j_martin

Well, believe it or not the wiring is not all good. The lamp sockets are wired opposite each other. If you want the high beam indicator to be true, set it so the indicator is on, then fix the wiring at the headlamp that's at low beam.

mknittle

cujo_1

ok I'm not loosing my mind(my wife would say otherwise) did what you said, switched the leads around on the pass/side.still the same out come,for sh*ts and giggles after checking everything again looked at the bulbs that I purchased for project"Not afraid of the dark",low and behold the Sylvania pack had two different bulbs a 9004 and a 9007.all is good now even though I paid double for a 9004 bulb at a truck stop then the twin pack cost me. moral of this story is don't don't start a project when nothing is open on a civic holiday

cujo_1

thanks for the help guys

mknittle

Never buy anything at a truckstop. they gouge you every time.

thrashingcows

OK I decided to try and be lazy....I ordered one of those H4 headlight relay kits off E-bay. Wondered about the quality of these kits so I paid $15 shipped....so not out too much.

Here are a couple pics of the kit I ordered....





Well decided to install it quickly and see what happened. My 93 donor was a Canadian truck, so it came with the daytime running lights...which still work properly. So I hooked up the system with the primary hook up on the passenger side, since that is where the main power for the DRL come from.

The high and low beams seemed to work fine. But when I shut off the lights, and then moved the truck to get the DRL to come on..(Yup it needs to sense movement or they will to come on). The relays in the system were buzzing like crazy, and only the drivers side would light up. The passenger side was very, very dim...just a slight glow in the bulb.

So guess it's a no go. But what really got me was that I was feeling the wires, and even though they looked like 10/12ga...they were really soft. So I decided, since I was not going to be using the kit, to open up the main power wire. Wow what a deception they have going on there!

Here is a 10/12 gauge piece of wire on teh left, and the "10/12ga" wire from the kit on the right.



I actually measured the wire strand and if it's 18ga I think you'd be lucky. All coating on the wire to make it look bigger then it really is.

So guess I'll be building one of Jim's headlight relay kits.

kensmachine

anyone buy the LMC kit Ken

peckens

Just finished mine using a ford power box. I thought I would share a before and after (lows only)

Before


After

thrashingcows

What is a "Ford Power Box" ? Regardless it sure looks brighter!

peckens

Ford Power distribution box. Has slots for 4 relays, several maxis, and atc fuses

Sami

Thanks a million for these instructions! I was driving on a small icy road here in the backwoods of Finland, when the high beams started flickering off. Was a scary rest of the drive, but luckily they didn't die on me completely. I switched to low beam and it got a little better, but still flickered at times.
I did some testing and it seems if I never switch to high beam, the headlights are OK, but if the lights are on for a while and I switch to high beam, the problem starts. Using the 'flash' mode (both high and low beam on at the same time) the flickering start really quickly. And the only thing that flickers is the headlights. Park lights are OK as well as the tail lights.
I was pretty sure that something was overheating somewhere, but finding your post is most likely the key to this mystery. I have upgraded the bulbs to the most high-powered legal bulbs I found, so they are probably too powerful for the original light switch. I really need those bright lights, as I live among the densest whitetail deer population in Finland and regularly go hunting in the dark.
I have located some relays at Releet | Motonet Oy but I don't know which one to get or whether to just try and find the Bosch version somewhere. The ones that match your description on the page are the 'Vaihtorele' ones. The 'Hella' relay is more expensive, but it has a resistor in it and I guess that wasn't desirable...
I can't seem to find those North American circuit breakers here in Finland at all. Is it OK to use a 30 Amp fuse?
Also, just to be sure: these are universal instructions, the wiring is the same for a gasoline engine? (1990 360cc (5.9 liter) Dodge Ram pickup)

j_martin

1. There is a thermal circuit breaker built into the light switch. That's what's making things blink. High powered lighting will certainly take it out. Repair is to replace the switch. If you get the relays in before it totally breaks, you may avoid that step.

2. The relay is called a mini-ISO relay. Any mini-iso will do You wire it as spst - NO. (single pole, single throw normally open) If it happens to be a spdt relay, you just don't use the normally closed contact. Size is standard, base is standard, and contact numbering is standard, so just follow the diagram. Salvage cars are a good place to get relays.

3. If there's a resistor in the relay, it makes no difference in this install. Doesn't do anything, and it won't hurt anything. The resistor is to dampen the flyback voltage when the circuit to the coil opens, protecting a transistor or whatever broke the circuit. Some relays have a diode in the coil circuit. On those relays polarity of the coil circuit is critical, but otherwise it will work fine.

4. A fuse will work. Don't go too high in current. A fuse is to protect the rest of the equipment. I use 15 amp fuses, one each for low beam and high beam.

5. Engine type has no bearing on this wiring.

I hope I answered all your questions.

roccoboost

I installed the LMC kit and am happy with it. Relays seem cheap, but easy enough to go with better ones in the future.

Sami

Thanks a million for your comments. I just finished building the kit as a Xmas present for myself, using two 15 amp fuses for the high and low beam. The problem is gone and the headlights are way brighter than before. Just last night I had to drive to the backwoods to rescue a friend from a ditch, and I was battling with my headlights all the way. Now I need not worry about that anymore! Thanks for the great instructions in the original post as well. That was really easy to construct in the kitchen, and a breeze to plug in my truck.

j_martin

If you drive a 1 ton, or pull a trailer, the tail and clearance circuit needs a relay too. The heater will blow switches, fixed by a Jim Lane relay upgrade.

Oh, Merry Christmas and welcome to the cult.