Get brighter headlights

[USatC]

any tips for making my headlights a little brighter? Anyone using halo or led lights with some install info?

 

[Lionized]

For the money install a relay harness.
There's a board member here named Crakedback who builds them and I have one in my Super Bee. Couldn't be happier.

 

[mrsnicks]

I also agree a good first cheap step would be a headlight relay kit. Either the member here or ebay or make your own.

 

[72sunroof]

Modern LED are plug and play no relays. About $100 a peice.

 

[tmaleck]

any tips for making my headlights a little brighter? Anyone using halo or led lights with some install info?

I'm more old school. I like the glass housing flat front H4/H1 lights. Great beam control and plenty bright. I would say a relay might be a good idea on old wiring though.
Tim

 

[FrnkNsteen]

I can also suggest the relay kits Crackedback makes. I installed one in my Barracuda. Not only did the lights get brighter, but it took the load off the old wiring, and the dash lights got a little brighter too. I'm not even running the lights he recommends, but just off the shelf Sylvania Halogens. I get as much light now as my newer vehicles.

 

[Cranky]

Our old cars came with relays.....is there something I'm missing? I know the wiring from the factory isn't all that great but never had a problem with dim head lights unless the alternator wasn't putting out good current at idle or the idle was too low.

 

[Billccm]

The relay eliminates any voltage drop through the bulkhead and switch, etc.
You provide direct battery to headlamp pin by implementing the relay. You also save any wear on your electrical connections.

 

[747mopar]

I laugh everytime I see "buy the kit", for the love of god relays are such an easy device to understand! Seeing the projects you guys tackle on here I'm amazed so many shy away from such a simple wiring job . That being said another quick, simple and fairly cheap upgrade is switching to modern Halogen lights. I bought mine from Summit and now my Charger takes the same bulb as my Dakota did... plenty bright and bolted right in. Halogens pull more amps so the relay "kit" is needed here as well.

I always strongly urge the bright headlight crowd to be considerate of oncoming traffic and their abiliy to see. Nothing aggravates me more than going head on with a UFO in the middle of the night...

 

[69 GTX]

Nothing aggravates me more than going head on with a UFO in the middle of the night...

Agreed!

 

[Crackedback]

Thanks for the recommendations.

If you have all the correct tools to do one of the kits, by all means, build it yourself. Buy top level components and don't cheap out. Same with cars, you can buy a Ford Focus or a Ferrari. They are both transportation, but the quality might be a smidge different between the two.

There is more to it than throwing wires together. Many of the other kits and even suggestions on mopar sites steer folks in a direction that isn't the best approach.

If you want a plug and play solution that is engineered and designed for our Mopars, give me a PM.

I have a saying, "Pick your parts, Pay your money". Lots of choices out there, some better than others.

Rob

 

[Cranky]

The relay eliminates any voltage drop through the bulkhead and switch, etc.
You provide direct battery to headlamp pin by implementing the relay. You also save any wear on your electrical connections.

Guess I'm asking is what's up with the original relay? Does it not do that already?

 

[OH71RRunner]

Many times, it's just a wiring issue from the alternator to battery.
As soon as I added a couple extra wires under the hood and through the firewall, my electrical issues were fixed.
Headlights are plenty bright and no dimming.

 

[747mopar]

Guess I'm asking is what's up with the original relay? Does it not do that already?

OEM wiring goes threw the headlight switch and dimmer switch feeding the headlights directly. This means minimal wire size, multiple connections, contacts that have to deliver the full amp draw and added wire length. The relays make it where the switches have a very minimal draw (longer life) and give you a more direct voltage without all the possibilities for voltage drop.

 

[747mopar]

Thanks for the recommendations.

If you have all the correct tools to do one of the kits, by all means, build it yourself. Buy top level components and don't cheap out. Same with cars, you can buy a Ford Focus or a Ferrari. They are both transportation, but the quality might be a smidge different between the two.

There is more to it than throwing wires together. Many of the other kits and even suggestions on mopar sites steer folks in a direction that isn't the best approach.

