Just added a relay in a few minutes ago. I'm wondering if I should have some sort of resistor on it though.. I have it drawing Positive -switch - relay - ground. Nothing else in the line.

I had a 30 amp fuse on the main line, swapped it out for a 10. It didn't blow it, so I'm wondering if I need to do something to keep it from dumping the power, or if it matters.

Anyway, I'm doing the same thing over the weekend, the plan is to use two Hella 500's as reverse lights/don't tailgate me lights (I like overkill). I'm just trying to figure out how/where to mount them..

Walmart had them on clearance for 27/pair so I bought two 500FF's and a set of 500's, figure you can't ever have too many lights!

 

I've got a basic "how to wire lights using a relay" in the FAQ section that may help you with placing of fuses, etc.

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/3rd-gen...nd-relays.html



BTW, that's a hell of a price. I wish my Wally World had them for that. I'd buy a couple boxes just to hold on to. I paid $62 there for the Hella 500FFs that I put on my Grand Cherokee...

 

Here's my install
No. A resistor basically will eat any power up that it is connected to.
You should have 85/86 as ground/remote and 87/30 lineout/powersupply
The fact that you installed a 10A fuse and it didn't pop just means that the load was less than 10A. You will for sure pop that 10A fuse. Running 55w bulbs will draw ~4.5A for each light at 12v. Total of 9.0A which is why your 10A didn't pop. While the vehicle is running at 14.4v, those 55w bulbs are only drawing 3.8A.
The smallest fuse you can get away with is what you want, but not to the point of randomly blowing it because your battery voltage dipped too low...etc Drop a 15A in place of the 10A.
As far as "Dumping the power"???? I have no idea what you mean. You get the same amount of power regardless of fuse size granted it doesn't pop.

 

The 10Amp fuse is just for the switch power. The power it uses for the LED and the power to trip the relay.

I have a 30 amp fuse for the lights, which are 100W.

As for dumping, I mean it's just going from battery, 10A fuse, to the switch, to the relay, then ground.

 

Open box on them, nothing missing, just all opened for some reason.

 

anything over 5 amps of current at our shop we require the usage of a relay. It takes more time but from a reliability standpoint it is much safer and leaves us something to fall back on if a dealer sees our work and wants to point the finger at it without even looking for another problem.

So without a doubt using a relay is the most reliable method.

Although if it were me doing this I would tie the constant power (pin 30) and one of the coil pins (85 or 86) together and then use the switch in the car to send a ground signal (chassis ground or negative same thing) out to the relay.. makes your wiring in car easier because all you have to do is run a wire from the switch out to the relay and ground the other side of the switch.. to each his own I just always find grounding to be easier than finding a power source for a switch and relay. also with these trucks it's super easy to get constant power under the hood.. battery terminals are great for attaching a ring terminal and the post on the TIPM is easy to work with as well.


and to the people discussing the light covers.. I'm so glad I read this I want to do some HID hella's or KC's behind the grill but I had no idea you need to put the covers on.. good info on this much obliged.

 

I still don't understand your term of "dumping"? There's no such thing in the Engineering field.

Please draw up a circuit diagram so I can reference what you are talking about. Takes a few minutes to do in paint. There are many ways to wire this stuff and explaining it the way you have done is all scrambled and doesn't make sense. This way I can tell you what exactly you need to do or not do.

 

See if this helps, not very good with paint mind you. Forgot to put a switch after the 10 amp though, d'oh!