Lateknightucd
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Patrick
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2023
- Threads
- 5
- Messages
- 72
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- 317
- Location
- Grand Rapids, MI
- Vehicle(s)
- 2023 Ranger Lariat Jungle Edition
- Occupation
- Medical Compliance
- Thread starter
- #1
Good morning all,
Here’s the basic idea of where I want my lighting to go:
DD SSC2 flood lights with amber backlight on the rear, right, and left of my to-be-delivered Xtrusion Overland bed rack. The flood color is white for things like camp set-up, work lights, etc. with the amber backlight being used for ambient camp lighting, running lights, etc. The idea is for the backlights to all be switched together and for each “zone” flood light to be switched independently (i.e. the two “left” lights switched together). Diode Dynamics already has the lights set up for main beam priority so if the backlight and the main light receive 12V at the same time, only the main beam will function so no worries there.
These, along with a few other items, will run to a 6-gang AuxBeam relay box under the hood. In planning all this out, I have a few questions.
Since the backlights are all switched together and each light needs a ground, is there any reason I can’t run all the backlight leads to a bus bar and all the grounds to a bus bar on the underside of the bed rack towards the front and then run a single ground, single backlight, and one hot lead per zone forward to the relay box. I figure running five wires up front is advantageous to running many more.
If that’s acceptable, does anyone have a lead on waterproof bus bars? I looked at a bunch of marine options but they basically have snap-on covers that leave the sides exposed and don’t seem appropriate for this application. I suppose I could also mount the bus bars in a weatherproof box but that starts to look less clean in my mind. Alternatively, I could mount a bus bar behind the rear seats and use that as the stopover on the way to the engine bay. In any case, I could use some advice here.
Finally, for wire gauge, the SSC2 Sports draw 0.6A per pod so I’m looking at 3.6A. I have spools of 18G wire but the directions recommend 16G. That said, the wiring harness sold by DD appears to be 16G unless you go with the “heavy duty harness”. The directions are for the SSC2 Sport and Pro so I’m wondering if they’re covering both bases with that recommendation. For reference, the Pros draw 2A per pod vs. the Sports at 0.6A.
Thanks in advance for the help!
Here’s the basic idea of where I want my lighting to go:
DD SSC2 flood lights with amber backlight on the rear, right, and left of my to-be-delivered Xtrusion Overland bed rack. The flood color is white for things like camp set-up, work lights, etc. with the amber backlight being used for ambient camp lighting, running lights, etc. The idea is for the backlights to all be switched together and for each “zone” flood light to be switched independently (i.e. the two “left” lights switched together). Diode Dynamics already has the lights set up for main beam priority so if the backlight and the main light receive 12V at the same time, only the main beam will function so no worries there.
These, along with a few other items, will run to a 6-gang AuxBeam relay box under the hood. In planning all this out, I have a few questions.
Since the backlights are all switched together and each light needs a ground, is there any reason I can’t run all the backlight leads to a bus bar and all the grounds to a bus bar on the underside of the bed rack towards the front and then run a single ground, single backlight, and one hot lead per zone forward to the relay box. I figure running five wires up front is advantageous to running many more.
If that’s acceptable, does anyone have a lead on waterproof bus bars? I looked at a bunch of marine options but they basically have snap-on covers that leave the sides exposed and don’t seem appropriate for this application. I suppose I could also mount the bus bars in a weatherproof box but that starts to look less clean in my mind. Alternatively, I could mount a bus bar behind the rear seats and use that as the stopover on the way to the engine bay. In any case, I could use some advice here.
Finally, for wire gauge, the SSC2 Sports draw 0.6A per pod so I’m looking at 3.6A. I have spools of 18G wire but the directions recommend 16G. That said, the wiring harness sold by DD appears to be 16G unless you go with the “heavy duty harness”. The directions are for the SSC2 Sport and Pro so I’m wondering if they’re covering both bases with that recommendation. For reference, the Pros draw 2A per pod vs. the Sports at 0.6A.
Thanks in advance for the help!
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