Headlight upgrades

[Hubbarocks]

Who's got what as far as headlight upgrades. Mine suck, almost shaved a deer last night. I don't do much night driving.... but when I do, Its scarry ....

Any recommendations for conversation kits, etc?

 

[Bob Sawyer]

Check out @Crackedback. He is a member on this site and he sells a very good kit.

 

[505droptop]

I went with leds from dapper lighting. They work great but had to modify the buckets

 

[493 Mike]

We just went through this topic recently. Did you search the site?
Mike

 

[Hubbarocks]

I searched briefly last week, I'll have to look more diligently

 

[Nacho-RT74]

Honestly, halogens are quite enough for me... couple of relays installed into the kick panel. No need to be on engine bay, will be invisible and don't need to cut a wire making them correctly, so will be protected from grease, water dust and heat and done. No other mods needed. Relays are just to keep the headlight switch safe from the added load these suck

H5006 for low/highs and H5001 for highs. $6-9 rate each

 

[493 Mike]

I put a box (Amazon) behind the battery to house 2 relays and ran 12 ga wire to the lamps, using ceramic connectors (http://www.autolumination.com/) to the new halogen lamps (www.octanelighting.com) and I love them!
Mike

 

[Nacho-RT74]

Relays must be sourced from alternator side not from batt side if you are still using the ammeter

 

[493 Mike]

Relays must be sourced from alternator side not from batt side if you are still using the ammeter

I feel it is foolish to rely on the OEM ammeter given all the problems they seem to cause as they age. I have connected my alternator to the starter relay stud and jumpered the screw connections (1965) at the bulkhead connector to render the ammeter to power distribution service only. Volt meters are the way to go.
Mike

 

[Billccm]

I'll second the crackedback relay kit. It's plug and play. I've got basic Sylvania headlights and with the relay they are as bright as my grand marquis headlights.

 

[Ruby67]

With my quad headlights, I changed them so 2 are hi beam only and 2 are lo only, using Euro standard lense housings with replaceable bulbs sourced from Slantsixdan (Daniel Stern). Made a huge difference for night driving. For me it was well worth the effort. Dan was a great source of info. I installed relays as others have recommended and I also increased the wire gauge to the lights and confirmed I had good grounds.

 

[rrTor-Red]

Check out @Crackedback. He is a member on this site and he sells a very good kit.

I second Crackedback

Honestly, halogens are quite enough for me... couple of relays installed into the kick panel. No need to be on engine bay, will be invisible and don't need to cut a wire making them correctly, so will be protected from grease, water dust and heat and done. No other mods needed. Relays are just to keep the headlight switch safe from the added load these suck

H5006 for low/highs and H5001 for highs. $6-9 rate each

Installed relays under my battery tray from the kit of Crackedback. The result is bright lights JUST on battery power

 

[Hubbarocks]

Firstly ; thanks everyone for their feedback.

As soon as the relay kit was mentioned. i remembered i actually made one years ago, but never actually installed it. So i dug through my boxes of parts and found it. yippi.

my question now lies within the install of said relay(s). When i made it i thought i'd use 1 relay for low beams and 1 for high beams. (photo below) and i would install close to battery try and splice into the plug connector behind the battery and get the full battery power. i broke out my elec drawing to see what was what.

i did check around for some "install guides" but didn't find anything. Anyone has a link to another post, i'll gladly read it. Can someone clearly tell me best place to wire the relay?

i'm at a loss of how to wire these in. i don't think I'm grasping how these headlights function.
the RED wire is power on low beams (10v or so) car not running and i get 10v at the violet wire with low beams, when i turn the HI beams on, i lose power on the violet wire?

then examine the actual plugs and it looks like its jumped from LOw beam to high beam? so does 12v supposed go thru the low beam to the high beam when both are on , in series? so all 4 head lights are getting fed from the same 12v source ?

 

[Crackedback]

Yes, all 4 headlights draw on the same source when in high beam. Depending on relay used, you may have to do up to 3 bridges for high beam. You can see in the wiring diagram, low beam has 2 filaments.

 

[Kern Dog]

Uhhh, you forget that some are not as adept at understanding electrical jargon as a seasoned guru....

 

[Don Frelier]

I just changed the headlights in the charger. I used the Hella conversion. It accepts a H4 bulb. I had put halogens in it over 30 years ago!
I disconnected the inside high beams. They aren't needed and just add more draw on the charging system.

 

[Hubbarocks]

I just changed the headlights in the charger. I used the Hella conversion. It accepts a H4 bulb. I had put halogens in it over 30 years ago!
I disconnected the inside high beams. They aren't needed and just add more draw on the charging system.

View attachment 972871

Thanks Don - do happen to have a link for the hella lights? i'm interested. Did the kit come with a relay or did you wire in your own.

 

[Hubbarocks]

Yes, all 4 headlights draw on the same source when in high beam. Depending on relay used, you may have to do up to 3 bridges for high beam. You can see in the wiring diagram, low beam has 2 filaments.

thanks Crackback for you feedback!

Do you think it feasible to wire them in this location i noted in the elec drawing below? I traced the # 6 and # 4 back straight to the beam selector switch (dimmer) , i could wire in right after that too I'm thinking and put under the dash.

anyone's 2cents if this is acceptable?

 

[451Mopar]

Also, Check that the bulb socket grounds have good connection to the radiator core support, and the support is grounded to the battery.
When I re-wired my headlights (with relays, and new light socket connections), I added an additional ground wire that goes from the battery cable ground wire point to all the headlight ground terminals, in addition to (in parallel with) the normal ground wire that connects to the core support.
On the hot side, to reduce voltage drop (and take the current load off the bulkhead connector), mount the relays near the headlights.
I am using the sealed Bussman relay/fuse block (Eaton 15303-2-2-4). It holds 5, 35-amp mini-relays and 10 fuses. 5 of the fuses are used to fuse the relays. The box is mounted where the battery would have been (rear mounted the battery.) Only 2 of the 5 relays are used for headlights (high and low beam), the other relays are for radiator cooling fans (2), and the last relay can be used for different stuff like horn relay, driving lights, A/C clutch, ect.

 

[493 Mike]

You can place the relays (2) under the dash and run the dimmer switch outputs to operate the relays. But, I recommend 12 ga. wire to the headlamps from the relays.
Mike