pearl

hey Jim, awesome writeup. I cooked my switch and used your instructions here to re-wire my lights. I used the three relays, in order to have high and low beams on simultaneously. I did this about a year and a half ago, and it worked great. However, tonight as I pulled into the driveway and stopped to get the mail, I noticed that the driver's side headlight was dimmer than the passenger side. When I switched to hi beams, the driver's side light goes out and the passenger side works on high. To further complicate things, when I turned the lights off, all the running lights go out but the headlights stay on. When I turn the truck off, I can't get the lights to turn off. However, when I leave the light switch off, and start the truck, they go out. So they aren't working right and the only way to turn them off is to turn the truck and lights off, then start the truck back up and they go out. Not the best with auto electronics, but it worked great for nearly 2 years, where should I start? Reading through this thread I saw where you advised someone to get rid of the third relay and go with the diode. Wondering if I should do that. Anyway, I'd appreciate any advice, thanks.

peckens

Swap your relays around as one could be sticking, Clean the connections on the defective headlight, then verify splices to that light have not become loose.

I litteraly just fixed this issue on mine 2 days ago. Turned out to be a bad splice at the headlight.

Jim Lane

I agree, sounds like you might have a sticking relay, bad ground or a wire touching somewhere.

A simple test, go to where you connected to your factory wiring, (Right Headlamp Socket)
With the lights ON low beam, pull the center (BLUE) wire from the socket, the headlamps should go out, if they do not, rap on the relay with a screwdriver handle, did the lights go out? The relay is sticking.

Now do the same with the High beams on except pull the red wire.
Relays are dumb and cannot think for themselves, they have to be triggered from somewhere, your headlight socket.

I would remove the 3rd relay and install the diode, now you have a relay for a spare; the diode works well and is one less thing to break down.

Do you have an alarm?
Does it flash your headlights?

I have found most generic relays are not sealed; water can cause them to corrode internally and stick.

Jim

Jim Lane

Or wow these are bright.

Geez,
I cannot believe it has been this long, It was back in November of 2007 that I brought this write-up to all of my friends here.

My relays have been working flawlessly and as designed for over SEVEN years now.

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...relays-176263/

I had designed them to complement my Sylvania Silver Star H6054 headlamps and it did so with unparalleled brightness but I soon learned they had such a high output, by pushing the hot filament at 13.8 volts, so now they are extremely bright but they do not last very long, for me only about 8 months for the pair.

I have also installed my 160-amp Leece Neville alternator to charge my 5 onboard batteries, with my 10-gauge wiring to my headlamps the voltage at the socket is 14.0 volts and is limited to 30 amps so needless to say, they can be very bright, yet it is a controlled beam, nothing like the ricers with the blinding blue HID's in cheap composite housings.

But $60.00 every 8 months was starting to add up and I figured at some point I needed to make a decision on a different kind of light, my dream of a Zenarc HID system was crushed by the $1000.00 price tag, eventually I will get my LED's headlamps but for now Composite Housings

I wanted to try the new Silver Star Ultras so I bought a pair of Autopal composites off e-bay and I figured for the price they would probably be junk, and they are, beam pattern is crappy and a lot of flare but the ultras work great.
I got the Ultras from Auto Zone for $60.00 with a $10.00 rebate and a replacement warranty, bring them back and they give me new ones.



Here is the back side of the Autopal, with a standard H-4 lamp.
For these to fit, I had to trim out the buckets using a Greenlee gutter punch



It is very important to install and secure the weatherproof dust cover to keep out the dust and moisture from inside the housing.



Here are my relays, yes I have 4 of them, one relay for each lamp.

I switched out one of the Bosch relays for the Tyco to check an issue but it has since been changed back.



Here is where my relays reside, when you install your relays, think about how water is going to roll off the hood and onto the relays and install a shield to protect them since it doesn't rain in California no worry here



Ok, here is the wall I adjust my lights on, when you get closer, all of my marks are there, I just backup 25 feet and aim the lamps.

