P1000 RC 50in Light Bar Issues

[Tmorg]

Do any of you have any experience with Rough Country 50in Light bars? I just installed one tonight on my buggy and I am having some issues. See the attached pictures below. I have several lights that are not quite as bright as the rest when it comes on. After riding a bid, then they come on/go back dim again. The when the buggy was running with the light on, the amps dropped on my second battery to .8 and bounced around then back to 13 amps. I do have a dual battery set up and all accessories are wired to a blue seas fuse block(also wired to a contra V switch). Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Admin]

 

[Remington]

I would have it hooked also to a Relay as well as to the fuse block.
straight up is prob too much draw.

 

[Mark in Northern Iowa]

I would have to second what Remington said, and ask are you using a relay?
Not many switches can handle that much draw.
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Have a good day

 

[Remington]

I would have to second what Remington said, and ask are you using a relay?
Not many switches can handle that much draw.
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View attachment 321130
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Have a good day

Thats a perfect drawing. 👍

 

[Remington]

Hay @Tmorg let us know how it turns out after the relay is in.

 

[Tmorg]

Yea. It actually came with a harness and relay, but I didn't use it because it is 7 miles long!! The strange thing is it only pulled the battery down twice. The rest of the time it seems to be fine except for the lights in the middle being dim.

 

[Rayger143]

Yea. It actually came with a harness and relay, but I didn't use it because it is 7 miles long!! The strange thing is it only pulled the battery down twice. The rest of the time it seems to be fine except for the lights in the middle being dim.

Definitely install the relay on it first. If it still is the same I think you have a bad light bar.

 

[bumperm]

Couple more things you can do to test the wiring and the light if you have a voltmeter. You've already mounted the light, but when you receive LEDs, it's a good idea to connect them directly to a fully charged battery (or one that measures at least 12.6 volts). Then all the LEDs should be illuminated brightly as expected. On your installation, if possible, measure the voltage at or near the light. You will likely find it low if you didn't use adequate sized wiring. 12 ga wire would be good, or you routed all the current through the panel switch (no doubt with smaller wire size going to the switch - definitely sub-optimal).

A big light bar will typically draw a fair amount of current. My 54" Nilight draws about 16.5 amps (not the roughly 24 amps that doing the math with their claimed 312 watts would suggest, but still bright). As others already posted, you don't want to run that current through a rocker switch, even though most claim 20 amp rating, that's really pushing it - 10 amps and I'd be using a relay. Use the rocker switch to provide power to a relay coil, then the relay contacts will switch power to the light bar.

 

[Tmorg]

Yea, I'm going to rewire it tonight with the relay. We will see if it solves my issues. I'll keep you all posted!

 

[john790]

Hook your light straight to power if it works fine your under powered OR under grounded some forget about the ground.I had a big light they suck up the juice.I ran into this with a different bike not the honda .The light the plow the heater the bike not enough charging capacity.

 

[Tmorg]

Morning folks!

Alright here's the update. I rewired the light bar using the harness that it came with it(including relay) and the same thing happened, well kind of! This time, when I turned the light on without the machine running it worked fine, but when the isolator kicked on the same section lights went dim again! So it's looks like I have a bad light. I cant think of any other thing it could be at this point(until you all give me some ideas) .

So I called up RC yesterday and I explained the issue to them and ask if they had seen any issues like this of late. While I was explaining it to them, I could hear the guy typing the whole time. Once I was done he was like no I haven't seen any issue like this, but your replacement will ship out next week! I'm like well that's great, what do I need to do return this one? He was like nope, just keep it and we are sending you a new one! We are sorry for the issues you had with your purchase. You don't see customer service this much any more!

Let me know what you all think!

As always, thanks for your help!

 

[Remington]

Morning folks!

Alright here's the update. I rewired the light bar using the harness that it came with it(including relay) and the same thing happened, well kind of! This time, when I turned the light on without the machine running it worked fine, but when the isolator kicked on the same section lights went dim again! So it's looks like I have a bad light. I cant think of any other thing it could be at this point(until you all give me some ideas) .

So I called up RC yesterday and I explained the issue to them and ask if they had seen any issues like this of late. While I was explaining it to them, I could hear the guy typing the whole time. Once I was done he was like no I haven't seen any issue like this, but your replacement will ship out next week! I'm like well that's great, what do I need to do return this one? He was like nope, just keep it and we are sending you a new one! We are sorry for the issues you had with your purchase. You don't see customer service this much any more!

Let me know what you all think!

As always, thanks for your help!

That's great! I use there stuff as well. Good CS.
back to your light tho. Im glad u installed the relay. U can cut and splice that harness to make it shorter you know, wont hurt it. either way, you said without the engine running it was fine? Then when the ISO kicked on it dimmed.
so to be clear, you have it wired completely to the second battery correct? If so, with the light connected and disconnected to the second battery what is your output voltage from that battery DC when the ISO kicks in? sounds like now u have either a second Battery issue or an ISO issue. Your light should work fine hooked up there if its fine before the ISO kicks in.

