fog_HID_wiring.jpg

I did some reading, and at turn on, most HID ballasts will pull 15-20 amps EACH before dropping down to 3.8 amps. NEC specifies that #8 copper should be used for 30-55 amps, and #10 for 20-30.

I have 10 ft of 10GA red, 20 ft of 14GA red, 12ft 12GA black, one male fog light pigtail (fog light to bare wire), and 2 female fog light pigtails (bare wire to fog light plug)

By wire, it's about 6-8 feet from the switches to where I'm putting the relay box (next to PDC). Switch #3 is already wired (goes directly to 55W lights right now, no relay), so all I should need the 14GA for is the other 2 switches & from the driver side fog pigtail. Should be exactly 20 feet.

From the battery side post to the relay box should be 2 feet for each wire, so that'll use 4 feet of the 10GA. The other 6 feet will go down to the driver side HID ballast, where it will split from one 10GA to one (14 GA) fog pigtail and one 14GA lead going to the passenger side HID pigtail. I'm slightly nervous of shoving a pair of 14's into a 10 butt connector, but hopefully with heat shrink and a hard crimp, it will all stay.

Question is, will I be safe with the #10 putting up to 40 amps through it (NEC'd @ 30)? What about on each side, #14 pulling up to 20 amps (NEC'd @ 15)?

As far as VDI, I'm looking at (40A * 10ft)/(5*12) = 6.67 (between 8 [8] and 10 [5]) and (20A * 5ft)/(5*12) = 1.667 (between 16 [1] and 14 [2]).

I'm setting it up this way, so that I can still have HID + high beams at the same time, or low beam + driving + HID. And I'll still be legal since the next-highest light beam (driving lights) will turn off with the high beams. The driving lights are 2" above the OEM fog positions.

Since I'm a 2WD, I took out the blank for the 4WD controls and put the rockers there.

Pics below are with the stock fogs in cracked and water-filled lenses. Have new lenses coming with HID's. The headlights are Silverstar Ultra's.

 

Thats pretty much my set up. Should be fine

 

IMAG1510.jpg

Easy part is done.

I under-estimated the amount of room on the drivers side. I thought I could put it right next to the PDC, but I can't. The box is 6" x 4" x 2". So I'm thinking if I pull the battery back out, I can fit it inside the fender behind the headlight next to the battery. But I need to look at it some more. I was going to put the HID ballasts on the vertical core supports in front of the radiator (User posted he had his that way, somewhere).

FYI, Mouser has 70 amp relays for $5.66. These are the 40A ones for $4.66.

Disregard the stuff in background. My desk becomes a giant mess when I start building things....

 

IMAG1511.jpg

I found the best place to put it- The new battery is about 4" shorter than the battery tray, so I'm just going to scoot the battery back 1/8" and the box will fit right in front perfectly, unable to move.

This picture should match orientation of the drawing- left is stock wiring to halogens, middle 2 are N/C, right one is switch to HID.

I'm out of weatherpak quick connects, else I'd finish the connections.

From the ring terminal to the relay terminal, the left lead is 20" long, the right is 22". The interconnect leads are all 6" except the one for the HID's, it's 7".

The fog wiring pigtails will be here tuesday, the bulbs and ballasts on Thursday, not sure when the new lenses will arrive. I'm hoping to have all the electrical already put on, so I can just plug everything in and put the fuses in, and it all work. I still have to put some rubber tape around the wires to keep from cutting them on those holes. I'll probably have to undo everything to enlarge them some, too.

 

for those wondering, here is a link to the $5 70 amp relay: http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/...cPQqGHZ9AVY%3d