As you can see, there is a lot of flare above the cutoff line but I guess still not bad for housings made in India.



And then here are the high beams.
About the lights, I can sit into oncoming traffic into a city police car and they do not blink their lights at me to dim mine so I take that as their approval.



Looking into the face of the lamp.



And since I have this awesome lighting on the front of my truck, you know I am going to have awesome lights out the back also.




I just wanted to remind you how much this modification will improve your forward lighting, even if you only have regular halogen lamps this will make them much brighter and much safer to drive and take virtually all of the load off your headlight switch, going from amperes to only milliamperes.

As I had mentioned, plug and play,
You can build this on your kitchen table and then take it outside and plug it in, and then go out tonight and play.

Might try a pair of these.
003427291 Hella - H4 Headlight Conversion Kit At StylinTrucks.com

Jim

j_martin

Jim,
I use Custom Connector BR05-WP weatherproof sockets. They'll take any standard flag crimp faston .250 up to 10g. I don't have trouble with electrical connections at the relays, just the fender rusting away where I put in a screw to hold them.

TheWyrm

Did this Mod on a 1991 Dodge 2500. I am from Canada and this unit had the DRL's, The harness going to the DRL module had a purple wire with a black stripe. I cut this wire to disable the DRL's. This truck can not be safetied due to cab mounts being rusted through. But for people still driving them, just connect this wire to pass a safety, then disconnect for normal headlights that are a LOT brighter.
Excellent fix by the way. Worked like a champ. I use my Rig as a service truck and do a lot of stuff at night. Bright lights are a must.
Cheers.

DoodleBee

First thanks Mr. Lane for posting this mod.

I went with the diode option very simple. I also used insulated connections.

I attached a couple of pictures: I created a simple bracket that mounts behind the battery. I am directly connected to the battery. No issues and my lights are indeed brighter.








Happy Holidays everyone.


cheers
Doug

bruce faz

Jim
Great write up as everyone has said!!! works flawlessly. As I was fabricating the harness I realized just how much work it takes to post such an awesome DYI. a few times I thought of snapping a few photos but got so involved with the project that I took none. lol. Thank you again!!!!

DRRam1500

First off, I had to modify this a little based off the fact that I only have the driver low beam and passenger high beam. So the triggers come from each headlight connector.

I got everything installed but now I only get relays clicking and lights flickering. I checked all my connections, have grounds to chassis and back to battery.

mknittle

How is the wiring at your trigger plug?
Are the relays Bosch/Tyco?
Are the positive connections good?
is the circuit beaker good?
Have you ever owned a Studebaker?

DRRam1500

Never owned a Studebaker.

Everything is good and working except the trigger signals. It appears that because there is and issue with the IPM/FCM, the trigger signal is cycling in voltage. So relays are on/off. Will have to figure that all out without replacing the IPM/FCM (no more available for this year).

I had a switch already for LED bar that was on truck, so using that as trigger.

Jim Lane

Sorry about the issues.
BTW, are you from Canada?
Do you have DRL's?

If so, your relays are chattering because the DRL module is feeding your relays a pwm signal.
Since I do not have them I have no way to design a circuit around them.
Triggering the relay manually the way you did is an option, try checking post #171 on 07/06/2015 above, I think he might have found an option.
Jim

DRRam1500

I live in the US, soon DRL's on this Truck.

Before I started this, I had headlamp out light, only driver side low beams, and only passenger high beam. I set the relay triggers so low beam was from driver side and highs from passenger. Is it possible those need to be switched? So

mknittle

I would give it a try but I don't think it will change anything. I think whatever is causing the high on one side low on the other is the root of your problem.
Once that that is fixed I suspect the problem with the relays will go away.

RetroSolutions

You could always try our Capacitor Relays that will work on pulsed voltage supplies for the trigger to keep them engaged:
www.retro-solutions.net/product-info.php?HID_Capacitor_Relay-pid844.html