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Topic: Bright lights (Read 1253 times) previous topic - next topic

Bright lights

I put my headlamp relay harness in today .

 The pics don't capture the difference very well , but it is a huge difference
Fox-less at the moment

Bright lights

Reply #1 –
What is different? Is the wattage output up from standard? Is that why you needed a relay?

Bright lights

Reply #2 –
Its a stand alone harness that allows the headlights to not run through the headlight switch.
The switch is used to turn on the relay and the lights run off the battery .
It does a couple of things , it puts 12v to the headlights making them brighter and it takes a huge load off the headlight switch thus extending it's life  :D
Fox-less at the moment

Bright lights

Reply #3 –
Quote from: hypostang;334974
Its a stand alone harness that allows the headlights to not run through the headlight switch.
The switch is used to turn on the relay and the lights run off the battery .
It does a couple of things , it puts 12v to the headlights making them brighter and it takes a huge load off the headlight switch thus extending it's life  :D


Sounds like something I will need to do. I already suffer from the dreaded lights that dim at idle and brighten at higher revs.

Bright lights

Reply #4 –
Links? Write-ups? Anything useful? 

Just curious because I need brighter lights!  :D
...and there was light!

Bright lights

Reply #5 –
I agree - I still believe it's like a 50% improvement over going through the headlight switch. If I remember right, it was something like 12v with the car running, at the headlight sockets, versus 14.5v with the relays. Voltage does not affect bulbs linearly.

I think the numbers at the Daniel Stern Lighting site, HERE, seems to show that this improvement is about right. This was one of the first things I ever did to the car, when I didn't know a thing about cars. It's still wired up today but sitting idle as a third harness (still have the stock one left alone and my active one for my D2R bulbs).
1988 Thunderbird Sport

Bright lights

Reply #6 –
Quote from: T-BirdX3;334976
Links? Write-ups? Anything useful? 

Just curious because I need brighter lights!  :D


See the link in my post above - it shows a wiring diagram. You can get a pre-made harness for 9004 bulbs in a variety of places but I have no links for that.
1988 Thunderbird Sport

Bright lights

Reply #8 –
Quote from: hypostang;334981
here is one for 87/88

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/9004-Hi-Low-Headlight-Wire-Harness-Kit-Hi-Watt-HID-NEW-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem483c45fd9dQQitemZ310248865181QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

I got mine through Amazon .com because I had a gift certificate .


Yeah, that'll work as good as anything with such low wattage devices and short wire lengths. Personally I like something like 10 gauge wire for 5A runs but that's because I've become a perfectionist - there's no real reason to need the SAME voltage at the bulb as the output of the alternator, but I wanted it anyways ;)

Basically you just run one wire to the battery (or in our case, you can mount it on the battery terminal on the starter solenoid at the drivers side fender area), any wires to ground (there is normally one per bulb, and one per relay but the relays can share), plug the input into one of the existing bulb connectors on the car (as a signal/potential ground wire pair), and plug the bulbs in. A "plug and play" harness like this should take no more than 10 minutes to run the wires and wire up since you're looking at two or three screws/nuts to remove, place wire, reinstall, and plug into a couple connectors.
1988 Thunderbird Sport
 

Bright lights

Reply #9 –
It took me longer to upload the pictures than it did to install the harness .
 This is actually the third car that I have used  a relay harness , I live in a rural area with no street lights and I like to be able to see.:D
Fox-less at the moment