 

[P1K5Dave]

Have you done the math on your total amp draw? I've been running the 4 Crees on my Audioformz roof, a 15" bumper LED, and a pair of LED mirrors (in addition to my stereo) off my second battery with no problems.

I went a bit over the top with a pair of 6" light cannons added on, and they're drawing too much and causing my radio to cut out. 😫

I really like those blasters, and may still try to figure out how to make them work...or maybe downsize to draw less.

 

[Tmorg]

That's great! I use there stuff as well. Good CS.
back to your light tho. Im glad u installed the relay. U can cut and splice that harness to make it shorter you know, wont hurt it. either way, you said without the engine running it was fine? Then when the ISO kicked on it dimmed.
so to be clear, you have it wired completely to the second battery correct? If so, with the light connected and disconnected to the second battery what is your output voltage from that battery DC when the ISO kicks in? sounds like now u have either a second Battery issue or an ISO issue. Your light should work fine hooked up there if its fine before the ISO kicks in.

Yea, I cut down the harness to make it more manageable! Yea to start with it worked fine the first time I turned it on. But since, it just stays dimmer and when the isolator kicks on in gets even dimmer. Yes I have it wired thru a fuse block to the second battery. The second battery is running around 13.3 when the light is on and motor is not running. When the motor is running(isolator on) it is up to around 13.6. I have had no problems with the 2nd battery or the isolator before this. 🙄

 

[trigger]

Morning folks!

Alright here's the update. I rewired the light bar using the harness that it came with it(including relay) and the same thing happened, well kind of! This time, when I turned the light on without the machine running it worked fine, but when the isolator kicked on the same section lights went dim again! So it's looks like I have a bad light. I cant think of any other thing it could be at this point(until you all give me some ideas) .

So I called up RC yesterday and I explained the issue to them and ask if they had seen any issues like this of late. While I was explaining it to them, I could hear the guy typing the whole time. Once I was done he was like no I haven't seen any issue like this, but your replacement will ship out next week! I'm like well that's great, what do I need to do return this one? He was like nope, just keep it and we are sending you a new one! We are sorry for the issues you had with your purchase. You don't see customer service this much any more!

Let me know what you all think!

As always, thanks for your help!

They did the same thing with a couple of 4" pods I bought from them. Had a short where the wire entered the light. Sent me new ones and when I asked about sending the old ones back he said " they don't work right so we don't want them either". Lol, good people.

 

[Tmorg]

Have you done the math on your total amp draw? I've been running the 4 Crees on my Audioformz roof, a 15" bumper LED, and a pair of LED mirrors (in addition to my stereo) off my second battery with no problems.

I went a bit over the top with a pair of 6" light cannons added on, and they're drawing too much and causing my radio to cut out. 😫

I really like those blasters, and may still try to figure out how to make them work...or maybe downsize to draw less.

I have not done the math at this point. I'm running lighted mirrors, radio, CB, pods, light bar, under seat fan and Honda store back up light kit and add a light kit (12 bar). Have never ran all of them at one time, to see if tis going to create any issues(I just finished everything today)! We will see how it goes!

 

[Tmorg]

Just wanted to follow up on this and let you all know that I got my new light bar in today. Hooked it up and it works perfectly! Looks like I just had a bad light! Thanks for your help.

 

[bumperm]

I have not done the math at this point. I'm running lighted mirrors, radio, CB, pods, light bar, under seat fan and Honda store back up light kit and add a light kit (12 bar). Have never ran all of them at one time, to see if tis going to create any issues(I just finished I

If you haven't installed one, I suggest a second battery. :c)

A heads up, you can't "do the math" to arrive at your total current draw using the advertised wattage figures for LED lights on places like Amazon. It's almost like an advertising bidding war, with each mfg/seller claiming more watts than the other guy - as if wattage translated directly to light output.

My 54" NiLight light bar on-line description stated 312 watts! (The formula is Current = Watts / Voltage), at 13 volts the light draws a bit less than 16.5 amps which comes to 214 watts. Thus my advice is to measure actual current draw. Note most DVOM's (digital volt/ohm meters) will only measure to 10 amps through the leads, so a clamp-on meter is good to have when measuring higher current.

 

[Tmorg]

If you haven't installed one, I suggest a second battery. :c)

A heads up, you can't "do the math" to arrive at your total current draw using the advertised wattage figures for LED lights on places like Amazon. It's almost like an advertising bidding war, with each mfg/seller claiming more watts than the other guy - as if wattage translated directly to light output.

My 54" NiLight light bar on-line description stated 312 watts! (The formula is Current = Watts / Voltage), at 13 volts the light draws a bit less than 16.5 amps which comes to 214 watts. Thus my advice is to measure actual current draw. Note most DVOM's (digital volt/ohm meters) will only measure to 10 amps through the leads, so a clamp-on meter is good to have when measuring higher current.

Agreed!!

I do have a dual battery set up. Thanks everyone!