I have fitted spotlights to my hilux ute, wiring them from my high beam wire to a relay with the spotlights then being wired from the relay to the spotlights via a switch in the dash.
Everything works as it should, spots come on when the switch is on and I hit high beam,......the problem is that while low beam will turn the spotties off again while I'm driving with the headlights on, they will come back on as soon as I turn the headlights off. I can deal with that, just as long as I remember to turn the spotlight switch to off for normal driving in the daytime.
Okay, I bought a pilot light to mount below the switch and join it in to that wire to the switch, thinking that the pilot would come on to remind me whenever the spotlight switch was still in the 'on' position...... this didn't happen. Instead. .. just pilot light would come on,...no spotties,.....until I took the pilot back OUT of the switch wire and went back to direct to the switch and then everything came back to normal.
Where else should the pilot light go if not into the switch wire to the spotlights themselves.?
I know that there will be a simple solution but for the life of me it escapes me right now
Cheers,......Lance.
-- Edited by LanceS on Tuesday 29th of August 2017 02:54:31 PM
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Can you please post a diagram of what you did. Sketch it on a piece of paper, scan the paper and save it as a .JPG file. When you have done that you can attach the file to a reply.
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
should be hi-beam wire to switch,then to relay. then relay to lights
john
Yep John, thanks mate,..that's just the way that I've always wired up spotlights on cars that I have in the past,..cars like my 64 VW with three double relays, my VE Valiant in 1970, another Valiant in 1972, yet another in 1977, again in three more cars up to 1999. All of them shared the very same double relay(s) and three of the same spotlights that I have now put on my 2011 Hilux.
In every other of those vehicles, the spotlights worked exactly as you describe and the spotlights of course stayed off unless I was on high beam with the switch on, .....exactly as it should be.
The 2011 Hilux seems to me to have a somewhat different electrical system which made it just a bit harder to locate a single high beam wire to the headlights. With the lights on high beam and by using a test light, TWO wires tested live instead what has always been just the one.
I'm able to wire up relay/high beam switched spotlights okay, virtually with my eyes closed and there is no way that I intended paying an auto electrician a quoted $175 cash money,..to wire these up for me, AFTER I had already fitted the spotlights, fitted the switch into the dash and mounted the double relay inside the engine bay myself....when all I needed to know was which hi beam wire to tap in to and do literally the whole thing myself.
I have now found and tapped a hi beam wire and everything works as it should, except that the three spots come back on when the headlights are off but the spotlight switch is left on. I wanted to fit a pilot light into the switch wire merely as a reminder if I left the switch on, particularly in daytime but it doesn't want the spots and the pilot to work in unison.
I'm okay though with the rest of how it's all wired up for now, as long as I don't get caught out leaving that switch down at the wrong time.
Thanks John -:)
Lance
-- Edited by LanceS on Wednesday 30th of August 2017 10:48:51 PM
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have you used a park light,foglight wire as your trigger cheers blaze
It must be the hi-beam wire (tapped into at about 50mm before the headlight globe holder itself) that I tapped in to as the trigger because the test light goes off when headlight switch low beam is selected. The park light wire is far enough away to not cause any confusion and the SR doesn't have fog lights anyway. That third wire going into the headlight globe holder is what has me curious though and I can't help thinking that that third wire MIGHT hold the simple answer.
Anyway I'm about to head across the Nullarbor to W.A. and back over the next 4+ weeks so I won't worry anymore about the lights now until after I get back. All I have to do in the meantime is to remember that switch position.
Cheers
Lance
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I think you have wired the spot light in series. Connect the spot light to the wire going to the relay and the other side of the spot light to earth. Should work
Can you please post a diagram of what you did. Sketch it on a piece of paper, scan the paper and save it as a .JPG file. When you have done that you can attach the file to a reply.
Hi Peter. Thanks mate. What I'll do is see if I can get a photo of the headlight globe holder itself and where I tapped in (which will also show the colour code) a photo of the double relay that I'm using.., as well as drawing a sketch on paper.
Although my avatar shows only two spotlights on my hilux, I have now actually added a third one in between, that third light being hooked up to the other side of the double relay but still going through the same on/off switch.
I'll try and do all that some time during today or this evening.
Cheers
Lance.
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Can you please post a diagram of what you did. Sketch it on a piece of paper, scan the paper and save it as a .JPG file. When you have done that you can attach the file to a reply.
Hi Peter. Thanks mate. What I'll do is see if I can get a photo of the headlight globe holder itself and where I tapped in (which will also show the colour code) a photo of the double relay that I'm using.., as well as drawing a sketch on paper.
Although my avatar shows only two spotlights on my hilux, I have now actually added a third one in between, that third light being hooked up to the other side of the double relay but still going through the same on/off switch.
I'll try and do all that some time during today or this evening.
Thanks for making an effort with your diagram. However as I don't know what's in the relay box I am none the wiser. First thing to do is to remove the third light. The legislation does not allow it. It is also complicates your wiring.
Wal has produced a diagram for you to wire the lights. He makes reference to some Toyotas switching the earth (negative) side of the light circuits being the switched wire. You will have to use your multimeter to work out which side of the lights is switched.
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
Gday Wal. thanks for the diagram. The only 'problem' is that I am using a 35+ year old double relay and not one of the newer single relays with numbers, which I guess can make them somewhat easier to wire up. While mine is over 35 years old, it's had very limited use in that time and still works fine while giving me the added advantage of running up to four 100 watt lights off the one unit.
My hilux does appear to have something of a slightly different wiring setup to earlier vehicles, which is no doubt the source of my current minor dillema.... .but nothing too hard to get around.
Cheers
Lance
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Gday Wal. thanks for the diagram. The only 'problem' is that I am using a 35+ year old double relay and not one of the newer single relays with numbers, which I guess can make them somewhat easier to wire up. While mine is over 35 years old, it's had very limited use in that time and still works fine while giving me the added advantage of running up to four 100 watt lights off the one unit.
Lance, there is no need to look at the numbers. Wal has included the schematic of the relay in there. Just use that and find the appropriate terminals on your relay to duplicate what is in Wal's circuit. Just get the most simple wire up to get your lights working. Then if you want any more you can add that without disturbing your basic wiring.
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
I guess the main thing now is everything works as it should, at least for the Nullarbor trip,....just as long as I remember the switch position when not using any lights and I can look at it again when I get back.
I had a read up of the legal side of spotlight positioning and it would appear that I am okay with running three spotlights as long as they are positioned evenly with the third light being right in the centre,..as mine are.... All good.
Thanks everyone for your assistance, its much appreciated.
Cheers
Lance.
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