Headlight Mod + other wiring

[Goofyexponent]

When I first bought my F250, the main problem with her was wiring. Hacked up, patched together and strewn ALL over the place.

Today I went ahead and did the headlight relay mod. (Thanks to Mel for the tech article by the way!) WOW! I am REALLY happy with the way things turned out...so happy that I went and dropped the camera while walking to the garage to take pictures of it for the tech article and for the TC lock up mod tech article.

At the same time I wired up my fog lights to come on only with the low beams, and to go out when the flash to pass/high beams come on. They do not function with only the park lights either, and they can be shut off separratly from the headlights, so I am happy with the way they worked out.

I also fixed a BUNCH of wiring mess on the driver side by the booster. I still need to get my hands on a constant duty solenoid to power up my accessory 6 slot fuse panel. I only want it powered when the key is on. That way I can move the FSS and the GP relay over there to clean up MORE cluttered wiring, as well as my CB radio, back up lights and a couple other doo-dads.

As soon as I get a new camera, or borrow dad's when he gets home, I will take pictures of everything to compare before and after.

 

[Optikalillushun]

Did u use a pre-made harness or make ur own? Also, did u do the relay for the parking lights? This is on my winter to do list.

 

[Goofyexponent]

Did u use a pre-made harness or make ur own? Also, did u do the relay for the parking lights? This is on my winter to do list.

I didn't do the park lights, but I made my own harness for each headlight. I just cut the headlight plugs off leaving an inch or so of existing wire, and ran the high and low beam wires back to the relays and grounded the plugs to the radiator support.

Green wire is the high beam.

Red wire is low beam.

And the Black wire is ground.

I put the relays in between the passenger side battery and the fender mounted starter solenoid.

I took power from the live side of the starter relay with two fused wire holders (20 amp fuse in each one)

I grounded the two relays to the inner fender.

And the factory passener side headlight wires I used as trigger wires to fire the relays. (Again, green wire fired the high beam relay, and the red wire fired the low beam relay)

BUT, I used the red wire off the driver side headlight plug to feed power to a switch in the cab. This switch then fed a relay to operate my fog lights, ONLY when the low beam lights are on.

It was a pretty simple job, honnestly I could do it TOTALLY hammered if I had the right colored wires. Just match up the colors is all it really is lol.

The park lights might be a little more in depth, as there are about a dozen of them.....but I am upto the challange..another tech article?

 

[Optikalillushun]

I got some junkyard headlight plugs, took the wire/pins out and soldered in some heavier wiring to the pins and thats as far as i got ha ha (that was over a year n a half ago). I also have a nice pre-made dual relay harness and approiate relays just need to install the relay harness, and run the wiring.

the parking light relay ya do in the cab and it looks easy.

 

[alienturtle]

i did this mod when i was doing my cummins swap. i had the entire harness out and apart on the floor so i figured i would just do it then so the wiring is all in the harness. it is a big difference! I didnt cut the black wires and run them to a chassis ground though

 

[BigRigTech]

Just go to P.F.T for a continuous duty solenoid, I just bought one there last week for my dually as the old one took a ****...$30 for a Pollack 85A unit. They stock them. My truck has an 8 fuse panel mounted in the engine bay by the previous owner...It's due to be replaced as well.

 

[Goofyexponent]

Thatks BigRig....I might have to do that Monday. I got EVERYTHING but that CD soneloid to do the fuse panel install.

And on another note....I might have to do that park light relay mod tomorrow...I got LOTS of time and parts on my hands lol.

AND I got another camera! Pics tomorrow! lol

And.....I've had almost a quart of rye....time for bed!!

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Goofious, for the parking lights relay you need to get into the harness that plugs into the headlights switch - basically you cut one wire and use the end coming from the switch as a trigger for the relay, while you attach the other loose end of the wire to the output terminal of the relay. Then you need to power and ground the relay as well, but that's fairly easy.

Also, those fused power feeds you used for your headlight relays, I really hope they are not the kind that have rubber caps that seal the fuses in when closed - I got four of them suckers, one for the backup/flood lights, one for my low-mount bumper lights, and two for my high-mounts, and the fuses for both the floods and the low-mounts actually melted down to where they disintegrated and lost continuity on the circuits (I rarely use the high-mount lights, or they're have probably melted their fuses as well). So now I run with the caps off the fuses, it's not a big deal since the are not in a location where they can get wet, but still I find it rather annoying that them things are rated at 30 amps yet even less than 20 amps continuous overheat them...

 

[Goofyexponent]

yep....that's exactly what I am running for fuse holders......time for an upgrade? lol

 

[rhkcommander]

mines working fine on the foggers but IDK how much amperage is being pushed

LMC has a relay kit for people not wanting to chop up their factory wiring but want relayed lights btw. costs 20-30$ i cant remember right now..

 

[LCAM-01XA]

I got four 55W lights per fuse, that's still way less than the 30 amps they're rated for...

The issue with the LMC kit IIRC is that the relays are something oddball, and when they die (and apparently they do quite often) there's no standard replacement for them - whereas if you make your own harness you can get replacement relays at Walmart even.

 

[Goofyexponent]

I got four 55W lights per fuse, that's still way less than the 30 amps they're rated for...

The issue with the LMC kit IIRC is that the relays are something oddball, and when they die (and apparently they do quite often) there's no standard replacement for them - whereas if you make your own harness you can get replacement relays at Walmart even.

Exactly. The relays are the same type my truck runs (bosch style 5 lugs). You can buy them ANYWHERES, some had mounting tabs like mine, and others don't have a mounting tab.

 

[Goofyexponent]

Here are a couple oics of the finished install of the headlights, and the wiring mess I still have to sort out.

The mess at the solenoid is getting straightened out when I get my hands on some proper sized ring terminals and another bag of wiring loom.

The mess on the driver side near the booster is just retarted. I know how it all works as I poked around at it before, but it is in a dire need of straightening out!

As you can see, I don't like to leave a sluttered mess when wiring up stuff. The reason for all the red wiring is because I sent a friend to Elmsdale while I was working on their car to pick up my wiring as a favor, and what they brought back was all red....I should have known better than to say just "14 gauge wire", but I guess I can't blame him for it.

The high beam will be changed out for green wire when I sort out the rest of it...it's only an hours work to fix it anyways.

As a fix for the fuse holders, I am putting in another 6 slot fuse holder to be powered all the time. That way I can eliminate the fuse holders and just run a proper block screwed to the inner fender to clean things up even more.

 

[Diesel_brad]

I got four 55W lights per fuse, that's still way less than the 30 amps they're rated for...

The issue with the LMC kit IIRC is that the relays are something oddball, and when they die (and apparently they do quite often) there's no standard replacement for them - whereas if you make your own harness you can get replacement relays at Walmart even.

Mine have been in 2 years so far with out any issues. If they crap out i have bocsh relays laying around

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

LCAM, I used one of those really heavy-duty-looking capped rubber fuse-holders to power my relayed fan-blower-motor; and, about every three months, the 30-amp BUSS fuse is melted into oblivion.

You may have shed light on the situation about the cover letting the heat build up.

I may leave off that cover and see if that remedies the situation.

Thanks.