I have a headlight harness with two relays. I have a pair of led fog lights with one relay. And i just bought a led light bar which likely has a relay.

I mounted the existing relays near the battery. But I’m running out of room there and they would be a pain to replace on the road, being screwed to the sidewall, down in that crack.

1. Is there a better place to mount these things? With the wires from the kits, the relays seem to want to live somewhere around the battery or fuse block.

2. Is there any way to combine the wires and relays at all so I don’t need so many? Or is having them separate a better idea in case a relay fails? What about combining wires somehow? Sorry, not an electrician.

 

1. In my '88 XJ, I mounted the underhood fuse panel from a early 90s Dodge Dakota over on the driver's side inner fender, beside the master cylinder. I'm sitting on an underhood fuse panel from another XJ that one day I'll mount in the same spot in my other XJ. I used one of the below to drive the HVAC blower. Pricey as all heck, but nice and compact...

https://www.summitracing.com/search/...on%3Auniversal

You could also use something like the below to ease placing individual relays somewhere other than near the battery..

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/rnb-90607

2. The headlight harness absolutely needs relays , but you could replace the relays in the harness with relays built into something, like a fuse panel or that MSD solid state relay strip. The add-on lights may warrant relays, maybe they don't... Do you know the amp draw of the fog lights and light bar?

The first question you have to ask yourself is whether you want the lights to "automatically" shut off with the ignition key or whether you are ok with wiring them direct to battery and them being controlled solely by the switch. Short of using the OEM fog light circuit to power the new LED fog lights, you'll be hard pressed to find an existing ignition-hot or accessory-hot circuit that will support significant additional current draw. Half of the electrical mods we do to these XJs are done to take load off the existing circuits. So there's relay #1...

From there, the actual amp draw of the lights, and personal preference, determine the rest... 30A relays are somewhat common for old skool aftermarket light installations. Assuming each light draws less than 15A, suitable switches are easy enough to find. A steel 1/4" press-on tab connector w/ 10ga wire is good for 25A continuous, 14ga wire is good for 15A. Ideally you'd have 3 fuses, a 25A and two 15A, but you can get away without the 30A if you keep the relay close to the battery. If neither light pulls more than 15A, and combined they don't draw more than 25A, done...

But, that's some big wiring... And some beefy switches... And a relay that may not be the easiest to find in a pinch... A lot of this simply comes down to personal preference, after you get past a bit of Engineering... The above is "engineered" well enough and if it fits your preferences, send it... Or maybe it doesn't fit your preferences... Or maybe one of them draws more than 15A, or maybe they pull more than 25A combined, or maybe... Multiple ways to skin this cat...

 

If you want to spend some money, solid state relays are awesome. Especially this one….

https://www.holley.com/products/elec...IaAgTKEALw_wcB

built in circuit breakers (no need for fuses) and 4 relays packed into one small little bar. These also greatly simplify the wiring. I have wired in a few of these already and they turn out amazing.