Headlights & Plow lights
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Senior User
Joined: Nov 2007
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From: McFarland, WI
Headlights & Plow lights
This ones for you guys with plow lights. i want to hook up the truck/plow lights switch. i was wondering, with all the lighting and wiring problems on these trucks, how is the best way to go about hooking up the plow lights. Should i steal power from the switch or is it better to do the head light mod first? Im not looking forward to smoking myself out in the cab.
Cargo Master
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 3,409
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From: back in SE Iowa
you can just run the plowlights off the headlights by using the headlight power wire as the trigger wire for the relay and then run a wire from the battery to the relay so then you wont be stressing your switch as bad.i would run a relay for high beams ,low beams and plow lights, i even ran a relay for my parking lights.so my switch hardly has any pressure
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Senior User
Joined: Nov 2007
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From: McFarland, WI
ok so i should i would need 4 relays. truck low, truck high, plow low, plow hi. wow thats crazy. right now i have a switch for plow low and one for plow hi. i was thinking about using one switch for the plow lights and hooking up another floor mounted dimmer switch.
Moderator
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 57,014
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From: Virginia
To tell you the truth, I never use my plow lights much. My truck has a 4 inch lift with 35" tires, so I had to mount the plow frame down low to make the plow a-frame level. So the plow is pretty much out of the way of the truck"s regular headlights, so I just use them.
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Senior User
Joined: Nov 2007
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From: McFarland, WI
i heard a rumor that using plow lights with out a plow mounted is illegal and vise versa. have you ever heard of anything like that
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Post Fiend
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 21,285
Likes: 16
From: Nutter Fort, WV
Most states have height limitations for headlight height.
They have a list of state height requirements on a lift kit site, Rough Country if I remember right, and 54" was the highest I remember.
And in most states, plow lights are above that limit, so the answer would be yes.
For the wiring, I would wire mine using relays.
If you put a DPDT toggle after the dimmer switch and before the relays, when you flip the switch the main truck lights would move to the plow lights and the dimmer switch would dim the plow light.
Switch terminals
A B
C D
E F
Switch terminals A and B to plow lights low and high.
Switch terminals C and D to dimmer switch wires for low and high.
Switch terminals E and F to headlight low and high.
Most plow trucks have the blinker and park lights in the plow wired straight to the truck blinker and park lights so they all work together.
They have a list of state height requirements on a lift kit site, Rough Country if I remember right, and 54" was the highest I remember.
And in most states, plow lights are above that limit, so the answer would be yes.
For the wiring, I would wire mine using relays.
If you put a DPDT toggle after the dimmer switch and before the relays, when you flip the switch the main truck lights would move to the plow lights and the dimmer switch would dim the plow light.
Switch terminals
A B
C D
E F
Switch terminals A and B to plow lights low and high.
Switch terminals C and D to dimmer switch wires for low and high.
Switch terminals E and F to headlight low and high.
Most plow trucks have the blinker and park lights in the plow wired straight to the truck blinker and park lights so they all work together.
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Senior User
Joined: Nov 2007
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From: McFarland, WI
maybe thats what they were talking about with the wholelight thing. The plow lights that i bought came with the switch i just wasnt sure if i should hook that up to the exsisting switch since people have had fires
Post Fiend
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 21,285
Likes: 16
From: Nutter Fort, WV
If you only run one set at a time, the load on the stock switch is about the same.
If you run both sets through the stock headlight switch at the same time, that is asking for trouble with the stock wiring.
If you run both sets through the stock headlight switch at the same time, that is asking for trouble with the stock wiring.
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Senior User
Joined: Nov 2007
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From: McFarland, WI
ok well i originally hooke up the lights to a separate switch so i could use the plow lights for work lights. but ive discovered that i dont use them that way that much. just when people are on the side of the road at night and i want my tail lights on anyways. i wanted to change it to free up a switch and make it look alittle cleaner. Maybe mount the plow/ truck switch near the head light switch
Postmaster
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 4,802
Likes: 1
There's no problem with having plow lights installed with the plow blade removed, just as long as you used your regular lights and not the plow ones on public roads. When the plow is on tho many states require you to run the plow lights and not the headlights, as factory headlights usually fall behind the blade so the blade will block them from shining on the road ahead. Some states also require that the plow lights include not just headlights, but also marker lights and blinkers, for pretty much the same reason - when blade is on factory lights are hidden by it, so your driving intentions cannot be clearly communicated to other drivers.