Need some help on light bar wiring

hi all, need some help with wiring my light bar. Bought a small light bar to fit on my bull bar got it all setup and wired, but it has constant power. The red off light on the on and off switch is always on. I tapped into the fog light fuse. I ran it on an empty fuse as well and it was the same situation. What am I doing wrong?

 

I had something similar on my switch to my light bar. I ended up reversing the wires and thats' when the switch only lit up when the light bar is on

I think I referenced this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuhblJLTNvw

Not 100% sure but I know one of his videos helped me

 

How many wires on your switch. Usually it’s 3. Ground, power, and power present. If you accidentally switched the power present(which runs the backlighting on the switch) and power I could see it not functioning. All my backlit switches needed three connections.

 

By power present I mean a signal wire.

 

Mine had 2 connections that connect to the bar, then 2 that were connected to the relay. Final wire was for the switch

 

The switch is always on.

 

So 3 wires to relay/switch. Did you connect signal wire Directly to switch. Similar to this
https://www.google.com/search?q=wiring%20light%20bar%20switches&tbm=isch&hl=en-us&hl=en-US&tbs=rimg%3ACSBB4vck0hPTIkBLqntRHsbxJvhiDHTvucDQDGAn6lksUZHfj5RuIG82tmrjkJf0IBAkN2LQXXv8730jutooeEb3kg6qAhiWv1cSKhIJS6p7UR7G8SYR-CCeGCgxwk4qEgn4Ygx077nA0BHYRGiH9M33byoSCQxgJ-pZLFGREe2yOiTyGOwPKhIJ34-UbiBvNrYRG7VEvz86jQIqEglq45CX9CAQJBE2Iv3sXcfeJyoSCTdi0F17_1O99EYqFlXl6W_1IaKhIJI7raKHhG95IRu3PpSRGF5ZYqEgkOqgIYlr9XEhHtdpxmJ368PmHnxM3hD3mvFw&client=safari&prmd=sivn&ved=0CBMQuIIBahcKEwjAg6213KjpAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQEA&biw=375&bih=626#imgrc=bYgSNqv5E7HG9M

 

Signal wire to switch from battery, power wire to relay from battery and grounding however you need to? The backlight will always stay on regardless of what is written on the switch. You have pictures of how you wired it?

 

https://youtu.be/b8GY69Ci7l4

 

Will upload pictures in the morning.

 

The switch always has the red light on im not sure if it will drain the battery. From the relay there were 2 wires red and black i hooked those up to the light bar red and black. The relay also had another red and black, one to the neg terminal, and the other to the fusebox

 

Ground your light bar to the truck

 

What about the black cable that I hooked up to the bar leave it disconnected?

 

can I ground it to my bull bar?

 

The black wire you ran from the bar to the relay needs to ground from relay

 

You can try and see if it works. I always ground to chassis

 

I have my light bar wired to the battery so i don't have to have the key on to have the light on. My tundra has sat for 2 months without the battery dying from the red light being on.

 

That's how I had it wired im going to switch back to that

 

Ditto no need to run the ground wire all the way to the bar. Ground to chassis on both ends. Sounds like your sorted! Glad we could help.

 

Not recommended unless you have a rock solid connection metal to bare metal on the bull bar to truck. If the bull bar bolts become rusted or anything you’ll lose the ground. I would ground to a place that stays relatively protected and where you can ensure your ground has a very good tight connection to the metal of the chassis.

 

What type of cable can I use? The ground cable from the bar is very short

 

You have grounds right next to the battery. Use on of those

 

If your on a 15 amp fuse a 14 gauge should be fine if it’s copper wire. If aluminum or copper bound aluminum the 12 will suffice.
http://www.naffainc.com/x/CB2/Elect/EHtmFiles/Table 250-122.htm

 

I installed power blocks on the battery for this exact purpose. They have 6 connections for ground and 6 connections for power

 

Ps the light will go off when the truck is off if you add a fuse to a slot that’s only powered with ignition. You can use a meter to check your fuse ports for one that shuts off with the truck.

 

I wouldn't run it straight to battery cause you'll get at most 15-20 min of light bar action before your battery goes bye bye

 

This is true. I guess by battery I was referring to “power” which looks like your supplying through a 15 amp fuse port. I wired mine to the battery because it functions when you lock unlock the truck (NSV lightbar). It has a safety though which is the light bar only works on full when the high beams are on. Which won’t happen if the ignition is off. If you wire to the battery you’ll be fine but will need to be conscious of the power drain of running it with engine off.

 

I have my front bar to a switch that is always hot running from an alternate fuse block but it is only a 20" and I use it on back roads only. The rear bar I have set up to only go hot when my cargo light switch is ON (not open door) and then I have to use the remote.