Tower light wiring

[corpusmalibuguy]

Does anyone know how exactly to wire tower lights? I know the Illusion X is prewired, but do the wires run all the way to the switch on the dash, or just to the base of the tower. I have an 05 malibu and I just bought four lights that mount in the preexisting holes. I haven't had a chance to open everything up and take a look yet, so I was just curious if anyone had done this mod. I don't know if I need a relay, or if I can just go right to the switch. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[Bobby Light]

Does anyone know how exactly to wire tower lights? I know the Illusion X is prewired, but do the wires run all the way to the switch on the dash, or just to the base of the tower. I have an 05 malibu and I just bought four lights that mount in the preexisting holes. I haven't had a chance to open everything up and take a look yet, so I was just curious if anyone had done this mod. I don't know if I need a relay, or if I can just go right to the switch. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

The wire will stop at the base of the tower and be bundled up inside the base. You'll need to run the wire to the dash and install a relay for the lights. All you'll need is one relay for forward lighting and one for rear facing lighting. For tower lighting a good rule of thumb is that the light will draw 10% of the light wattage rating. so a 75 watt halogen will draw 7.5 amps, not calculated just a rule of thumb. Get a relay based on the number of lights you're running. You should be good just getting a couple 30 amp relays and not have to worry about anything. I think the switches are good for 10 amps IRC, however I wouldn't take the chance running lights without a relay.

[corpusmalibuguy]

Thanks for the reply. I guess I am not as familiar with boat electronics as I thought. I am not really sure why I need a relay. Could you explain that a little bit? I am going to run two lights per switch. I am using the existing wire bundles and running them together to the switch in the dash. So, if I have this correctly, I need to have about a 15 amp relay per switch if I am running two 75 watt lights per switch. Also, where do I get these relays from? Is it just like an inline fuse or something like that? Thanks for the help.

The wire will stop at the base of the tower and be bundled up inside the base. You'll need to run the wire to the dash and install a relay for the lights. All you'll need is one relay for forward lighting and one for rear facing lighting. For tower lighting a good rule of thumb is that the light will draw 10% of the light wattage rating. so a 75 watt halogen will draw 7.5 amps, not calculated just a rule of thumb. Get a relay based on the number of lights you're running. You should be good just getting a couple 30 amp relays and not have to worry about anything. I think the switches are good for 10 amps IRC, however I wouldn't take the chance running lights without a relay.

[Bobby Light]

Thanks for the reply. I guess I am not as familiar with boat electronics as I thought. I am not really sure why I need a relay. Could you explain that a little bit? I am going to run two lights per switch. I am using the existing wire bundles and running them together to the switch in the dash. So, if I have this correctly, I need to have about a 15 amp relay per switch if I am running two 75 watt lights per switch. Also, where do I get these relays from? Is it just like an inline fuse or something like that? Thanks for the help.

You need a relay because turning the lights on will draw to much power and pop the switches. The switch provides turn on power to the relay only, the relay provides + power to the light inself. You will run the 12+ power to the bus bar behind the stereo as well as use the - bus bar for the negative for the lights. You can find relays at any autoparts store. You will also run a fuse between the bus bar and the relay of 15 amps. The relay should come with a wiring diagram to help you wire everything.

Edited November 9, 2009 by 06vlx

[MalibuTime]

You need a relay because turning the lights on will draw to much power and pop the switches. The switch provides turn on power to the relay only, the relay provides + power to the light inself. You will run the 12+ power to the bus bar behind the stereo as well as use the - bus bar for the negative for the lights. You can find relays at any autoparts store. You will also run a fuse between the bus bar and the relay of 15 amps. The relay should come with a wiring diagram to help you wire everything.

What he says ^. If you try to wire your lights right through the switches you will smoke them. The relay is just a heavy duty switch, triggered by your dash switch. If you get more than a 15 amp relay and 15 amp fuse, and that is not enough, then you may need to do some additional amp calcs and run a seperate hot lead right from the battery, on a really big wire.

[Malibuswany]

I mounted my lights and paid my Dealer to hook them up so I wouldn't smoke my computer. If something went wrong I wanted to be able to have the recourse of saying that the dealer did it. hope this helps.

[Bobby Light]

I mounted my lights and paid my Dealer to hook them up so I wouldn't smoke my computer. If something went wrong I wanted to be able to have the recourse of saying that the dealer did it. hope this helps.

Pretty hard to do that when they are negative switched on the 08+ boats. I agree if you don't know what you're doing have the dealer do it.

[corpusmalibuguy]

Ok. great. Thanks for the help. I will let you know what I find out.

You need a relay because turning the lights on will draw to much power and pop the switches. The switch provides turn on power to the relay only, the relay provides + power to the light inself. You will run the 12+ power to the bus bar behind the stereo as well as use the - bus bar for the negative for the lights. You can find relays at any autoparts store. You will also run a fuse between the bus bar and the relay of 15 amps. The relay should come with a wiring diagram to help you wire everything.