Headlight wiring

[DarkoNova]

Does anyone know what needs to be modified in order to keep 12v going to the low beams when the high beams are turned on? Car is a 69 Nova. I installed some bi-xenon projectors out of an Acura TL and now when I hit the high beam switch, the "shield" in the projector moves, but the light goes off. If I could keep 12v at the low beam wire, the lights would work perfectly.

[wmhjr]

Probably a dumb question, but you did run new heavier gauge wires, right? Not a solution for your issue but I know somebody who tried using standard wiring and it wasn't pretty.

[justasquid]

You could run a relay, so when you switch your highbeam on, it also supplies power to the low beam side.

But I would just bypass the dimmer switch all together for the low beam. What happens is your low beam wire looses power from the switch itself. Basically, you have to intercept the power leading to the dimmer switch, splice into that wire and run your low beam from that wire. Keep power going to the switch though, the only difference is the low beam will no longer be coming from the switch, just the high beam will be. It will no longer switch power between the high and low, it will be an on off switch for the high beam.

[justasquid]

here is a really crappy paint program to show what I mean. Also, you may want to just use the lead in wire as a signal wire to an additional relay. That way, you know you have the full 12v power, and not just a spliced power to the headlight.

[DarkoNova]

Probably a dumb question, but you did run new heavier gauge wires, right? Not a solution for your issue but I know somebody who tried using standard wiring and it wasn't pretty.

No, but I'm using a headlight relay setup from Painless Wiring, so hopefully that's good enough.

Justasquid, that looks simple enough. I'll probably try that out this weekend. Thanks. :)

[wmhjr]

No, but I'm using a headlight relay setup from Painless Wiring, so hopefully that's good enough.

Justasquid, that looks simple enough. I'll probably try that out this weekend. Thanks. :)

Unless I'm missing something - which is certainly possible - the relay will help with the switch. However you still need to consider the wires actually powering the lights. Old stock wiring isn't even rated for halogens. Don't know what the lights are drawing, but typically bixenons are hungry (and hot) buggers. I have them in my Dd.

[DarkoNova]

Honestly, I haven't even driven the car in about a year since the rear end was busted, so I don't really remember what the relay setup actually consists of. I'll have to look at it and get some pictures.

[strtlegal]

I know the one from AAW works perfect, comes with two relays high and low, plus it replaces all of the wiring from your original harness..Additional it takes a hot lead from the fuse panel, then uses your brown and green hi/low wires from your fuse panel that would normally go directly to headlights. You cut these off and plug them into the new relays, then you send out the new green and brown to the left headlight then over to the passenger side.

Comes with all the plugs needed for a 3 prong connector at the headlight, which I'm sure you could switch out for a halogen style. Just something to think about.

[wmhjr]

I know the one from AAW works perfect at the headlight

I'm using the AAW solution. It may work, but I'm pretty sure that the wire to the headlight plugs is not rated sufficiently for the load generated by the high energy lighting solutions. Relays protect the switches. They have no effect on the power wires.

[strtlegal]

You could very well be correct, I know that the wire's are bigger then factory I want to say it's 10g. Sorry I dont know enough about the headlight's he wants. but I do know that it is a better upgrade then just relaying the headlights.

If he needs more juice I would be curious to see what he uses.

[67 455 Bird ragtop]

Not sure what the AAW solution is but Sounds similar to this on the MAD page.

http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/brighter-headlights.shtml

[strtlegal]

Yep it's all the same principal, I just liked th AAW because it replaced all of your existing wires and connectors.

[BonzoHansen]

I wired my headlights like this. Can you jump the leads off the headlight switch going to terminal 86, but place a diode in the jumper so the lows come on with the high beams but not the other way around?
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/01/HeadlightRelayWiringDiagram3-1.jpg
couldn't you just jump

[DarkoNova]

Scott, that diagram looks exactly like my Painless setup. It basically plugs into the driver's side headlight plug, has two new connectors that plug into the headlights, and then has grounds and a power wire that I have going straight to the battery.

Wiring isn't my strong point, though, so I'm still drawing a blank as to what needs to be modified lol.

[justasquid]

basically, you need to have constant power to your low beam, which really isnt a low beam anymore, its your light. Your high beam can be used to switch the shutter on and off. Since your main wire leading into the switch only has power when you turn on your lights, that would be easiest wire intercept. If the gauge of the wire is a concern, then add a relay near your battery and have full battery power going to it. Then use the main wire from your switch as the signal wire to trigger the relay on. Then take wires from the relay and hook them up to the headlight. Again, theres not really a low beam, but just a light. The dimmer switch will become an on-off switch for the shutter.

so, as soon as your headlight switch is turned on, you will have constant power to the light. the dimmer switch will only activate the shutter.

This is basically the way I did it on my bike. But I have HID bi-xenon projectors from an xlr. But my dimmer switch only activates the shutter, while HID's stay on all the time.

If your look at the diagram posted by BH and thats the wiring you have, then all you need to do is take the low beam relay's signal wire, (which is 86) and attach that to the "IN" side of your dimmer switch. This will become your new signal wire. You could probably just remove the "OUT"-side of the dimmer wire that powers the low beam, attach that to the "IN" side of dimmer switch. this will be the easiest way.

You could even test it extremely easy. Just unbolt the dimmer swith, unplug the low beam side, tape it to the power in side, then turn on the lights. There won't be any worry about your wiring since that wire is only the signal (low voltage) wire that leads to a relay.

[H2Ogbodies]

Painless, AAW and similar don't take into account the high amperage demands of the kind of lights you are running. You may want to get a amp draw reading and see where you are at. I bet the relays you have been provided are 30-amp rated.

[justasquid]

You are talking about HID's correct? If so, the initial amp draw can be as high as 18, but it will settle quickly to around 3-4 amps once the bulbs are warmed up. This usually takes about 3 seconds. The actual draw is far less than a standard bulb, once its warmed up. But heavier wire and relays would be needed for the initial spike.

the ones I used spike to about 14 amps, but only for about 2 seconds, then quickly came down to around 3.5.

The only wire you may have to upgrade would be the main feed wire from the relay to the headlight, based on the given diagram by BH. HID's do not run hotter or take more power once they have warmed up. they draw less power than a standard halogen, they run cooler, and the last a lot longer.

If only one 30 amp relay is there for two HID lights, then a larger relay would be a good idea. I actually ran one relay for each headlight. Since my conversion wasn't common, I wanted to cover all bases in case a relay or fuse blew, I had a better chance of still having one headlight. 3 years later, no issues at all.

I did do a write up on another forum I am a member on. Heres the link in case you want to take a look. Its not exactly the same since its on a bike, but it should be very similar.

http://cbrforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=93791