spotlight issues - possibly due to wire

[hebdenwill]

hi guys,

i've got two 55w spots on the front of my defender, wired to a relay which is connected to the main beam and with a fused feed to the battery. all is well with this. however, after a while the second spotlight (one furthest from the relay) stopped working. I've voltage tested the wire going to it and it appears to only be carrying four volts. the wire I used from the relay to power the lights is fairly thick, 17amp I think, but as it came in a "wiring kit" it didn't say the grade of wire.

I think my problem of the second one not lighting might be down to the wire (checked the bulb, it's fine) because I assume half the voltage in the wire is going into spot number 1, the current isn't strong enough to reach spot 2. of course, this isn't an accurate description of how eletriccery works. OR, it may be that the wire going from relay to spots isn't high enough amperage and that is causing the problem.

if anyone has any idea what the issue might be i'd really appreciate a hand solving this, as it's pretty annoying.

p.s the wires are connected to the right tabs on the relay

[Spare tyre]

take apart your taped up adapter and relpace

[hebdenwill]

yeah i wondered if that might have been the culprit...what do you suggest instead?

[abbotsmike]

Properly solder and heatsrink the join, or Butt crimps.

[hebdenwill]

alright, i've re-done the connection into a nice neat shrinked piggyback clip and strapped it under the grille where it'll be protected. however, spotlight two still doesn't work. i'm gonna test the bulb, if that doesn't work then it'll be a new one, and if that still doesn't work i'll run 10 amp wire from spot 1 to spot 2. if THAT doesn't work i'll writhe them off and buy some proper ones and pay an auto electrician to do the job in 20 minutes

thanks for the advice so far

[951TSE]

What I'd do is lose the plastic block clip all together and connect the blue wire from the number 2 spotlight either to the same terminal on the relay that number one comes from (check its power rating) or see if there's a second supply pin on the relay that does the same as the connector for the number 1 spotlight and connect to that, relays usually have a circuit diagram on the outside of the casing. If not you may need to buy a different relay that has two high power outputs.

Edited by 951TSE on Friday 4th October 22:12

[hebdenwill]

yeah, i did try that actually but to no avail, i spent ages faffing around yesterday trying different things but now the one that was working isn't working any more. might just take it to an auto electrician

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

Um, if I may comment....

In my experience, these types of issues are almost always down to a bad earth, rather than the feed.

Check this first. And I don't just mean your earth from the lamp unit to wherever - I mean also from 'wherever' back to the chassis, or the battery negative.