Hello guys,

i am trying to figure out to wire my light bar to the high beams on my 04 dodge ram 1500 but i don't know if the drls on the truck use the low beam or the high beam. i don.t want to wire the light bar to the high beams if the drl uses them unless i can run a wire all the way from the high beam switch to the relay of the light bar instead of directly at the head light its self?

 

There are different ways to do this of course. I find it simplest to tap the wire of the stock light bulb which I want the addons to operate with. You can tap into the headlights or if your truck is equipped with stock fog lights you can tap into the fog light circuit.
If you want the bar to run with headlight high beams just tap a signal wire, the light bar relay activation wire, into the wires right at one of the high beam bulbs. Before tapping, remove the headlight bulb, turn the headlights on high, and check the wires at the bulb socket for polarity. Tap the light bar relay signal wire into the source +12v wire at the headlight bulb. If you tap the wrong wire at the bulb, everything will still work but the headlight bulb will be shorter lived (burn out frequently) because of the extra amps drawn through it to power the light bar relay signal. By tapping the source side, the extra current does not go through the headlight bulb. Do said test to tap the right wire to ensure long term reliability of the bulbs.
Do that an you will have zero issues. You manual override on/off switch goes in-line, in series, anywhere in between where it is tapped in at the headlight to where it plugs into the light bar relay.
- tap a light gauge relay signal wire into the +12v side of the high beam headlight bulb at the bulb connector.
- run the single wire to the cab, put your switch in
- run the single wire from switch out to the light bar relay.
- run main power wire for the light bar direct from the batter to the light bar relay.
- Local to the light bar relay, close as possible, ground both the main power terminal and the signal terminal.

 

Thanks for the reply. I thought that the o4 rams used the high beams at a lower voltage for drls. If so wouldent my light bar turn when I start the truck with the head lights off? What I need is a diagram showing both head light circuits one being drl and the other being the high beams

 

putting more draw on the headlight driver in the tipm is a great way to need a new $800 tipm

wire the light in with a relay. the power from the light bar should come from a fused wire off the battery to the power side of the relay. the control side of the relay can be powered off the wire at the headlight..the draw for the relay coil is small.

 

I dont want to go directly from the tipm but i am wandering could I go from the high beam swicth inside the cab on the steering column?

 

no. you shouldn't wire large loads off a light switch...the switch will have to carry the load and its not meant to...the light switch blows and you lose all lights.
wire the main power for the light right off the battery. put a fuse within 6inches of the connection off the battery.

if you want to use a fuse in the tipm….you should find one that is unused (look for an option your truck wasn't built with) and has the correct fuse size for the amp draw of the light bar.

what size fuse is recommended by the light bar maker.... or what amp draw does the light have?

 

The fuse for the wiring harness for the light bar uses a 30 amp. I wired the signal wire from the relay on the light bar harness too the high beam wire on the head light but with truck running and the head lights off the light bar comes on.

So if I use the the signal wire from the relay from the wiring harness of the light bar it will draw to much current? I cant see how it would as it's just a signal wire activating a relay. The main power for my light bar comes straight from the battery as they should.

Dosent the swicth inside the cab send a signal to the tipm to turn on the highbeanms?

 

Exactly what I had described. .... and put a new toggle switch in the dash which is in series in the relay coil signal wire so the light bar can be turned off during the day so the DTRL does not light up the bar. When the headlights are turned on at night, and the light bar switch in the cab is turned on, then the high beam headlight switch on the steering will control both the headlight and the light bar.