# looking for wiring help!!



## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

Im trying to wire up 2 individual strobe lights to a switch panel, and then have said switch panel plug into my work trucks cigarette lighter. as both lights originally came with that style plug for a plug&play option, i assumed i could reuse 1 of those for my power/ground. after bench testing everything and seeing that it worked(using a drill battery with pos/neg) i soldered on the cigarette light style plug and tested it. im not sure if the power coming out of my cigarette plug is higher than its supposed to be but it started to melt the wires leading up to my switch panel. ive had my phones charger plugged into that exact port and had no issues. any help is appreciated

single pos/neg for lights and switch panel
View attachment 209483


3 wire connectors for strobe lights


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## dieselss (Jan 3, 2008)

Did the soldered plug melt before or after you tried the switches?

Might just use heat shrink butt connectors instead.

Whats the cig fuse rating, whats the lights rated for?

What wire size are you using?


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## cwren2472 (Aug 15, 2014)

The cigarette plug that came with the strobe light almost certainly doesn't have wiring big enough to power two lights and that lighted switch box (that has 2 more cig. Ports to boot!)

Another possibility: i see three wires for the strobes, I assume 1 is the pattern selector. Some strobes use positive for that, some use negative. Did you confirm which your light required and wire it properly?


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

the soldered plug melted before i tried any switches. it was almost as if it had a short in itself that i didnt know about to begin with. im about to go out to salt but ill be back in a few hours and i can keep diagnosing the problem. 

cig fuse was 10amp. it blew but the wires still got very hot and started to melt together some. any suggestions on finding something that would work for this? i can link all the products i used when i get back. im not the best with wiring, my experience is limited and i dont know how to do the math on volts, watts, and amps. any help is appreciated


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## cwren2472 (Aug 15, 2014)

KeeganH13 said:


> the soldered plug melted before i tried any switches. it was almost as if it had a short in itself that i didnt know about to begin with. im about to go out to salt but ill be back in a few hours and i can keep diagnosing the problem.
> 
> cig fuse was 10amp. it blew but the wires still got very hot and started to melt together some. any suggestions on finding something that would work for this? i can link all the products i used when i get back. im not the best with wiring, my experience is limited and i dont know how to do the math on volts, watts, and amps. any help is appreciated


Any pictures of the connections you soldered? any chance they are touching?


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## Randall Ave (Oct 29, 2014)

Those two small wires, are the power supply and common/ground? Kinda small to be running multiple lights. Somewhere in your circuit you crossed a wire


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

The whole system runs fine using the 20v battery seen in the pictures as well. I will beef up those 2 main wires. Also wondering if putting it on a power inverter would help?


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

cwren2472 said:


> Any pictures of the connections you soldered? any chance they are touching?


i heatshrinked each individual solder I did, as well as bigger heatshrink to couple then connections to keep things separate


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## cwren2472 (Aug 15, 2014)

KeeganH13 said:


> The whole system runs fine using the _*20v battery*_


?!?! Why would you use a 20v battery to test 12v electronics?



KeeganH13 said:


> Also wondering if putting it on a power inverter would help?


Huh? Are you saying you want to hook the 12v electronics up to 110v AC next? I'm lost.


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## dieselss (Jan 3, 2008)

So the fuse blew and melted wires before you turned on the strobes? If so then the cig plug or your solder was bad.

I would run power and ground off the battery as a dedicated circuit. I'd say 14g wire fused into the cab


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

cwren2472 said:


> ?!?! Why would you use a 20v battery to test 12v electronics?
> 
> Huh? Are you saying you want to hook the 12v electronics up to 110v AC next? I'm lost.


because everything i got is 12-24v, 20 volt test battery is right in the middle. if the 20v battery was too much it would have popped a fuse


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

Amazon.com : FXC Waterproof Marine Boat Rocker Switch Panel 4 Gang with Dual USB Slot Socket + Cigarette Lighter LED Light for Car Rv Vehicles Truck (4 Gang Blue Light) : Sports & Outdoors

Amazon.com: ASPL 16.8 Inch LED Strobe Flashing Light Bar, 26 Flashing Modes High Intensity Emergency Hazard Warning Beacon Lights with Magnetic Base for Car Trucks Trailer Roof Safety (Amber White Amber White): Automotive

Amazon.com: 12V 24V Grill and Surface/Flush Mount Amber White LED Strobe Lights for Trucks Snow Plow Tractor Construction Vehicles Car Safety Flashing, WOWTOU 4 in 1 Hazard Warning Caution Emergency Flasher: Automotive

these are the main components im trying to put together. id like the whole system to be removable thats why i havent just ran a fused wire right from the battery


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

Randall Ave said:


> Those two small wires, are the power supply and common/ground? Kinda small to be running multiple lights. Somewhere in your circuit you crossed a wire


i triple checked that everything in my circuit works as it should by using a battery on my work bench. i agree those 2 primary power/grounds are small. but i just dont understand why it would melt the wires on the cig plug like it did, unless those wires were grounded out from the factory.


