Extra driving light

[Fragge]

The electrical install is tricky, I can't find a good source for 12V in the engine bay. Connecting the LED bar in parallell with the regular highbeam is not an option since it's fused at 10A and the halogen+the LED bar will exceed 10A.

I need a 12V power source and use a relay to power the LED bar. Could anyone who already done this install please point me in the right direction.

 

[MartinH]

I am not sure where you get the 12V supply, does anyone knows if it comes from the 12kWH battery, or if it comes from the small one 12V battery in the trunk?
Also will the 12V in the trunk be charged with the same connection as the 12kWh battery or only from the Engines alternator? I Think(but not know!) that it must be electrically charged from the "wall", if not it must be drained if you have a driving cycle that allowes the gas Engine to not start for weeks.
This will have an impact on where you connect the 12V, you can get it from the starter on the Engine that i am almost 100% sure are always connected to the 12V in the trunk, but then I want to be sure how this battery will be charged, this could in odd usage cycles drain the 12V battery to the level that the Engine will not start.
Also, a normal car has a teoretical voltage of 14.4V when the engine is running, what do we have?, if you drain the small 12V battery i the trunk with 20A, it will not take long before you are close to 12V, this will have a huge impact on the light you will get out from Halogen lamps, LEDs are not that sensitive as the forward voltage is 3.3V to the LED.

 

[Lyra252]

I am not sure where you get the 12V supply, does anyone knows if it comes from the 12kWH battery, or if it comes from the small one 12V battery in the trunk?
Also will the 12V in the trunk be charged with the same connection as the 12kWh battery or only from the Engines alternator? I Think(but not know!) that it must be electrically charged from the "wall", if not it must be drained if you have a driving cycle that allowes the gas Engine to not start for weeks.
This will have an impact on where you connect the 12V, you can get it from the starter on the Engine that i am almost 100% sure are always connected to the 12V in the trunk, but then I want to be sure how this battery will be charged, this could in odd usage cycles drain the 12V battery to the level that the Engine will not start.
Also, a normal car has a teoretical voltage of 14.4V when the engine is running, what do we have?, if you drain the small 12V battery i the trunk with 20A, it will not take long before you are close to 12V, this will have a huge impact on the light you will get out from Halogen lamps, LEDs are not that sensitive as the forward voltage is 3.3V to the LED.

Hi

The battery in the boot is charged by the drive battery, it's 14.6v.

When stationary the voltage drops to about 12.2 depending on accessories used. There's a plug in digital voltmeter available if that helps http://postimg.org/image/byv15az9z/



Cheers

Chris

 

[paa451843]

The electrical install is tricky, I can't find a good source for 12V in the engine bay. Connecting the LED bar in parallell with the regular highbeam is not an option since it's fused at 10A and the halogen+the LED bar will exceed 10A.

I need a 12V power source and use a relay to power the LED bar. Could anyone who already done this install please point me in the right direction.

I have done it! The best way is to feed the new relay with a fused cable from the 12V battery. From the battery, through the same grommet as the feed for the hitch and then nicely clamped under the car to the front.

Good Luck!

 

[Fragge]

Thanks, I was hoping I could avoid routing a cable from the boot to the front. Perhaps thats the best/only way.

 

[RazMan]

Thanks, I was hoping I could avoid routing a cable from the boot to the front. Perhaps thats the best/only way.

Surely there must be a way to pickup a switched feed from the fusebox - a much shorter run

 

[Fragge]

There is a terminal in the fusebox connected directly to the battery, It's there to clamp starter cables to if needed. But theres no easy way of attaching a cable to it (could solder it on but not ideal). One option is to open the fusebox up and connect a cable from underneath, but it's a lot of work and scary...

 

[RazMan]

On my old Freelander I used a spare fuse position to power up new accessories. You can buy flying leads for this very purpose- you simply find a redundant circuit, plug it in and connect it to your new accessory.

 

[Fragge]

Ok, I see. It's like a fake fuse with a cable out of it? Haven't seen any of those before. Do you have a link to anyone who sells them?

 

[paa451843]

On my old Freelander I used a spare fuse position to power up new accessories. You can buy flying leads for this very purpose- you simply find a redundant circuit, plug it in and connect it to your new accessory.

I have 3 Hi-beam Hella extra driving lights on a nudge bar, total power 165W. I would not draw that much power through the fusebox. But for a LED installation it might work.

 

[Fragge]

165W is only 13.75A and a lot of fuses in the fusebox are 20-30A so that shouldn't be a problem.

 

[paa451843]

165W is only 13.75A and a lot of fuses in the fusebox are 20-30A so that shouldn't be a problem.

Yes, but a fuse is often 3 to 4 times larger then the real comsuption and you also get a voltage drop. Make sure that you use a fuse that has a 6 mm2 cable on the feed side.

 

[Fragge]

Ok, the feed to the fuse is ALWAYS capable of larger current than the fuse. Anything else would be a dangerous and completely against all guidelines. If the feed to the fuse would burn before fuse breaks than there would be no need for a fuse.

