There are a few basic type of arrow bars:
Negative Switched- Usually halogen. The lightheads are powered constantly with one or two power wires and each head is grounded by an individual wire. The required controller grounds the lights in sequence to make the patterns.
Positive Switched- Usually halogen. The lightheads are grounded constantly with one or two ground wires and each head is powered by an individual 12v wire. The required controller powers the lights in sequence to make the patterns. Some times this is accomplished with a common/group/housing ground, other times each light has it's own ground.
Self Contained- Usually LED, the controller is included in the bar. Usually these bars have a ground and control wires that in various combos select function and pattern.
Strobe- A bar comprised of strobe heads wired as they normally would be with three wire plugs. The arrow function is 100% controlled by the power supply.
Notes-
Sometimes lightheads are grouped, ie one wire may power or ground two or more lights in the bar. This can be problematic when mixing controllers and arrows from different brands.
Occasionally you may see light heads in a arrow style setup where each individual head has a positive and a ground. These would need the grounds or positives grouped in order to use a standard arrow controller.
How to determine what type of halogen bar you have:
First, if you have a major brand bar, you can often find the installation guide on their website. If not, look at what wires are present. If a large red or white wire is present with 6 or 8 smaller colored wires it is usually a negative switched bar. If the larger wire is black, it is probably a positive switched unit.
I drew up a diagram of a few common setups. It should be noted that you can't always just reverse neg/pos if the control and arrow are mismatched. Not pictured is positive switched paired.... but based on the other ones you can figure out how that would look.
Negative Switched- Usually halogen. The lightheads are powered constantly with one or two power wires and each head is grounded by an individual wire. The required controller grounds the lights in sequence to make the patterns.
Positive Switched- Usually halogen. The lightheads are grounded constantly with one or two ground wires and each head is powered by an individual 12v wire. The required controller powers the lights in sequence to make the patterns. Some times this is accomplished with a common/group/housing ground, other times each light has it's own ground.
Self Contained- Usually LED, the controller is included in the bar. Usually these bars have a ground and control wires that in various combos select function and pattern.
Strobe- A bar comprised of strobe heads wired as they normally would be with three wire plugs. The arrow function is 100% controlled by the power supply.
Notes-
Sometimes lightheads are grouped, ie one wire may power or ground two or more lights in the bar. This can be problematic when mixing controllers and arrows from different brands.
Occasionally you may see light heads in a arrow style setup where each individual head has a positive and a ground. These would need the grounds or positives grouped in order to use a standard arrow controller.
How to determine what type of halogen bar you have:
First, if you have a major brand bar, you can often find the installation guide on their website. If not, look at what wires are present. If a large red or white wire is present with 6 or 8 smaller colored wires it is usually a negative switched bar. If the larger wire is black, it is probably a positive switched unit.
I drew up a diagram of a few common setups. It should be noted that you can't always just reverse neg/pos if the control and arrow are mismatched. Not pictured is positive switched paired.... but based on the other ones you can figure out how that would look.
