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warm connection?

E

elraido

I kant speel
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
Messages
15,657
Location
Northern MN
I quickly hooked up the harness on the hella foglights I have, to make sure they would work. I only touched the wires to their respective battery terminals to see if I had the wiring right (I had to extend the wires of the harness and connect H9 connectors to them). Lights turned on and all the good stuff, but when I took the wires off the battery, the connections were warm. Is that normal?
 
There are several things to consider here. Heat in an electrical wire is not a good thing. This can lead to a insulation meltdown and a possible electrical fire.

I would recommend powering the lights off a relay connected directly to the battery. The factory harness wiring is sufficient for factory lights, but is too small a diameter for your Hella's. Use the harness wires to turn the relay on and off, and connect the battery to the relay and the relay to the lights with heavier gauge wire sized for the current draw of each.

To determine the current draw of each light, divide the watts of each bulb by 12(volts). The answer is the number of amperes required by each light.
The relay needs to be able to accomodate the current of 2 lights, as does the wire from the battery to the relay. The wires from the relay to each light need to be sufficient for 1 light's current needs. The relay and wires are available at most any auto parts store and should be relatively inexpensive. You should be able to Google the correct wire gauges for your current requirements.

By powering your lights directly from the battery through a relay, the lights get all the current they can use and will be as bright as they can be. Using the factory foglight harness wire to turn the relay on and off is very safe, as the relay doesn't require high amperages for that purpose and won't overheat the factory wires.
 
shaggist said:
There are several things to consider here. Heat in an electrical wire is not a good thing. This can lead to a insulation meltdown and a possible electrical fire.

I would recommend powering the lights off a relay connected directly to the battery. The factory harness wiring is sufficient for factory lights, but is too small a diameter for your Hella's. Use the harness wires to turn the relay on and off, and connect the battery to the relay and the relay to the lights with heavier gauge wire sized for the current draw of each.

To determine the current draw of each light, divide the watts of each bulb by 12(volts). The answer is the number of amperes required by each light.
The relay needs to be able to accomodate the current of 2 lights, as does the wire from the battery to the relay. The wires from the relay to each light need to be sufficient for 1 light's current needs. The relay and wires are available at most any auto parts store and should be relatively inexpensive. You should be able to Google the correct wire gauges for your current requirements.

By powering your lights directly from the battery through a relay, the lights get all the current they can use and will be as bright as they can be. Using the factory foglight harness wire to turn the relay on and off is very safe, as the relay doesn't require high amperages for that purpose and won't overheat the factory wires.
Click to expand...

I am not using the stock wiring. I am using a aftermarket harness that does have a fuse and relay in it. It uses 14 gauge copper braided wire.
 
Does the 14 gauge wire run from the battery to the relay, the relay to the lights, or to the relay to actuate it?

No matter which it is, the resistance of the wire is causing the current passing through it to generate heat, which is normally an indication that the wire diameter(gauge) is too small. Just to be on the safe side, I would utilize a larger diameter wire(smaller gauge number), which will allow the current to pass with less resistance, and therefore, less heat generated.

Another source of heat can be the connection at the end of the wire. Most installations use crimp-on connectors, which are OK for applications that don't experience movement, vibration, or aren't exposed to corrosive conditions. The way to obviate the above potential problems is to solder all connectors, thereby eliminating the possibility of increased resistance at the connector. It also provides a much stronger joint, and passes current much more readily.

Keep in mind, the longer the wire or the smaller the wire, the greater the voltage drop due to resistance. The greater the voltage drop from one end to the other, the less current you can pass through the wire, and the less bright your lights will be.

Just use some larger diameter wire and solder your connections and you should be allright.
 
Hooked up the fogs completely, and no issues. The only thing that gets slightly warm is the resistor thing a ma bob. I would assume that is normal.
 
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