I bought some fogs at walmart the other day that came with the wiring and the switch. I installed them and they work great. My only concern is that they didn't come with a relay so I didn't install one. Would you guys recommend I get a relay or is it not needed?

 

Come on, where are the electrical experts at? Lol!

 

Ask bob. I would always run a relay with aux lights.

 

I installed a set of wally world lights on my Ranger, straight of the battery. I used thicker guage wire then what the kit came with though.

No negative effects yet. I guess we shall see.

 

I think im going to install a relay just in case. Better safe than sorry.

 

I had one of those kits on my old truck and I luckily caught the flaw of no relay before my truck burned to the ground. when running no relay you can and will melt wires regardless of the size of wiring. its just not safe or recommended

 

run a relay. youll burn up switches if you dont. heres a diagram. your switch shouldnt have lots of power running through it. thats why you fuse it with a 3amp fuse and have the lights powered seperately by the relay

 

depends on the current dray, but for any lights i would definitely run a relay. doesn't take that much work and its tons safer that way.

 

ALWAYS run a relay & fuse at the battery.

If something shorts out or overheats, you'll be better protected than running straight to the power source.

A couple bucks for a relay & fuse holder could save your truck from burning up.

It's ok to run larger wire than the lights came with, AS LONG AS they are properly fused & controlled by a relay. If not, you're asking for trouble.

I even run a fuse on the wire running through the firewall that turns on the relay under the hood. The worst thing that can happen is if something shorts out, I blow a $0.10 fuse.

 

Thanks for the advice guys. Im installing a relay as soon as I can.

 

A relay is intended for the purpose of keeping high current out of the cab.
If you guys that don’t use a relay get a short in the main power wire and the fuse doesn’t blow then you WILL have a fire.
Relays are an easy do, so there is no excuse, just do it !
It does take a little extra 18 ga wire and an extra fuse on the switch power wire but it is a good thing to have.
Also always use a fuse on the main power wire going to pin 30 on the relay AND keep the fuse close to the battery.
Size your fuse for the smallest component in the circuit.

This is the diagram I use for basic aux lighting, it works.

 

Yeah, after some logical thought, I installed one.

lol