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## dieselss (Jan 3, 2008)

KeeganH13 said:


> if the 20v battery was too much it would have popped a fuse


No it wouldn't....the fuse is by amps not volts,,,it dont know if your running 6v or 48v...it only blows above the amps its rated for.

When you wired up the cig lighter, did you wire it up properly? Pos is the tip and neg is the sides?


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

dieselss said:


> No it wouldn't....the fuse is by amps not volts,,,it dont know if your running 6v or 48v...it only blows above the amps its rated for.
> 
> When you wired up the cig lighter, did you wire it up properly? Pos is the tip and neg is the sides?


it was all pre wired, i just used one of the cig lighters that came originally on one of the lights, when i took apart to check, it was correctly wired.


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## dieselss (Jan 3, 2008)

If it was wired properly, you wouldn't have melted anything...just saying.

So did you just cut off the end and have a pigtail of wires?....how did you very pos and neg at the plug and wires?


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

dieselss said:


> If it was wired properly, you wouldn't have melted anything...just saying.
> 
> So did you just cut off the end and have a pigtail of wires?....how did you very pos and neg at the plug and wires?


agreed, thats why i dont understand that it melted the wires. it had a red pos and a black negative, i wired it to my panel in the same manner. what size fuse should i have in the cig lighter tip?


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

im very much a novice with this, but i guess im just lost as to why i wouldnt be able to run it off the cig outlet, do i need a certain amp fuse in the tip of cig plug? i understand im asking more power from a single plug, but i did this switch panel in place of ordering a cig plug with 2 ports, which in my eyes would have been asking it to supply the same power to the 2 lights, minus the small amount of power the switch panel is asking. everything is LED, so it shouldnt be drawing all that much. idk


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## Hydromaster (Jun 11, 2018)

Your plugin this all into your trucks cig lighter?

Modern truck cig lighters are no longer
Made to carry that many amps.

Like suggested ,
Run a (fused) power lead into the cap from the battery to power your switches/ accessories


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## dieselss (Jan 3, 2008)

You didn't say how you verified the pos and neg at the cig plug you wired up?....


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

dieselss said:


> You didn't say how you verified the pos and neg at the cig plug you wired up?....


when i took it from its original use, it had a red pos, and a black neg, i wired my red pos and black neg accordingly. after it melted the wires, i took the cig plug apart and it was wired coorectly, red pos being center and black neg being the outer 2 springy parts


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

Hydromaster said:


> Your plugin this all into your trucks cig lighter?
> 
> Modern truck cig lighters are no longer
> Made to carry that many amps.
> ...


if i had ordered a dual cig plug i would have been running both lights just fine, why would an LED switch panel cause this much issue?


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## Randall Ave (Oct 29, 2014)

Get an OHM meter out and see where the problem is.


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## Hydromaster (Jun 11, 2018)

KeeganH13 said:


> if i had ordered a dual cig plug i would have been running both lights just fine, why would an LED switch panel cause this much issue?


Is it designed to carry the load or was/is it 
Designed to be used with relays?

You can also overload the trucks wiring useing pigtails...


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

dieselss said:


> So the fuse blew and melted wires before you turned on the strobes? If so then the cig plug or your solder was bad.
> 
> I would run power and ground off the battery as a dedicated circuit. I'd say 14g wire fused into the cab


im going to just do this to solve my problem. does it matter where i put the fuse? for instance, should it be closer to the battery end, or could i have it at the end thats inside the cab so its easier to replace? also, what size fuse would you recommend?


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## Hydromaster (Jun 11, 2018)

Fuse at the battery.


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

Hydromaster said:


> Fuse at the battery.


thank you sir, what size fuse do you think would be the best for my situation?


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## Hydromaster (Jun 11, 2018)

I like a 30A-40A but’s that’s me
What gage wire are you useing.