If you want a plug and play solution that is engineered and designed for our Mopars, give me a PM.

I have a saying, "Pick your parts, Pay your money". Lots of choices out there, some better than others.

Rob

I 100% agree, buy good tools, quality wire and the proper connectors. Hope you didn't think I was trying to steer people away lol. Your very well respected on here so I have to imagine you do great work.

 

[Crackedback]

No sweat... All good. I know that electrical scares the dickens out of people. I'm bombarded from friends when they are doing their cars with how to do this or that. Much like doing work around the house. There are some things that I'd prefer to pay someone else to do (Plumbing). Even though I'm capable of performing the work. If someone charges me $100 for something that will take me 5+ hours to do... have at it. Much like this stuff. A friend wanted to build a kit for his car, I let him have at it with my tools. It took him a little over 3 hours to build it, not including installation. He asked me how long it would have taken me... "Not that long!" Most installs from start to finish are under 1.5 hours and some are as quick as 30 minutes. Time is money to some folks.

I suggest that if people want to buy the 35-60 kits that are built in china, they best take it completely apart and re-crimp everything. Also carry spare relays!!! I've had people send me the chinese kits and replace it with my product. Most of the other kits have one fuse or breaker. What happens when that pops... it goes DARK and you have no power even trying to swap low to high. I build redundancy into my system. If low beams go out, you can kick over to high beam and get stopped, provided the light itself isn't damaged.

I can buy those chinese kits for under $7 landed on my doorstep, place them in a shipping box and make $35-55. I choose to build a MUCH better product. I do sell all the parts to build a kit sans, or with wire.

I have a nice database of wire lengths for our mopars and it's as close to plug and play as you can get. I've even simplified it further from the kits I first started building. Tell me where you want the relays, I can usually get the wires to the correct lengths for a stealthy fit. No GM style loom on my stuff and it hides well in the factory clips/wire runs. My instructions are very detailed, unlike some of the other setups I've seen.

I'm not the most expensive, nor am I the least expensive. Some of the other products that are much more expensive, still need termination. I try to provide a great value for the products I produce. If or when an issue arises, as sometimes they do, I'm the guy that helps troubleshoot.

 

[Crackedback]

Many times, it's just a wiring issue from the alternator to battery.
As soon as I added a couple extra wires under the hood and through the firewall, my electrical issues were fixed.
Headlights are plenty bright and no dimming.

The wire around is a great addition. I prefer a different method than what tends to get recommended, still a better approach than the factory.

Adding a wire around from alternator to starter relay helps take the charge load off the bulkhead. That's the primary reason the lights got brighter. You are still running the headlights on wire that has very long runs with a lot of connections. Connections = resistance = heat = voltage drop. If you did a headlight relay set up, they would improve even more and the rest of your lights, instrument/parking/markers would all get brighter as well.

I have many customers that installed the sealed halogen lights I recommend and a relay kit. They feel that the lighting is comparable to most any of the new headlight cars out there. Just because a light is brighter, doesn't mean that your eyes can process what's out there.

 

[Ron H]

I'm interested in knowing more as my headlights still get dim with upgraded alt and new engine harness...and still have to tackle a safe set up to re-wire my amp gauge..

 

[Crackedback]

Ron,

The issues lie in the the charging system design. Not Mopars best effort. I make 6 and 8 gauge wire around wires and other products for the cars.

The more load you can effectively remove from the bulkhead connectors, the better. I'm not a fan of ammeters. Many love them. Ammeters must be OK, mopar put them in the cars... not me! There are other, MUCH safer, ways to monitor the charging system.

Rob

 

[Photon440]

Our old cars came with relays.....is there something I'm missing? I know the wiring from the factory isn't all that great but never had a problem with dim head lights unless the alternator wasn't putting out good current at idle or the idle was too low.

I didn't know that my car had a relay, I thought the headlight switch handled the full load. My 1970 Plymouth shop manual doesn't show me a relay, except in the case of Fury with headlamp delay.