ok, i have a set of Pilot 12V 55W lights that I plan to wire up for windshield lights. i have my mounts and everything, i just need wiring accessories. I know i need 12ga. to 14ga. wiring, 10A fuse, switch. What kind of relay do i need? I do now plan to have these set up for brights and dims, just a simple circuit for lighting.

 

they are driving lights

 

Well are you saying the driving lites will just lite up the hood? I am going to do the same thing, put lites on my windshield. I ordered the brackets and now am trying to decide which lites to get. I want them to lite up the side of the trails and roads, not for long range. I really don't want to spend a bunch of money for lites. I am actually thinking about gettin some from Walmart so if I dont like them I can keep exchanging them till I get the ones I want.

 

Putting driving lights on the windshield is not really a good idea. The hood itself is covered in a glossy paint and you often get a reflection from the hood back into your eyes just like light off of snow. Generally most people only run spot lights for long distance up on thier windshield. The windshield mount was designed to put the lights higher up on the vehicle to increase range, not light dispersion.

What you'd want to do with driving lights is mount them to the bumper where you wont get any back splash. This will give you the best lighting angle. People tend to confuse a lot of light with useful light. If you mount the driving lights on the windshield you're actually lighting up things you've already driven past and depriving yourself of light up front.

The short answer to what you need is the following:

14awg wire (aprox 12-14' worth)
30a relay (single or double throw)
Spade Connectors
Switch (Single Pull/Single Throw)

I'd recommend you check out my write up thread on this very subject. It has lots of pictures and step by step directions for how to wire everything up.

I also recommend you check out Daniel Sterns website for a btter expliantion of light types than I can provide.

 

I just installed driving lights on my front bumper. I used a prefab KC wiring harness that made the installation much simplier. For 55 watt lights, you could probably buy a prefab harness at pepboys for 20 bucks. (the KC one I used cost 40, but it was for 100 watt lights).

If I bought the switch, wires, and relay seperately, it would have cost nearly as much, and instead I got color coded wires and most were the right length. (I shortened 2 to make the installation cleaner).