Headlight relay kit

[whiteboyslo]

I did this on my IH and it helped greatly. Anyone with a brick nose do a writeup, or parts list? Just reuse the old headlight connectors?

The LMC kit is $30 and is 'Plug and Play'. Combined with installing new bulbs and tip-tieing the harness for a clean install, I think the job took me 20 minutes tops.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of frugal. But by the time you source out 2 relays, their harnesses, the mating harnesses for the bulbs (assuming you don't want to cut up your stock wiring, which I didn't), the wire, the heat shrink, the terminal ends for the battery, etc, $30 looks pretty darn good.


Mike

 

[turbo elk]

So LMC has a kit... who else does?

 

[6.9poweredscout]

I'll take a look. Everytime I got wiring stuff from lmc it was the lowest grade Chinese junk and didn't work right out of the package.

 

[Boltgun]

I used the LMC kit on my truck, wiring and connectors looked pretty good, relays are typical Chinese quality. We'll see how long they last.
Light output is much better though!

 

[Kevin 007]

I have had 3 LMC kits on 3 different trucks. All have been just fine, knock on wood. Plug and play.

 

[tjcsr]

So are the relays labeled 87/87 or 87 and 87a?

Ive been looking for relays with 2x 87, but all i can find are ones that have 87 and 87a.

Looking to get this done this weekend. Have all the wires, connectors, and fuses just no relays.

 

[drinkypoo]

I used the LMC kit. They don't come with standard Bosch-type relays.

Since you want a relay for each high and low beams you don't care what they have, what you care about is current.

The sockets in the LMC kit are PURE GARBAGE. If I had to do it over again I would never buy that kit. Just two relays with tabs on them, and wire it up.

 

[tjcsr]

Ya thats what route im going, my thing i just dont understand which relays.

What i read in the tech articles was that there are 2x87, 1x 86, 1x 85, 1x 30.
since the 2x 87's are connected internally.

But all im finding are 1x 87 and 1x 87a along with the others,

Im afraid of hooking it up using the 87/87a and only having one light turn on.

 

[bbjordan]

30 AMP relay

http://www.princessauto.com/pal/en/Controls-And-Gauges/30A-12V-DC-Change-Over-Relay/8402034.p

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[drinkypoo]

That looks nice, use that. Sockets are great

With that said, you can just crimp the wires for left and right side headlights into one female spade connector and attach both sides to one output terminal so long as you don't exceed the output limits of the relay. Or if using that socket, just solder (or crimp, yuck) both wires to the same output lead.

At 30A*12V=360W you get more than enough wattage. Which is good. I have only a 10A fuse for each relay (no fuses in the kit! fail! you MUST add fuses if you are sane!) and no problems yet

 

[tjcsr]

thanks guys, looks as if they are supposed to be 87/87a, will hook it up and see

 

[drinkypoo]

see page 14 of http://www.servocity.com/Relay_Manual.pdf
basic fog lights, Fig. A&B
Except for some bizarre reason the diagram for foglights shows both foglights wired in series or something, when in reality each one would get its own hot wire and its own ground. Unless, I suppose, they were 6V lights.
Fig. B shows coil power for the relay coming from the high-beam power, which is what you want. Fig. A shows the power that will be connected to the lights coming from the battery, which is what you want. Put a fuse in between the relay and the battery in exactly the way that the LMC kit doesn't

 

[mu2bdriver]

I'm going to go with the LMC kit and the 5-pack relay kit from Amazon someone mentioned elsewhere in this thread. Once it gets delivered and I install it, I'll report back on the quality and performance.

 

[drinkypoo]

I'm going to go with the LMC kit and the 5-pack relay kit from Amazon someone mentioned elsewhere in this thread.

Why would you need a relay kit if you're buying the LMC kit? The LMC kit is a complete plug-in kit, aside from not having fuse protection. It just has the worst headlight sockets I've ever seen.

 

[mu2bdriver]

I'm just buying the harness from them and the relays via Amazon. I need to order some Amazon stuff anyway and with Prime it ships for two days free and having a bunch of extra relays never hurts. The LMC product I'm ordering is just the harness and you need two relays to complete it.

ETA: The more I look at the wiring, the less inclined I am to buy the harness and just get the relays and fuse holder for this. I have plenty of wire and connectors. My questions now are:
can I use #12AWG wire to cut and splice to the relays,
can I use 30/40amp AGT relays instead of 20amp relays, and
is a 20amp fuse sufficient for protection using the above materials with stock headlight bulbs?