Willy91

Howdy folks,

I bought a set of projector headlights for my truck, put them on, everything looks great, but they don't work worth a darn. Problem is is thatthey are not very bright at all. The high beam indicator light stays on all the time. The low beams work ok with just the light that the halo ring surrounds going, but when I go to high beam they dim, plus the highbeam lights are very dim. Am I going to have to wire a relay in for them? Any thoughts why my high beam indicator is stuck on, in both high and low beam modes? Thanks folks.

wyododge

Go here -> http://www.danielsternlighting.com LOTS of good info. Best relay kit out there too. IMHO

I'm getting the projector housings from ebay, and the relay system from Daniel, with the bulbs that he suggests.

Here is a copy of the email he sent back to me.............

It will be an almost complete waste of time, effort, and money to try making the pathetic factory headlamps work well. They never will.

Put in a set of the '99-'01 Dodge Ram 1500 Sport headlamps, which are
*much* better than the lamps all non-Sport '94-'02 style Rams got. The
Sport lamps use two bulbs per side (a 9007 high/low and a 9004 high-only)
and produce much more effective, longer and wider, better focused beam
patterns. They physically fit right in, but require some wiring
adaptation, which is just as well since the factory wiring tends to starve
the bulbs.

You need:

-a set (left and right) of the '99-'01 Dodge Ram 1500 Sport headlamps. Get
the real ones from the dealer or www.chryslerpartsdirect.com , not the
Taiwanese knockoffs from eBay or elsewhere on the internet. Factory part
numbers are as follows:

Headlamp, left: 55077 025AC
Headlamp, right: 55077 024AC
Park/turn lamp, left: 55077 033AC
Park/turn lamp, right: 55077 032AC

(The original park/turn lamps can be used with the new headlamps; I've
listed the Sport type park/turn units because their clear-lens design
matches that of the Sport headlamps. Also note that the above numbers may
from time to time be updated or superseded as noted when you do a part number search on chryslerpartsdirect.com - go ahead and buy whatever the
latest part number is).

-A Dodge Ram conversion wiring and relay installation package RIK-RAM, $79
here.

The installation package includes all necessary plugs, sockets, terminals,
fused fuseholders, relays, relay brackets, terminal blocks, etc. --
everything except actual wire -- to install the new headlamps _and_
eliminate the voltage drop present in the factory-type wiring, without
cutting the truck's original wires. For general information about relay
installation, see
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...ys/relays.html Note that
RIK-RAM is not a harness, it is a parts kit. You start with the truck's
unmodified original headlamp circuit, none of which will need to be cut or
otherwise brutalized, supply your own wire and time, and the end result is
a heavy-duty headlamp harness that operates the Sport lamps *correctly*
and without voltage drop, in a non-Sport Ram truck.

-A set (two 9007 and two 9004) of ultra high efficacy bulbs. The best ones
presently on the market are the GE Night Hawk 9004NH and 9007NH and the
Philips VisionPlus 9004VP and 9007VP. I don't presently stock either bulb,
but a web search should turn up a retailer for you. Avoid Sylvania
Silverstar/Ultra, Wagner TruView, PIAA, Hoen, and all other brands of
blue-glass "extra white" or "xenon matching" bulbs. They are a scam;
despite the advertising hype, they significantly reduce headlamp
performance rather than increasing it.

Regarding the Sport lamps themselves: There is only one proper operational
setup for these lamps, and that is as follows-

Low beam mode: Low beam filament of outboard 9007 bulb on, all other
filaments off.

High beam mode: High beam filament of outboard 9007 and high beam filament
of inboard 9004 on, all other filaments off.

The low beam filament of the inboard 9004 is not used -- these lamps do
not have optics to focus the light from it.

In NO case are the low beam and high beam filaments on together!
Two-filament headlight bulbs are pressurized to about 10 atmospheres COLD.
They are not designed to handle the heat (or the current on the common
filament support lead) of running both filaments at the same time for more
than very brief periods during beam changeover or headlight flashing.
Doing so carries the very real risk of the bulb grenading inside the
headlamp, destroying it. Some people who think they're clever wire it up
this way anyhow, and the "Brite Box" people have made a business out of
this "clever" (not) modification.

There are no well-made overwattage 9004 or 9007 bulbs, only poorly-made ones from
the 3rd world, with very sloppy filament placement. Tiny differences in
filament placement make huge differences in beam focus and performance,
see attached. The extra light some of these higher-wattage bulbs produce
is pretty much all wasted: Extra glare and flare light, no extra seeing
light. And, the stock wiring is inadequate for the extra current drawn by
these bulbs; using them throws a severe strain on the wiring and switches.
In most(!) cases you won't have a big spectacular fire or anything, but
you won't be doing your electrical system any favors, and the damage is
cumulative to the point of expensive failure. Overwattage 9004 bulbs are
NOT the way to better seeing.

