Spotlight wiring

[amazon69]

I've got a nice pair of Cibie Oscars on the front of my car, and I'll shortly be wiring them up. I would like them to come on when I hit the high beam. I don't want to use a separate switch. Where would the best place be to take the switched feed from to the new relay?

Cheers

[Ron Kwas]

A69;

Oscar Relay Coil hot side should be supplied by the Hi-Beam circuit (Red wire at Headlight Flasher Relay if present OR Red Wire at Hi/Lo Beam Footswitch). Coil low side should be through a switch to chassis...and yes I read that you don't want a separate switch, but you should have way to select or deselect the Oscars...I wouldn't want them enabled always, but it's obviously your call.
High power contact of relay should be powered from any handy place where Alternator output can be connected to (I do see an unused Fuse output on secondary Fuseblock of the 123GT Wiring Diagram referenced...I believe the '69 with Alt is wired similarly, please confirm this). High power output contact then runs off to Lights with individual wires 14-or 12ga (I'm presuming 55W elements each here...if higher Wattage, you might consider even heavier gauge wiring). Chassis connections should be made with wire of similar gauge as supply side. I suppose you don't need a dashboard indicator...

I'll try to come up with a suggested wiring sketch with the requested function.

Reference Wiring Diagram: https://www.sw-em.com/123GT-Wiring-Diagram_Euro.jpg

Cheers

[amazon69]

Great stuff Ron, thanks..there's no need to go to the trouble of drawing up a sketch. I was thinking of taking the switched feed from the foot switch. I'm intrigued as to why you think there should be a separate switch to select/deselect the lights..what is wrong with them being enabled always..they should only be on when the main beam is on if wired correctly? (in my admittedly limited understanding)

[Faust]

I had a Capri years ago with spotlights that came on with the high beams... annoyed me if I'm honest as I like to be able to manually control my lights. If you aren't worried by that, then fair play to you.

As Ron says, you might not always want vast amounts of light...

I have a pair of Hella Rally 3003 Spots on my Amazon - they are wired in via a relay etc. using an illuminated toggle chrome switch mounted under the dash (same set up on my heated rear screen switch).

Top tip: you can buy reproduction 123gt relay mount bars to fit in your engine bay - looks a lot nicer that having odd sized replays etc. scattered around your engine bay. I've also got a supplementary fuse box to mount on the relay bar. Again, looks better than having inline fuses flopping all over the place (not got mine mounted yet as there's always something else to do that's more urgent.).

As I also have a heated rear screen and will be fitting an electric fan at some point, I want my wiring to be fairly neat.

[amazon69]

Fair point..options are good I suppose. Where have you seen the gt relay bars?

[Derek UK]

GT brackets for the lights from Brookhouse (not talking about the relay mounting bars here) but you won't be able to use them for the Oscars as they are far too deep. Even when mounted to clear the grilles the fronts will be out somewhere near the front of the over riders. Very vulnerable out there. though You may also need to use the top braces that were used with these to stop them rocking back and forth.
Bottom line, if these are nice original ones get a good price for them from a retro rally car owner and buy some thinner/flatter ones by Hella or Bosch. These may be able to use the GT brackets if you fit them facing inwards and not outwards like the GT. GT lights were quite small in diameter.
I agree with the others and will say that you will rarely find the need to use them, but use a seperate switch if you do.

[amazon69]

I meant the GT relay bracket..I already have the oscars mounted on the GT light brackets. They are deep but they fit fine, I just had to angle the brackets slightly. I do think they would benefit from another stabilising bar though. I'll post a pic when I remember.

[Faust]

I meant the GT relay bracket..I already have the oscars mounted on the GT light brackets. They are deep but they fit fine, I just had to angle the brackets slightly. I do think they would benefit from another stabilising bar though. I'll post a pic when I remember.

Think I got my relay bracket from Nordicar over in Holland... was a while back though. It even came pre-drilled for mounting relays - saved me a job!

I've got stabiliser bars fitted to my spots - they work a treat when you're going along dark and bumpy roads (metaphor for classic car ownership there!).

[Derek UK]

140 and 164 used similar relay mounting bars. Might be a cheaper option.