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## Randall Ave (Oct 29, 2014)

Closest to the power source as possible. Per a company called Little Fuse. The fuse should be twice the amperage draw. How I do things anyway.


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

Hydromaster said:


> I like a 30A-40A but's that's me
> What gage wire are you useing.


16g, il throw a 40A in it. do you think i would need to worry about the amount of power it would be pulling from the battery when the truck is not in use killing the battery or draining it too low to start?


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## Randall Ave (Oct 29, 2014)

What is the rated combined total amperage draw of what you are running off of the one fuse?


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

Randall Ave said:


> What is the rated combined total amperage draw of what you are running off of the one fuse?


this is one of the things i dont know how to add up, i can find the watts but not amps. i posted links to the pieces im putting together, i believe they are on the first page of the posting


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## Mr.Markus (Jan 7, 2010)

It looks like the control box opens up, what's going on in there. Did it come prewired? Pics...


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

Mr.Markus said:


> It looks like the control box opens up, what's going on in there. Did it come prewired? Pics...


everything on it is prewired, besides putting whatever lights pos wire onto the switch you want to use, and then adding it to the common ground, i did add in momentary switches to allow myself to change strobe patterns. im away from the box but if you look on the first page i posted the link to the control panel and it shows the wiring it has in the pictures


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## Mr.Markus (Jan 7, 2010)

I can see the 2 tiny wires going in and the six coming out, I want to know how the 4 switches are wired and the 2 aux sockets. Is there another fuse in there?


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

Mr.Markus said:


> I can see the 2 tiny wires going in and the six coming out, I want to know how the 4 switches are wired and the 2 aux sockets. Is there another fuse in there?
> 
> View attachment 209506


theres 2 fuses, both 15 amp, if you draw a line vertically down the middle of the panel, each side has its own fuse. the 2 fuses i have stickers on and the accessory charger above them have their own fuse and the other 2 switches and usb chargers have their own fuse


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

the blue hooked into the 2 reds are all my positives, the yellow, black, and black/red are my grounds. this is my main power/ground. none of my issues are with the wiring of the lights themselves.
the only reason the 2 are heat shrunk together is to slide through the hole to the outside easier, they do not ground out. i have a video of everything working as it should off a test battery. my issue is just hooking up to the trucks power


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## Randall Ave (Oct 29, 2014)

How about a few good straight down pics with the paw out of the way, and as I said, your power supply and ground wire is to small.


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

i agree my power and ground are too small, i will be swapping out the small stuff for 16g this evening. at this point i just need to know how to hook up my power to the truck in a way that its not going to drain the battery when not in use


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## dieselss (Jan 3, 2008)

Id go 14.....

Where's this red go?


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

dieselss said:


> Id go 14.....
> 
> Where's this red go?
> View attachment 209516


thats the hot for 1 of the lights. the black is ground and the yellow is the momentary for mode


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## dieselss (Jan 3, 2008)

Why is that red in heat shrink with a white and blk/red which you said was ground?


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

dieselss said:


> Why is that red in heat shrink with a white and blk/red which you said was ground?


i was mistaken from looking at the pic. that part you screen shot is where i wired in the momentary switch for that lightbar. it changes the pattern/mode for that light


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## Randall Ave (Oct 29, 2014)

KeeganH13 said:


> thats the hot for 1 of the lights. the black is ground and the yellow is the momentary for mode


Looks like you have yellow and black heat shrinked together.


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

Randall Ave said:


> Looks like you have yellow and black heat shrinked together.


yes, for these lights the yellow wire is used to signal the lights to change flashing pattern. this is done by crossing yellow line momentarily with the ground, this is exactly how it came wired in its own switch, i just transfered it to my better looking switches. all the lights work perfectly fine, the whole panel works perfectly fine. my original issue was getting power & ground from my truck to my switch panel. i appreciate everyone wanting to help by knowing whats going on behind the panel but thats not where the problem lies..


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## dieselss (Jan 3, 2008)

I'd say hook up the cig lighter plug alone with nothing attached and see what happens, then just twist the wires and see what happens.


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

dieselss said:


> I'd say hook up the cig lighter plug alone with nothing attached and see what happens, then just twist the wires and see what happens.


after doing some more looking I found a switch power in the cabin fuse box that others have used for similar accessories. That will shorten the run and I won't have to go through the firewall.


