Driving Lights

I got a set of driving lights for my 1996 4.0 and am having issuse as to whether or not they need to be connected to the headlights. I have heard that you can put them in the circuit but I want them to be able to be used even when the headlights are not on but only when the car is running where if the switch is flipped, the lights won't come on unless the key is in the ignition.

There are a couple of issues here.

1. Is it legal in your country/state to have driving lights that can be used independently of the headlights? Where I Live in Australia, driving lights can only be used when the headlights are on high beam. That means they have to be wired via the headlight high beam contact (usually via a relay).

2. If you wire it via the ignition or the headlight high beam, use a relay switched circuit. Also use a relay that has back-EMF suppression on the coil to avoid high voltage spikes getting fed back into the BeCM.
If you use a relay with diode back-EMF suppression, the relay MUST be wired with positive to the correct coil terminal otherwise a high current will pass through the diode and burn it up.

If you are not comfortable with vehicle electrics, don't do this job yourself.

Ron (electronics tech)

Last I heard here in the states it isn't illegal to have Driving lights that are not hooked into the headlights. I think that if I can get the relay right I should be okay. I thought about just putting an inline fuse to the battery but didn't know how well that would work. I'm just looking for something that when I need it, I can flip those bad boys on use them. I really didn't want to buy the wiring harness that Range Rover sells for $140+ when I can do the whole thing by myself but if you think I should have a relay for it then I'll see what I can come up with. Thanks for replying.