Could someone help me make sure I don’t set my truck on fire?

All of my previous lighting accessories came with the option for a plug and play wiring harness. I’ve dipped my toe into some custom wiring but I need to hook up my first relay. I’ve watched a ton of relay videos and it seems pretty simple. Would someone mind looking at my diagram below and letting me know if they see any fatal errors here? Much appreciated!

 

Kind of tough to follow your diagram. The easiest way to think of a relay is just an electro-magnetic switch. 85 and 86 are both ends of a coil that make up the switch. Depending on if you are using a SPST (single pole single throw) or SPDT (single pole double throw) relay, in their most basic wiring and form you can either turn power on to one component (SPST) or switch power between components (SPDT) when the relay (switch) is energized.

The easiest way to plan this out for a light bar or powered accessory is to work backwards. Lightbar needs power and ground. Power side of light needs switched power. Power feed to light goes to pin 87. Power feed to relay (switch) goes to pin 30. Now simply figure out how you want to activate the light. The relay can be "turned on" with either power or ground, so you will need to determine the "output" of the switch you intend to use to activate whatever light you want to turn on.

Can you explain a little further what you are trying to accomplish?

 

This is excellent. Normally I’m a trial and error kind of guy that learns by doing. That said, electricity is one of those ‘get it right the first time’ kind of things. Your write up helps me think about it from another angle that I hadn’t before. I’ve got 4 rock lights on my bed rack that I needed to extend wiring under the frame and then up through the back of the passenger front wheel well. The lights came with a simple toggle but I want to switch that out for an OEM style switch from caliraised. I only have power and ground fed through the fire wall. My main question is if it’s ok that the power from the battery should feed both the OEM switch and pin 30 with the splice I have in the middle of the diagram through the in-line fuse without melting and sparking flame. I’m adding my own automotive grade 18ga white wire to span from the switch to pin 86. Also, all the grounds splice together there at the lower right corner of the relay.

Because it’s not a simple one-wire-to-one-wire-so-simple-a-kid-could-do-it, I just want to be sure nothing will blow up :-D

 

Calling @RainMan_PNW

 

Unfortunately, without a diagram on the caliraised switch, I can only speculate how it is wired in.

Judging by your diagram I ASSUME that the switch is toggling a ground signal when the caliraised switch is activated. Because of this, you will need to apply +12v to the other side of the coil to activate the relay. Again I am guessing, but the 12v wire at the caliraised switch most likely is there to illuminate the LED in the switch itself. Using the line from under the hood would cause this to be illuminated all the time so you would want to tie into the illumination circuit of the truck that lights the rest of the buttons and knobs around the interior.

Did the rock lights come as a kit with a harness or are you making it all up on your own? Do you have a 4 pin or 5 pin relay?

You are on the right track, I'm happy to help you through it though.

It's helpful to think it through in stages. Wire all the lights together so you have one main run going into the truck, now think of that as just needing to have power and ground applied. Decide where all of your connections will live (behind the drivers' side underdash panel most likely) and plan your runs accordingly. If you wish to use the ground run from under the hood as your ground for the whole system, make a singular point where all your ground connections can live. Now think of your relay (switch) pin 87 will be power out to the lights, pin 30 will be power in from the battery. Now you will need 12v on one side and ground on the other of 85/86 to "activate" the relay. The output from the caliraised switch will help you decide if you will have +12v from the battery or ground opposite the wire from caliraised.

Just a quick diagram to hopefully illustrate this a little clearer. Again, ASSUMING the output from the caliraised switch is a ground signal.

 

The one part of the equation is what size fuse are you using and what gage wire? Also what wattage are the lights? Thats where you'll burn your truck down.

 

Need a diagram of your switch. The wires don’t mean anything there without something stating what color is what function on the switch.

then we can talk through the talk of the details

 

Just hook it up and see what happens

maybe a crazy thought , but if your not sure don’t mess with it, especially such an electronically connected vehicle

 

Didn't mean to go MIA. The rock lights are from baja design and I believe I saw somewhere they each draw 0.3 amps. They came with plug and play connectors that all combine to about a 16-14ga wire that also connects to a toggle switch meant to be in cab. Since I think they are anticipating application in wheel wells or roof racks, the wires were too short, so I lengthened them with my own 14ga power and ground wire. The inline fuse that came with the harness came with a 15 amp fuse which should be more than enough (but I am planning on adding chase lights in at some point). The relay I got is a single throw relay rated for 30 amps and I'm adding it in because of my plan to add more to the circuit in the future and a need for the relay to power the OEM style switch I have from cali raised LED. Hopefully that all makes sense. As I said, just dipping my toe into custom electrical work so always happy to learn and take advice if its available. Thank you all for your input.

attaching cali raised diagram below

 

Unfortunately that pinout doesn't address the output of the green wire being either + or - switched.

Regardless,

Yellow = illumination circuit, I haven't looked too far to find a schematic or FSM for this truck to list pinouts and wire colors, but this connection would technically be optional and won't affect the function of the switch.
Red = connect after your fused line running from under the hood.
White and Black can be combined together for ground. You can choose to ground all to the same wire from under the hood or choose to ground these closer to the switch.
Green = switched output that will actuate the relay. If you can get further info from caliraised great, or invest in a digital multimeter and test it for yourself to see what is being output. Honestly if you're planning on doing anything like this, I would recommend buying a DMM and learning how to use one. This can help you install and troubleshoot stuff like this in the future and should be part of everyone's tool kit.

If the switched output is indeed a ground, then the relay diagram I posted above will be what you want to use. If the output of the switch is positive, you will want to follow the diagram below.

 

I’ll have some time tomorrow to sit and digest this and give some feedback.

 

Appreciate any thoughts. Thanks!

 

I can do it.....hold my beer!

 

small bump. thanks @RainMan_PNW

 

Gotten really good feedback from everyone. Thank you! I’m about ready to tackle this as long as no one sees a fatal flaw in my rudimentary diagram as I understand it.

 

As I always say .......what could really happen, hold my beer