Off Road Lights

[dvxman72]

I bought some eagle eye 5" (1515HCC) 100w lights and I cannot get them to work. I have them wired according to the diagram and I checked to make sure they were properly grounded. I checked the switch to make sure that it is working and it is. I even connected the battery directly to one of the bulbs but still nothing. My brother says that on 12v lights there is usually a green and black wire but because this has a white and black wire he thinks it may require more voltage.

[ckiguy]

i have a set of lights that have a green and white wire and a white an black whire and red and black. i gues it all depends on the manufacture. the black is almost always the ground, and the white is sometimes the ground, semi trucks, and trailors use white as the ground, black as the tail, brown as the marker and red as the stop light and blue is for the constant pwr sourse, usully with the key on for abs, yellow is for the left and green is for the right turn. so you can see right there is all wabber jobber.
if the bulb does not work hooked directly to the battery, i might assume a bad bulb. on your ground is it to the frame, or just to a metal peice? and is that peice actually connect in some way to the frame? i have seen some of the high discharge lights on trucks if the ground is poor, no lights. so i would check with a multi metere wht kinda ohms you have. the lower the number the better the ground. keep it under 5 ohms ideally. clean the contact area, and make sure its secured tightly. take your ohmmeter and check wht the ohms is on the grond location. if its says OL you have no ground. its aying out of limits, or its open. you can also use your ohmmeter, slip it to the coninuity tester, or the beep function or the function that looks like a arrow to check your bulb. if it beeps, bulb is good,it has coninuity. if you are on the arrow function, and the scale goes nuts, and beeps, good bulb, i think you get the picture.

[freddmc]

Generally, when I have a similar electrical problem I start with a direct connection to the battery. Once you have established that it works there you will know which wires do what and if the bulb and/or battery is good.

Good luck

Fred

[kevinandrew]

Originally Posted by dvxman72

I bought some eagle eye 5" (1515HCC) 100w lights and I cannot get them to work. I have them wired according to the diagram and I checked to make sure they were properly grounded. I checked the switch to make sure that it is working and it is. I even connected the battery directly to one of the bulbs but still nothing. My brother says that on 12v lights there is usually a green and black wire but because this has a white and black wire he thinks it may require more voltage.

not to be a smart aleck, but did you take a look at the info that came with the lights. sometimes dirrections contain 'need to know' things that help. next thought: most all electrical problems are 'high resistance' connections such as dirty terminals (paint, rust, or other non-conducting barriers). next: both lights don't work? check filiments. broken filiments don't conduct. can you check continuity across bulb, across light unit? hope this helps. i don't really do much auto electric......but i am a union journeyman electrician and i have a multi-meter and i'm not afraid to use it. up date as to what the problem was so that we can all learn with you. good luck

[WickedCarts]

how is it properly grounded??? i would test them by hooking them up directly to a 12volt battery... trey black on the ground and white on the positive if they dont work when switch the wires around... than let me know...

[DannyO]

I hooked up lights about 3 hours ago. They didn't work initially because of a poor ground. Clean the metal and make sure the ground wire firmly touches the frame.

[kevinandrew]

if proper grounding is such a big problem......why not use a bonding, or jumper wire. run a ground from the light or whatever device you are installing to any point on the cart that clearly runs back to your power source so that your circuit is complete. the cost of another wire is a lot cheaper than hours wasted trouble shooting. if in doubt try check continuity. no continuity.....no complete circuit. remember: every circuit is just a circle with the power source in the middle, and all of your devices typically in series.

[ckiguy]

bad grounds fix most problems 90 percent of time with this find of work!

[dvxman72]

I figured it out. Turns out I'm an idiot. The splicers I was using were not cutting into the wires and it was not getting power or being grounded. Thanks for all the posts.

[DOOmsman]

Now i want you to start over, I have to go eat but if you are taping in 200 watts of lights you need a sub fuse panel and not run them off the carts wiring.
I may be wrong but lets see what others have to say.