, you don't need to use the relays as there are relays associated with each of the upfitter switches.
This^^^^
I have always wired directly to the Upfitter Switch with no issues at all, it's how they were designed to be used.
That's a nice clean look. Does the bumper need to be removed for install? And do the brackets only work for their lights or can Rigids be used?
I originally bought a rigid to mount down by my tow hooks. Returned it when I saw this one. I love how clean it looks.
The type of light that can be used will depend on the channel in the back. That's where the brackets mount. See link for instructions. My guess would be any kind of light can be used as long as its about the same overall size.
1) first and foremost, you'll need to determine if a single switch will actually handle the draw of the lights: from what I found, for the 2011, switch #s 1 & 2 are both 25 amp circuits..a little bit close to the total draw to use one switch for both lights..but that's simply my opinion. switch 3 is 10 amp & #4 is 15 amp.
I looked it up on the Body Builders Layout Book and my truck has 30 amp in both #1 & #2. #3 is indeed a 10 amp and #4 is a 15 amp.
Looks like I may have lucked out. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Very helpful.
I looked it up on the Body Builders Layout Book and my truck has 30 amp in both #1 & #2.
Not correct. 1+2 are fused at 25 amps and IIRC Ford recommends 22A constant load per the owners manual. You can't power both lights on one upfitter. You can use the relays supplied with the lights and have one upfitter turn on 2 relays.
I don't care what anyone or Ford says the upfitter wires are too small for a 25A current. My 20" RC lightbar uses the included relay and the upfitter triggers the relay. My Airlift compressor is wired direct to the battery but the upfitter turns on a relay to send power to it. My rear work lights on my backrack are powered direct from upfitter #2 as they only draw a hair over 7A, and I'm ok with that powered direct from the switch.
Some people even wire their air compressors direct to the upfitter. I refuse to connect a 12 gauge wire to an 18 gauge wire and hope everything will be ok. Just my .02. Love it or hate it.
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