Rock Light Wiring Clarification Needed

[arskemp]

Thanks for the input. Do you know which wire you will use to trigger the relay? Not sure which one is correct if I decide to go that route. Since I'm only installing 4 lights I may bypass that and just wire directly to the bed light which should be easier.

Did a quick illustration for how MY relay is hooked up:

- The trigger wire on my harness is yellow, and is going to pin 85. However, pin 85 and 86 are interchangeable (aka, some harnesses have 85 tied to ground, and 86 is the trigger wire). Basically, there an internal coil in the relay that can be energized by either direction which will trigger the 87 and 30 to switch on.

- 87 and 30 are also interchangeable for that matter, although your harness likely makes it obvious how it should be wired up.

Do you have a multimeter? The easiest way to test this is to find the ground wire on the harness and use a multimeter to check for continuity. Pull the relay off to access the connector on the harness side, and see which pin has continuity to ground. If it is 86, you will use 85 for the trigger wire, if it is 85, you will use 86 for the trigger wire. You can then use the multimeter to determine which of the 3 wires makes continuity to 85/86.

Also, if you are already using a multimeter, for good measure you can easily check continuity for the all the wires going to the switch. 1 should go to 12V, 1 to ground, and 1 to only a relay pin (the relay trigger wire)

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[JCappy]

Did a quick illustration for how MY relay is hooked up:

- The trigger wire on my harness is yellow, and is going to pin 85. However, pin 85 and 86 are interchangeable (aka, some harnesses have 85 tied to ground, and 86 is the trigger wire). Basically, there an internal coil in the relay that can be energized by either direction which will trigger the 87 and 30 to switch on.

- 87 and 30 are also interchangeable for that matter, although your harness likely makes it obvious how it should be wired up.

Do you have a multimeter? The easiest way to test this is to find the ground wire on the harness and use a multimeter to check for continuity. Pull the relay off to access the connector on the harness side, and see which pin has continuity to ground. If it is 86, you will use 85 for the trigger wire, if it is 85, you will use 86 for the trigger wire. You can then use the multimeter to determine which of the 3 wires makes continuity to 85/86.

Also, if you are already using a multimeter, for good measure you can easily check continuity for the all the wires going to the switch. 1 should go to 12V, 1 to ground, and 1 to only a relay pin (the relay trigger wire)

Awesome info. I appreciate the time you took to do this. Wiring is NOT my strong point. I do have a multimeter so I may play around with it this afternoon if it decides to warm up for a change.
Thanks