I had a look through past threads and couldn't see that anyone else had used this method to wire spotties.
Next to the main relay and fuse box in the engine is a smaller relay box that holds the air suspension relay on models that have it. My 03 GXL doesn't, so the relay holder was empty, but populated with contacts. This relay holder takes standard bosch/narva type relays, so I set out to try to use this, thus keeping an OEM look. I checked the wiring diagram and poked around with my multimeter and discovered there is fused battery power to one side of the switched contacts. Also I discovered that the relay coil wiring goes to a plug in the cabin which isn't connected. This meant I could wire them up without having to run any wires through the firewall.
My final cabling was as follows:
1 Power to the relay switch contact (Black-white) left untouched.
2 Switched power from the relay (Blue) cut a few inches from the relay and power to spots soldered on.
3 Earth from relay coil (White-black) cut a few inches from the relay and a wire soldered on. Other end of this wire was tapped into headlight common (red-green) behind the left headlight. There were 2 red-green wires at the left headlight - the common is the left connector looking from the rear.
4 The other side of the relay coil (brown-yellow) runs to a disconnected plug in the passenger side footwell. I cut the wire here and soldered on a wire that I ran behind the dash across the cabin to the switch.
5 A wire from the other side of the switch was tapped into the high beam wire (red-green) underneath the steering wheel.
Wherever I tapped a wire I stripped insulation and soldered my new wire on - I hate those crimp joiners with a passion. A bit of insulation tape and some splitloom finished off the installation.
The standard air-sus fuse is 50A which is excessive for spots, but the relay I used had a built in fuse holder, so I left the 50A fuse in place. If I used a standard relay the fuse should be changed for something appropriate for the power of the spots eg 20A for 200W total.
Overall I'm very happy with the result - my relay and fuse are in standard factory holders, and I didn't have to run any wires through the firewall. All that remains is to label the relay box with my modifications so if anyone ever looks at it they will know what is what.
Next to the main relay and fuse box in the engine is a smaller relay box that holds the air suspension relay on models that have it. My 03 GXL doesn't, so the relay holder was empty, but populated with contacts. This relay holder takes standard bosch/narva type relays, so I set out to try to use this, thus keeping an OEM look. I checked the wiring diagram and poked around with my multimeter and discovered there is fused battery power to one side of the switched contacts. Also I discovered that the relay coil wiring goes to a plug in the cabin which isn't connected. This meant I could wire them up without having to run any wires through the firewall.
My final cabling was as follows:
1 Power to the relay switch contact (Black-white) left untouched.
2 Switched power from the relay (Blue) cut a few inches from the relay and power to spots soldered on.
3 Earth from relay coil (White-black) cut a few inches from the relay and a wire soldered on. Other end of this wire was tapped into headlight common (red-green) behind the left headlight. There were 2 red-green wires at the left headlight - the common is the left connector looking from the rear.
4 The other side of the relay coil (brown-yellow) runs to a disconnected plug in the passenger side footwell. I cut the wire here and soldered on a wire that I ran behind the dash across the cabin to the switch.
5 A wire from the other side of the switch was tapped into the high beam wire (red-green) underneath the steering wheel.
Wherever I tapped a wire I stripped insulation and soldered my new wire on - I hate those crimp joiners with a passion. A bit of insulation tape and some splitloom finished off the installation.
The standard air-sus fuse is 50A which is excessive for spots, but the relay I used had a built in fuse holder, so I left the 50A fuse in place. If I used a standard relay the fuse should be changed for something appropriate for the power of the spots eg 20A for 200W total.
Overall I'm very happy with the result - my relay and fuse are in standard factory holders, and I didn't have to run any wires through the firewall. All that remains is to label the relay box with my modifications so if anyone ever looks at it they will know what is what.
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