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Best way to wire auxilary roof rack lights

Camo-5

NAXJA Forum User
I've wired up some simple stuff on the XJ, but I'm a little leary to start wiring up my 8-Hella 55watt lights on my safari rack. I plan on 'feeding' all the lights through the liftgate opening, but I'm not sure the best way to get the power to the switches then the lights themselves. I plan on running the following configuration:

4 forward facing lights on the same switch (if possible)
1 light on each side facing outward (same switch for both of these 2 lights)
2 back up / rear facing lights that will not be direct wired to my back up lights and will be on the same switch

I'm assuming I should run power from the battery to the switches in the dash then to the lights? What size wire? Should I use relays? What size? Where? Can I connnect all the grounds together at the rear of the vehicle and ground to the body as one big bundle?

Any suggestions would be great! Thanks!
 
You need to use relays. 1 30A relay for each pair of lights should be enough. I've always gotten my relays at the auto parts store.

You can indeed ground in one big bundle, but be sure the wire gauge of your bundled ground is large enough. Some people like to just ground the roof rack with a fat wire and then just ground the lights to the rack itself.
 
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