Headlight harness question

FlexdXJ · Feb 3, 2010

I ordered a set of autopals(again, first set.... one got smashed in my accident)and an ebay harness. The one that has 40A relays as opposed to the 30A. My question is should I go ahead and ground the lights back to the battery?

I would have went with the BOR one but I set a limit to 200 bucks to get a JCR skid and upgrade the headlights which i went over by about 25 bucks but I got a new set of bolts for my rock sliders since I have to swap them from the old Jeep.

hubs97xj · Feb 3, 2010

I didn't do it, but would recommend that you go ahead and splice some wire to them and run it back to the battery. I was very careful to get a good ground, used dielectric grease, etc, and the driver's side ground was rusty/corroded in just a month or two. I had worried about it, and checked them when I swapped my bulbs. One of those, "I knew I shoulda done it then" moments.

Monkey55 · Feb 4, 2010

FlexdXJ said:
...My question is should I go ahead and ground the lights back to the battery?

....

No.

Ground it to the chassis somewhere close to your headlights. I would make a ground for each headlight.

E

FlexdXJ · Feb 4, 2010

Monkey55 said:
No.

Ground it to the chassis somewhere close to your headlights. I would make a ground for each headlight.

E

There are separate grounds for each one. I hear a lot of guys suggest doing it when you install HIDs. Thought i would get it out of the way right off the bat!

winterbeater · Feb 4, 2010

If I was worried about the ground circuit, I would upgrade the battery to body ground. I think that early XJ's did not even have one, which is very simple to add if you don't have one. If the gage wire from the headlights to the body is big enough, and the ground wire from the body to the battery is big enough, you have it made. The body can carry plenty of current.

kastein · Feb 4, 2010

Agreed with winterbeater.

Use 12 or 10 gauge wire from the headlight grounds to the body on the INSIDE of the sheetmetal, i.e. toward the inside of the engine compartment instead of on the outside. That will mostly shield it from salt/water/random gunk. Also, remember to clean the paint off beforehand and use dielectric grease so you're getting terminal to sheetmetal conduction instead of mostly going through a couple turns worth of self-tapper threads.

If you haven't already, upgrade the ground braid from the rear of the head to the firewall with 5-90's kit, or if you have the tools (razor, hydraulic crimpers, wire cutters), make one out of #2 welding cable. Also make sure your battery to body ground is in good shape if you have one, or install one if you don't like winterbeater said.

FlexdXJ · Feb 4, 2010

winterbeater said:
If I was worried about the ground circuit, I would upgrade the battery to body ground. I think that early XJ's did not even have one, which is very simple to add if you don't have one. If the gage wire from the headlights to the body is big enough, and the ground wire from the body to the battery is big enough, you have it made. The body can carry plenty of current.

kastein said:
Agreed with winterbeater.

Use 12 or 10 gauge wire from the headlight grounds to the body on the INSIDE of the sheetmetal, i.e. toward the inside of the engine compartment instead of on the outside. That will mostly shield it from salt/water/random gunk. Also, remember to clean the paint off beforehand and use dielectric grease so you're getting terminal to sheetmetal conduction instead of mostly going through a couple turns worth of self-tapper threads.

If you haven't already, upgrade the ground braid from the rear of the head to the firewall with 5-90's kit, or if you have the tools (razor, hydraulic crimpers, wire cutters), make one out of #2 welding cable. Also make sure your battery to body ground is in good shape if you have one, or install one if you don't like winterbeater said.

Thanks for the advice guys! :cheers: Ken- I plan on upgrading to the 5-90 kit but that will probably be later this year. Not in the budget right now. It is a 97 so it does have a battery to body ground wire. I will find a good place to ground too. Not sure how much wire I have to work with just yet. Once it comes in I'll get more wire if needed!

Headlight harness question

FlexdXJ

NAXJA Forum User

hubs97xj

NAXJA Forum User

Monkey55

NAXJA Forum User

FlexdXJ

NAXJA Forum User

winterbeater

NAXJA Forum User

kastein

NAXJA Member

FlexdXJ

NAXJA Forum User

Similar threads