Low-Buck Light Bar Assembly

A couple of Kragen special lights came with my truck, mounted on the front bumber and not even wired up. A couple more were on the light bar when I got it from the junk-yard. These are not the greatest lights, but the price was right. I wanted them on the truck, but easily removeable. I live near the beach, and a lot of kids walk by the house, grabbing everything that is not tied down. Also, the truck fits into the garage by one inch, with no lights. So I designed and built my Low-Buck Light Bar by using a four foot long piece of one inch angle aluminum from OSH. I got a 14 AWG 25 foot extension cord and a few nuts and bolts there, too. The relays, in-line fuse, and switches came from Kragen. Assorted wires and the little box came from home. I fed the extension cord from the corner of the bed into the engine compartment where I mounted the relays in the box, and wired them through the in-line fuse direct to the battery. (I have since found a nice battery connector that cleaned up the wiring mess at West Marine.) I cut the extension cord at the box, and used the other half to connect to the lights, the two ends of the cord gave me nice solid connectors, already molded to the wiring.The drive for the relays comes from switches I mounted in the dash, and powered from the ignition-switched hot lead from the radio. I hate leaving lights on and draining the battery. This way if I want the lights on, I have to use the key to turn on the ACC setting. I wired the three front and one rear facing lights seperately. I really like the rear facing light for lighting up the bed while camping. I also have used it to cook by at night when I arrange the truck just right.

	light bar assembly on the ground, with its end of the extension cord.
	The relay box in the engine compartment, with the cord heading to the lights, and the power coming infrom the battery.
	Closeup of the inside of the relay box, with wiring and all jammed inside.
	Front side of the light bar on the truck.
	Rear side of the light bar on the truck.