Installing LED Work Lights

**Caution: Check with State Laws before installing if installing on licensed vehicle.

By the end of this essay, readers will be equipped with the steps to wire up LED work lights on a vehicle.

This project will require the following materials; a pair of working LED lights, a type of switch (toggle, rocker), a wiring terminal kit, extra wire (not required but recommended), a fuse holder, and a set of standard wrenches. A set of metric wrenches may also be needed depending on the size of nut and bolt on the LED light brackets. A stripper and crimper will also be needed to strip and crimp wire.

The first thing that should be done, is testing the LED lights to ensure that they work. Do this by connecting the wires from each light directly to the positive and negative terminals of the battery. After this is done, space out each light to the desired position, and mount to a safe and sturdy place as shown.

Using the extra wire, measure out the correct length between the lights, as they will be connected in the next step. Remember to always make sure the extra wire being used is the same gauge as the wire on the LED’s to prevent overloading.

Strip the ends of the wire just measured in between lights, and attach connectors that allow each LED to connect to each end of the measured wire. Spade connectors work the best for this. The video above will explain in detail how to strip wire.

The next step is to find a good spot to install the toggle switch. The best place to install toggles would be somewhere on or around the control panel of the vehicle as shown. Once a good spot is located, connect the wire that was just measured in between each light, to the toggle switch by using a shorter wire that runs from the toggle to the wire that both lights are connected to. This is easiest to complete by stripping a quarter of an inch of space from the middle of the wire running between the lights, that way the shorter wire has a place to connect.

Run a longer wire that runs from the toggle switch to the battery. This is where the power to the lights will come from. A fuse holder can be placed on this wire if desired, but was not included in this project.

Lastly, the ground. Both lights need be grounded for them to work. The best place to ground is to the frame, but any bare piece of metal should work. Strip the end of each grounding wire (black wire), and attach a connector to the striped ends of the wires. A ring terminal connector will work the best for this. Loosen a nut somewhere on the frame, and pinch the ring terminal in between it. In this project the wire was wrapped around the frame, as shown in the picture above.

Before tightening all nuts and bolts that needed loosening, check to make sure the LED’s are working properly. Once this is done, tighten up all loose nuts and bolts. Now, have fun and light up the night.