If you are interested in having a daytime running light function on your
truck, the best implementation is the full-time operation of the front
directional signals (except, of course, when they are operating as
signals). Directional signals produce a light distribution with a wide
conspicuity angle, are generally well located for DRL service at the
outboard edges of the front of the vehicle, consume considerably less
power than any headlamp-based DRL implementation, use light sources of
generally much longer life than any headlamp bulb, do not encourage
improper nighttime use of lights, and do not require additional lighting
devices to be added. Most recent Cadillacs, Chevrolet/GMC large vans and
minivans, some Toyota and Lexus models, certain new Lincolns and assorted
other vehicles use this implementation. Note we are talking about the
full-time operation of the bright amber turn signals, not the dim parking
lamps. You can easily enable this functionality in your vehicle using a
DRL-1 module ($42 here, see http://dastern.torque.net/Mods/DRL/DRL1.html )

wyododge

Sorry Willy91 hit the wrong button before I finished!!! .

If you have a sport package and originally had a four lamp system, I would say that you may have an under-volt situation or your high/low switch is going out. If you converted from a two lamp to four lamp, the conversion is not quite correct. In either situation you should go to a relay system to take the voltage out of the switch in your dash. There is a very long post called 'let their be light' that goes into pretty good detail about the whole process. Dr Evil and Haloman seem to have things figured out pretty well. But go to the website above. Lots of good info and he is very reactive to any questions you have. Hope this helps.

Merry Christmas !!!!

Willy91

I'm going from a non sport package, the lihts I bought convert it to a 4 within the lights wiring harness. Thanks. Any ideas why the high beam indicator is stuck on?

robert78.5

Did the kit come with relays,,mine did and it works great

97 D-Tec

I had the same problem ... if i had known you were going to pick those up i would have told you to save your money because of the are dimmmm and theres nothing you can do about it. As for why yout high beam indicators are on all the time i think its because from the factory (where the headlights themselves came from not the truck) they wired something backwards i cant exactly remember what. Im going to go look at the projectors i had to see if i can maybe figure it out

wyododge

Where did you guys get these Projector Headlight Assemblies?

Fern

I read on another thread that you need a resistor wired in series due to the fact that the new lights use less electricity than the old lights. The truck "thinks" the bulb is out because its not drawing enough/or a preset amount of electricity. Some kits may have this prob taken into account while others may not. *Note* This is only from what I have read not personal experience.

97 D-Tec

Fern just to let you know you dont need any resistors the new lights should actually pull more voltage with the addition of a 2nd set of bulbs, LEDs, and the halo ring.

Willy91

well, I don't think they're necesarily all that dim, I mean I've been driving them on low beams only the past two nights and they will light a decent ways ahead. It's just that the high beams don't work correctly. The way I figure is if I get them working properly and they still arn't bright enough, I can always change the high beam bulb as it's just a normal 9005 bulb. So do you's think that running a set of relays with these may solve the problem?

upchurch30

i have the same problem. my brights light onthe dash always stays on, and there very dim. i thought i just wired it wrong. i messed around wiring it diferent ways, but there still the same. any help would be appreciated

97 D-Tec

The way the h-lights are wired cause the low beams to go dim n the high beams to go on (which is why i said i would have told you to save your money)and as for the reason the light on the dash comes on i still cant figure out how i got mine to go out but I'm working on it and ill start at the blue connector on the passengers side headlight first. Having the flat side of the connector on the bottom with the headlight facing me. The red wire should be to the right, the blue wire should be to the center and 2 black wires on the left. I think they had the blue and red wires switched on both lights that made the highbeams go off in the dash

dieselfan

this should be a sticky, could have saved a lot of people some money.

thanks for the info

Willy91

little info I found on Competition diesel

*These lights work great on Sport AND Non-Sport package equipped trucks.
However, a slight modification is needed on the Non Sport package equipped trucks.
These headlight kits convert the single 1 bulb 9004 setup to a H1/9005 setup.
To make this work properly, you need to swap the high beam and ground pins in the headlight harness plug, OR, you can cut the wire behind the plug and swap the connections there.
This will fix the high beam issue some of you have experienced if you have purchased these light elsewhere.

*On non-sport equipped trucks only. Trucks with the sport package already have dual 9007 bulbs.

wyododge

New here so what is a 'sticky', and how do you make one? If it can still help.