I picked up a used set of Hella 500s the other day and threw them on my XJ last night. I plan on mounting the switch in the plate that goes around the shifter so I tapped into the light for the PRND321 for my switch power. I made sure the switch was powering on before I hooked up the ground and battery wires for the relay. As soon as I touched the relay ground wire to metal, with the switch in the on position, I heard a loud click which I'm assuming was just the relay closing. I then attached the battery wire to my positive terminal but the light did not come on. After cycling the switch a few times, I noticed that it was no longer lighting in the on position either. Any ideas what's wrong?


This was my first time wiring anything like this so I apologize ahead of time if I'm missing something really stupid.

 

Hey...can someone help here because I have the same dilema but I haven't started to hook up the powe yet.

 

you blew the fuse for the instrument lights. I bet you don't have interior lights on the gauge cluster now

if not, then you could have put it on the wrong side of the light so the power is running through the light coming out the light then going to the switch, and blew out the bulb thus opening the circuit. very bad choice for a power source.


choose a new power source (i.e. run your own from a spare battery terminal on the fuse box), fix your light source.

 

I've not seen them over here but if you can get a fused relay it'll prevent blowing whatever circuit you tap into.

As jeepcomj said pick another power source - the instrument illumination circuit will likely only have a 5amp fuse which isn't near strong enough for auxillary lighting. If needed you can always resort to coming straight off the battery - at very least put an in-line fuse in there to protect your circuit.

 

and remember, put the fuse as close to the power source as possible just in case any wires get pinched.

 

excellent point

 

You're right, I did go out after I posted and notice that my instrument lights were out and replaced the fuse.

I thought I'd be ok since its just for the trigger for the relay, didn't think to check the the amp rating on the fuse. I followed the wiring diagram that someone had posted in a previous thread for everything except for this case where it said to tap into the running lights or high beams so that I didn't risk damaging them. I'll have to try the fuse box tomorrow and hopefully that does the trick.

Can I just tap into the fuse slots for an accesory like the rear wiper so that the lights will only be on when the key is turned on?

UK Pony - good to see some more S197s on here, I have an 07 California Special