Progression Of The Beater

[Delta]

Been doing odds and ends to the truck to make it more suitable, atleast to me. Been driving this to work more often and it needed some upgrades. First order of business was to tint the windows because of my sensitivity to light.

35% on the fronts and 20% on the rear.

Decided to do it myself, and let me tell you now I know why professionals charge what they do. Isn't perfect, but not bad. Plan on redoing it eventually.

Second order of business is lighting. I commute all backroads and state highway. The mountain visibility can be terrible and times, so I needed to remedy the situation. Bought a 20" LED light bar and harness. I know they're mostly for offroad, but I have it pointed down to avoid the blinding of other cars.

Mounted

Next was the wiring. The kit I bought had the trigger wire just connected to batter positive, that didn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling. The relay was fused. I had a fuse tap on hand and wanted the light to only come on with the lights. Got my tester and did some investigation. Found the rear light fuse.

Lights on

Lights off

That should do it. Not the most optimal solution, but it works.

Relay mounted and wire routed. Put what I can in wire loom for a cleaner look. There was extra trigger wire, but decided not to shorten and splice it for anything I might do in the future.

Put together

This was the best place I could put the switch, as it was the only readily available spot that had room behind it. Didn't want to put it where the 4wd switch would go as I know the red light would bug the stew out of me.

Will have to do a night drive to see what the final result is, but it should yield what I want.

 

[Colt45ws]

It'll make the road directly in front bright like day, so you'll blow out your night vision and wont be able to see as far.
You can dim the LED in that switch. It probably has three terminals; battery pos+, pos+ to relay, and ground for the light. Put a 10k ohm resistor in line on the ground terminal and it will still light, but be very dim. I recently did the same to a switch I put in my '03 to remote control the passenger spot light from the driver seat.

 

[Delta]

Originally Posted By: Colt45ws
It'll make the road directly in front bright like day, so you'll blow out your night vision and wont be able to see as far.
You can dim the LED in that switch. It probably has three terminals; battery pos+, pos+ to relay, and ground for the light. Put a 10k ohm resistor in line on the ground terminal and it will still light, but be very dim. I recently did the same to a switch I put in my '03 to remote control the passenger spot light from the driver seat.


I was initially worried about that, but with the way I have it aimed it actually goes a great distance. Drove the truck to work all week and it performed flawless. The old headlights just don't cut it driving up the mountain. Looks out of place on a 2wd truck, but function over form...