 

[paa451843]

Ok, the feed to the fuse is ALWAYS capable of larger current than the fuse. Anything else would be a dangerous and completely against all guidelines. If the feed to the fuse would burn before fuse breaks than there would be no need for a fuse.

Correct, but the fuse is mainly for protection against short circuit not overload. By using a thin cable you get a voltage drop and a some heat in the cable even if the fuse don`t blow. As a rule, always connect extra heavy load directly to the batteri via a relay. That way you don`t get any strange effects from the canbus or any other ECU or whatever.

 

[RazMan]

Ok, I see. It's like a fake fuse with a cable out of it? Haven't seen any of those before. Do you have a link to anyone who sells them?

Something like this?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-x-CAR-Add-A-Circuit-Low-Profile-Mini-Blade-Micro-Fuse-Tap-Holder-FH143-UKso7-/141551115060?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item20f51a9b34

 

[Pikleven]

Hi

I have now mounted some extra lights. Haven’t had time to test them on any longer trips yet, but they sure add "some" additionally lights ....

This is 4 NBB Alpha 225 converted with 60w Xenon with speed start ballast. They start in max 5s the first time and instantly when they are warm. The two in the middle are pencil beams and the other two are wide beams.
I have (As mentioned earlier in this thread) converted the standard halogen high beam to 60w Xenon.

URL to the same picture.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bs6zx7r0kjjbcxm/2014-09-04 17.00.13s.jpg?dl=0

The mounting point is custom made due to the FCM, it’s radar is placed behind the red marking.

If someone is interested then I can also post pictures on how I mounted switches and relays.

Hello.
Of course it would be cool to see how you've done it . I have the new face lift and consider a led bar but is really unsure where I'm going to take 12v from . And possibly how I solve the problem with the switch in the dash.

 

[gwatpe]

I still have not solved the wiring through the fire wall problem with the switch for my lights. Still have the wires coming in through the drivers door opening. Used some silicone sealer to allow the normal door seal to work. The lights are interlocked with the normal high beam cct, and are relay controlled. I took a power feed from the power tailgate cct, using a fuse adapter, for an additional fused lower current supply. My lights as described elsewhere are lower total consumption to the factory supplied lights, so I was not concerned about additional loading on the PHEV AUX battery. My lights are Not as spectacular as those pictured above. I did not have to modify any panels in my PHEV, and all the systems, including ASC and FCM still function normally. My lights are below the bonnet height, so suffer a little with range, but I have no loss of vision, by objects above the bonnet line, as I have a high driving position.

The LED bars give a lot more options now, but with quite high power demands.

 

[Fragge]

Had a Vision X Xmitter Prime mounted by the dealership on my MY16 and I figured someone else was interested in how they did it.

Connection for the 12V feed:

Connection for the signal wire(left side headlight):

End result:

I'm very happy with the result, they had to cut a hole in the grille to fit it. It's bolted up into the steel bumper bar. They also added some black gunk on top of the LED bar to keep it from vibrating. Very sturdy mounting an virtually impossible to steal. The LED bar is a bit pricey (€1100) but super high quality and extremely bright.

 

[karlnaust]

Hi guys

I got my 2015 outlander just before Christmas and have been reading page up and down on extra lights and hi-beams. I too find the hi-beems far to weak, but worse still is the lack of spread to the sides. I live in Norway, and when crossing over mountains or forests I feel rather unsafe when it comes to elk, deer and other wildlife that may cross the road. People to for that matter, but hopefully they will wear reflecting garment. I do not drive at rally speed, but at a dark and rainy night I feel better with proper lights.

So I’ve been looking in to different lights, and opted on a china LED-bar. Shipped from USA I cost me all in about 100 usd with shipping and customs. So I ordered two LED-bars and two set of reversing lights. They all look good, and preliminary testing seems promising. All in all 229 USD

However, I did not feel like drilling and ripping through my brand new car, so I took it to the dealership and got a deal for them to connect cables and mount the lights. Then there won`t be any warranty will issue if the car should catch on fire (knock on wood). I was quoted one to two hours for running cables from the rear and preparing for extra lights. One hour additional for mounting lights with a special bracket he had fabricated. I found this to be a reasonable price of about 250-300£. If he should run cables in to a switch in the dash, this would double the price. He would have to remove the left wing panel and drill trough the firewall, then remove a lot of trim in order to mount the switch. If I feel the ned for it later I`d rather run a cable through the door opening into the dash.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0qe6uzeh45itjdo/AADRmqi0ww3mMXLd1USzDhI3a?dl=0

 

[Fragge]

]
So I’ve been looking in to different lights, and opted on a china LED-bar. Shipped from USA I cost me all in about 100 usd with shipping and customs. So I ordered two LED-bars and two set of reversing lights. They all look good, and preliminary testing seems promising. All in all 229 USD

I also started out with a china LED bar ($100) that promised 5W Osram emitters, and with 42 emitters it would be 210W in total. When I received it I took the bar apart it only had 3W drivers for each LED emitter. And when i measured actual power draw it only pulled 80W which is less than 2W per emitter. Managed to get half of my money back from the seller, the LED bar is still laying around in my garage somewhere. The Vision X actually pulls 185W as promised when measured, but it's also on a completely different price level.