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## CCSnow (Jan 25, 2016)

Watts / voltage will give you amperage. So a 200 watt light / 12 volts is just under 17 amps. This website has a chart for wiring at 13.8 volts which is what the vehicle tends to run at. It looks like at 40 amps you should have 10 at minimum. With breakers you don't want to run more than 80% continuously on them so I would do the same with a fuse.

http://www.offroaders.com/technical/12-volt-wiring-tech-gauge-to-amps/


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

CCSnow said:


> Watts / voltage will give you amperage. So a 200 watt light / 12 volts is just under 17 amps. This website has a chart for wiring at 13.8 volts which is what the vehicle tends to run at. It looks like at 40 amps you should have 10 at minimum. With breakers you don't want to run more than 80% continuously on them so I would do the same with a fuse.
> 
> http://www.offroaders.com/technical/12-volt-wiring-tech-gauge-to-amps/


10 gauge wire for all LED Lights? that seems really aggressive


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

CCSnow said:


> Watts / voltage will give you amperage. So a 200 watt light / 12 volts is just under 17 amps. This website has a chart for wiring at 13.8 volts which is what the vehicle tends to run at. It looks like at 40 amps you should have 10 at minimum. With breakers you don't want to run more than 80% continuously on them so I would do the same with a fuse.
> 
> http://www.offroaders.com/technical/12-volt-wiring-tech-gauge-to-amps/


the strobe lightbar is 30watt, and the 4 individual strobes are 8watt,
and if im following you correctly, then amps multiplied by voltage gives me wattage of 20 or so from my switch panel. lets pretend each of the 4 strobes pulls 8 alone, thats 32, plus 30 from the lightbar, plus 20 from the switch panel. thats 82 watts, divide that by 12 like you said and i end up at 6.83 amps. is this math making sense?

i do apologize for being so green when it comes to properly wiring bigger stuff. my experience is limited to pretty much throwing blinkers and such on motorcycles


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## Mr.Markus (Jan 7, 2010)

i think your main problem is the supply wires, the pos and neg. Try runing a heavier gauge to a keyed accessory under the dash, and creating a good ground in the same gauge.
If the fuses didnt blow before its pretty much a given the wires that burnt were arcing or nor heavy enough.
Not a lot of good reviews on that control box BTW.


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

Mr.Markus said:


> i think your main problem is the supply wires, the pos and neg. Try runing a heavier gauge to a keyed accessory under the dash, and creating a good ground in the same gauge.
> If the fuses didnt blow before its pretty much a given the wires that burnt were arcing or nor heavy enough.
> Not a lot of good reviews on that control box BTW.


agreed, i upgraded to 16g and just found a r.a.p in the cabin fuse box. nice and open ground bolt right next to it. volt meter showed no power until i turned the truck on, then it showed like 12.7-13.5. should be the perfect spot to tap into. greatly appreciate everyones help


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## NBRam1500 (Nov 22, 2019)

Worth double checking all your connections, a "bad" connection will actually draw more power/ could cause an arc/ short. In that case popping the fuse ,
Could even have a bad switch. I've had brand new switches ( light up switches) new out of the box that would short out . 

Doubling the trucks cig lighter your going to want to upgrade the wire size . Yes you can buy a double outlet that will plug in to a single outlet these are meant for light duty use. Like a cell phone charger..


Think about a power bar for your house.. just be because you have 8 outlets on one bar doesn't mean you can plug in 8 power tools being used at the same time. 

Do NOT just upgrade the fuse doing so will be a fire hazard! 

That fuse is paired with the size wire being used. 
Bigger fuse won't allow the circuit to trip before the wire burns out.


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## KeeganH13 (Dec 8, 2020)

NBRam1500 said:


> Worth double checking all your connections, a "bad" connection will actually draw more power/ could cause an arc/ short. In that case popping the fuse ,
> Could even have a bad switch. I've had brand new switches ( light up switches) new out of the box that would short out .
> 
> Doubling the trucks cig lighter your going to want to upgrade the wire size . Yes you can buy a double outlet that will plug in to a single outlet these are meant for light duty use. Like a cell phone charger..
> ...


I wired into a r.a.p in the cabin fuse panel, using the chart that @CCSnow provided and doing some digging on the operating outputs of the lights and switch panel I'm using, it fell within the 16g wire and it's running about 8-10 amps. Every light is LED in all the components so they aren't as much draw as some of the older light bars and such


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