| KC Hi-lite Light Installation |
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The Jeep project was closing in on the front end of the Jeep and the last thing to
be installed was the winch and front bumper and there was a need to have some lights installed.
So I ordered up the lights off of eBay
and I sat back and waited for them to come in. While I was waiting, I went
to the local parts store and picked up a generic wiring kit for lights on a vehicle. This kit came with some wires,
some zip ties, and a switch to control the lights.
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| I started off the project by making sure the wires were long enough by test fitting
them and making sure they would run from the lights into the cab to where I wanted to mount the switch. Once this
was done, I was able to string the 2 wires necessary for the light hookup into the wire loom.
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I opted to buy some wire loom to encase the wires for a nice clean look. Once the
wires are in the loom, you can tape up the loom fully, or go every 6 inches or so like I did.
Once the wire loom was all set up, you can run the wires next to the front wiring harness for the headlights and
zip tie them into place. This adds a nice clean look under the hood of the Jeep's engine compartment.
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After the engine compartment is wired up nicely, you have to make sure you put the
wires through the firewall in such a way so they don't chafe. I tried a few things, but ended up settling on using
the leftover loom to go through the firewall. This adds a nice clean look to finish up the engine wiring.
Make sure you have a nice solid ground as well so the lights will be grounded properly. I opted to use the ground
that was installed with the painless wiring
harness. This ground was a sheet metal screw in the firewall, so accessing it was not an issue. I finished up the
loom for the firewall entrance by putting the wires in and then taping them up.
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| Once the engine bay was all set, I set out to drill 2 holes in the bottom of the dash
to mount the switch. The switch requires power, the lead for the lights, and a ground. I opted to use the same
ground for the switch as I did for the lights. The light lead was all set from the installation of the engine bay
and the only remaining wire was the power. I tapped into the unused cigarette lighter wire and everything was done.
I stood back and fired it up and the lights came on without a hitch.
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| Lessons Learned the Hard Way |
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| So, my lessons learned here would have to be that you need to figure out where you
want to run your power lead. I first thought it was a good idea to do this to a switched source. By this I
mean that you want to have the power only on when the ignition switch is turned to the switched or "on" position. I
later re-thought this position and opted to run this to a constant 12 volt source so I can turn the lights on
whenever I want to whether the Jeep was on or not. Also keep in mind that wherever you run this to, the amperage
needs to be such that you don't blow out any fuses. A 15 or higher amperage will be sufficient.
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| Conclusions |
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This is a pretty easy thing to do for adding some lights on the trail for your Jeep.
A nice set of lights shouldn't run you too much money if you get just the lights and get a wiring kit from somewhere
else. I opted for this route and it worked out fine.
Keep in mind that you will need to hook this up to a 12 volt source and you will have to figure out if you want to
run the lights with or without the ignition switch armed or not. I opted to do this when the Jeep was off, but you
can run the power wire to a switched source if you wish.
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