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Dome light install in a hardtop

Billy Bobbed

Billy Bobbed

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Tinwoodsman said:
Will the 24V dash bulbs fit in the dome light or do they require special bulbs?
Click to expand...
They use the bulbs that are in your parking lights,one is short one is tall.I was going to wire mine 12v but I bought 2 24v fans off Andy so Im going to have to run a 24v wire up there any how.So now I have to chang my 12v bulbs back to 24v bulbs.
 
alanb

alanb

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Apollo Beach, Florida
I just installed my dome light and want to put an inline fuse in. What size fuse should I use?
Would 10 amp work or does it have to be more amps because of the 24 volt system. I'm
pretty useless when it comes to wiring. Any help would be appreciated!
Thank you in advance
 
O

oldMan99

Member
479
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Location
Polk County, Florida
alanb said:
I just installed my dome light and want to put an inline fuse in. What size fuse should I use?
Would 10 amp work or does it have to be more amps because of the 24 volt system. I'm
pretty useless when it comes to wiring. Any help would be appreciated!
Thank you in advance
Click to expand...
a 24 volt system uses 1/2 the amperage of a 12 volt system. A typical 12 volt dome light would be hard pressed to use more than maybe 2 amps. Assuming adequate sized wire a 5 amp fuse would be more than enough. Keeling in mind that a 24v system uses 1/2 the amperage, a 2 amp fuse should be plenty but again, the wiring can more than likely handle 5 amps forever w/o any problem.

Of course you want the fuse physically located as close to the power souse as possible.

Here is a link to a chart that I posted before in a different thread to help you determine the proper wire size to use. Wiring Size Guide To help explain the chart; If you have a 1 amp load that is up to 106 feet away from the power source you can use 14 gauge wire.

Here is another tip; If you can find out the wattage of the bulb (or motor - whatever it actually is, you can call it, "The load") you divide the wattage of the load by the voltage to arrive at the amperage used by that load.

Example: 55 watts divided by 12 volts = 4.5833 Always round UP so here you would use 5 amps as your base number. (55 watts is WAY to much for a dome light... 55 watts is the standard for a typical stock headlight low beam). Just a WAG but I can't see a dome light using more than a 5 watt bulb and even that is probably way more than any normal dome light. It is probably more like a 2 or 3 watt bulb.

Add at least 25% (50% is even better!) to that answer (for safety) and that is the number of amps you use to look up on the chart to find the size of wire you should use. Add about 10% to the answer to find the fuse to use, (If you added 50% to determine the wire size you can add 15% now for the fuse).

This will give you 25% (Or 50%) more wire size than you "Need" and give you enough fuse so that it does not blow every time you use the item (Obviously if the item uses exactly what the fuse is rated for your going to have a very fragile circuit. You want just slightly more fuse than you have load, (Assuming of course you have properly sized your wiring).

Keys to remember:

*Always use a larger wire than specified for increased safety. (In wiring, bigger is always better!)

*Never use a larger fuse than specified. (With fuses proper sizing is mandatory. To small and they constantly blow. To large and your going to burn up the vehicle/house/whatever)

*Always use proper connection methods and protect them from weather/dirt/corrosion

*Always use a few connections as possible. It is always better to replace a short wire with a longer one than to simply splice on another piece. The higher the amperage the more important this is.

*Always make the wire from the power supply to the fuse as short as possible.

*Always round UP when doing electrical math to determine loads and wire size.

Hope this helps.
 
Last edited:
lindyp38

lindyp38

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ulster county ny
number9 said:
i have searched many times but never found an easy clean install of the armor dome light in a hardtop truck. Thought i'd post up the route i went in case others wanted to get some ideas.

I picked up a joint of flat stock steel at lowes to make brackets out of. Cut them to length and drilled mounting holes, then shot them with some walmart camo flat black.

I drilled holes in the headliner support strip to bolt the brackets to. Used 1" long nylon spacers from the parts drawers at lowes to space the light down to clear the headliner support. I ran power along the channel where the hardtop meets the cab above the windows, around behind the passenger door and down the back of the cab, through the hole in the floor for the slave cable and down to the battery + terminal. I couldn't seem to find any other easy tap for power. I ran ground also along the hardtop channel to the 1/2" bolt that secures the hardtop to the windshield frame above the steering wheel.

I decided that the light would work out better turned sideways - this would allow the light to evenly and directly light the floorboard at night without my body casting any shadows and also located the light switch in a position that turned out to be very ergonomically friendly as when i reach up for the light my thumb falls right on the push button to flip the light on.

The light is much brighter than it looks in the pic.

***eta*** - i just realized i forgot to install an inline fuse. Guess i'll have to go back and do that. :doh:

......
Click to expand...
are there two wires coming out of the light....?
Thanks...
 
m16ty

m16ty

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Bill, did you swap out that switch? I've got a couple with bad switches that I may replace like that. Is the switch 3 position?
 
Bill W

Bill W

Well-known member
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Brooks,Ga
Yes
That was the first dome light I bought and it was missing the handle so I removed the old switch and put in a three position switch, I never had a chance to try it as I bought another dome light that was complete so I used that one in my deuce. The three position switch fits in the case just fine, I used a 7/16 flat washer ( drilled it out a bit to fit over the neck of the switch ) which keeps the switch centered in the recessed hole in the body
 

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M1031CMT

M1031CMT

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Ontario
I installed this in one of the deuces. Was a light for the deuce cargo area. Is nice as you can flip over to the red light to keep your night vision (switch is three position white/off/red). There are also connections for power on the side.

Have another few sets sitting around. They are pretty handy.
 

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steelandcanvas

steelandcanvas

Well-known member
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Location
Southwestern Idaho
M1031CMT said:
I installed this in one of the deuces. Was a light for the deuce cargo area. Is nice as you can flip over to the red light to keep your night vision (switch is three position white/off/red). There are also connections for power on the side. Have another few sets sitting around. They are pretty handy.
Click to expand...
Very nice install! Looks good!
 
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