Headlights?

[subway]

when i set mine up i was thinking of making two small boxes, one for each headlight. they would have two pigtails, one to plug in to the stock harness and one to go to the headlight. then there would be one more connection for the main power. that way it leaves all the wiring to the headlight intact and uses that for a signal, this way i can

1. not hack the stock wiring at all
2. pull it if i sell the vehicle and easily put it in somthing else making it adaptable to virtaully any vehicle.

i was think of making some other bells and whistles like changable relays in case they fail and some leds to show everthing is working.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

Next time you come over, look underneath my model railroad.

I somehow suspected that a man like you would have a model railroad.

I moved in 98 and had to dismantle my empire.

It is patiently waiting in the loft for me to get time to build a room/building for it to reside in.

I had to lay off all my little plastic coal miners and railroad employees.

 

[Agnem]

Mine only get laid off in the summer.

http://moosevalley.org/mvrr

 

[pafixitman]

I somehow suspected that a man like you would have a model railroad.

That is using the term loosly. He is the first person that I ever met that punched out concrete blocks so his trains can go into other rooms. IIRC, he has over 1100 scale miles of track.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

SOME GOOD READING

While we are talking wiring, I came across this that makes for some interesting reading.

http://www.goodoldboat.com/electrical.html

I had never seen the Vaseline trick before.

Those salt-water boat guys have a lot of quality electrical components that are seldom seen in other circles.

 

[f-two-fiddy]

Ya know Mel. If I ever brought my 6 YO down to Moose Valley, you'd end up with one more mouth to feed. You'd NEVER get him away from it!

When ever we go down to the Lake Superior Railroad Museum, it takes 8 hr's to get through a 2 hr tour. Then we have to drag him out kicking and screaming! They had a Model RR convention down there last summer. We were there for both days. It's truly amazing to watch the kids. They just stare as if it it were about to come alive. There's nothing like it!

They've even got a steamer made in your neck-o-the woods, by The Pittsburg Locomotive Company.
http://www.lsrm.org

Now back to our regularly schedualed program.

When I did mine, on both my 93's I jsut went with the relays and used stock dimming. With a decent bulb in them, there's no need to run both high and low. It's allmost to bright with low beams. If you come up to an intersection with a lot of signs, the reflection is allmost overpowering.

 

[f-two-fiddy]

I'll ask again.

Has anyone come up with a source for H4 sockets with 12 ga pigtails on them?

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

NAPA

I'll ask again.

Has anyone come up with a source for H4 sockets with 12 ga pigtails on them?

If you are meaning headlight pigtails, I got some at the local NAPA with 14GA wire.

The first she showed me looked to be about 20GA; I said uh-uh, not no better than what I had, then she dug deeper and came up with these.

NAPA/ECHLIN Part # LS6235

The wire is definitely bigger and the plastic holder is much more heavy-duty.

 

[82F100SWB]

Speeder:
What's the reasoning for needing a diode in the circuit if you run both low and highs together?
On my diesel(which has yet to receive relays) I cut the wire feeding the low beams where it connects to the dimmer switch, and connected it to the power feed to the switch, so that the lows are powered so long as the headlight switch is on, and the highs only get powered when the dimmer switch is in the high beam position.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

RELAYS RELAYS RELAYS

On my diesel(which has yet to receive relays) I cut the wire feeding the low beams where it connects to the dimmer switch, and connected it to the power feed to the switch, so that the lows are powered so long as the headlight switch is on, and the highs only get powered when the dimmer switch is in the high beam position.

Seeing as how the headlight switch/wiring isn't hardly capable of carrying just the highs, or lows, it would seem to me like you are flirting with a wiring fire by having both highs and lows both connected through the stock wiring.

Another method of having "switchable option" of either highs by themselves, or both together, is to route a jumper wire, between high and low feed wires from the switch, through a toggle switch.

This lets you control whether only highs are on, or both together, when high is selected on the dimmer.

 

[Agnem]

Well since I just upgraded the Moosestang to the H4 bulbs, as of last night I have had to replace one of my melted factory connectors on the passenger side. Couldn't really find a quality replacement so I used a cheapy. We'll see how long that lasts, but since I leave the house when it is dark, waiting for a better repair wasn't an option. I enjoyed the article link and vasaline trick. Kinda confirms what I've always known about crimp connectors. I like that FIT321 heat shrink tubing when I can find it. Good stuff. And Joe, between presidents day and March 23rd, I added about 37 square feet to the layout and another 80 feet of track.

 

[adrianspeeder]

Speeder:
What's the reasoning for needing a diode in the circuit if you run both low and highs together?
On my diesel(which has yet to receive relays) I cut the wire feeding the low beams where it connects to the dimmer switch, and connected it to the power feed to the switch, so that the lows are powered so long as the headlight switch is on, and the highs only get powered when the dimmer switch is in the high beam position.

I didn't use one, but some people don't want the low to come on with the high.

Get the relays and make yer own harness before you melt the stock connector to the headlight switch.

Adrianspeeder

 

[82F100SWB]

I still don't see the point in a diode if you use the stock wiring, after the dimmer switch, it becomes 2 separate circuits, and one circuit triggers each relay, and everything the relay switches should be separate circuits too.
I've had that setup in my 460 truck for the last 6 years, and have never had an issue... Ah well....

 

[adrianspeeder]

I'm sorry I said that confusingly.

The diode is used when controlling relays, not stock wiring.

It the diode lets the two relays trigger wires be connected to have the lows come on with the highs, but not the highs with the lows.

Adrianspeeder

 

[82F100SWB]

So, it does the exact same function as what I have done to my diesel, only costs more. With my setup, the relay for the low beams is energized so long as the head light switch is on, and the high beam side is switched by the dimmer switch, simple, but effective.