Headlights?

[The Warden]

Do older trucks not have the "flash" feature where you can pull the turnsignal lever towards you? On my truck i could always have high and low at the same time just had to hold the lever, when pushing the lever forward it would go to just highs...

No Ford truck/van before '92 has that. For us older truck owners, the dimmer switch is foot-operated. The only thing the turn signal lever does is activate the turn signals (and, if you have tilt-wheel and push the lever away from you, it unlocks the steering wheel to tilt).

So, no, no flash feature.

 

[adrianspeeder]

Ok 75% done today with a slight change of plan. I'm gonna instead of using the stock high beam switch, I'll add a toggle on the dash to trip the highbeam relay. This does two things; high+low beams when I want with no diodes needed, and an easy flash feature.

 

[adrianspeeder]

Ok some initial pics of the install.

I picked up from napa relays, pigtail/sockets for the relays, a fuse block, and a green lighted toggle switch.

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As an aside I'm adding in my air horn circuit in with this harness and hookup so thats why there are three relays.

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This is the harness mocked together out of 14g wire. Not too much to it other than one at a time string a line from where you are to where you want to go labeling each one. I then grouped the wires by colored zip ties with the horn, high beam, and low beam power wires with blue ties, the horn, high beam, and low beam trigger wires with white and long enough to go into the cab. Also tagging along is a ground, and a constant 12v for the CB.

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Here is where I chose to mount the fuse panel and I ended up using 5 circuits. CB, Horn, Horn relay (since ford horns are ground triggered there needs to be a positive source feeding the relay), Low beam, and High beam.

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[akoldnav]

I installed a set of relays on my 88 and I am pleased. The relays were included in a complete harness that I got after an internet search. I don't remember the vender. The good thing about the setup was that It just plugged into one of the headlight sockets and provided two new headlight sockets that provide power to the lights. The end effect is that my truck headlight system just runs the relays and the headlights get nearly direct 12 volt power from a very short wire.

I think the whole thing only cost about $40 and was really worth the money.

akoldnav

 

[adrianspeeder]

Thats cool, I haven't seen em for 40bucks though so 50 in parts isn't too bad. I'm a do-it-yourself kinda guy anyway.

Continuing with yesterdays pics...

Here are my three relay connectors wired together. Incorrectly actually, but that doesn't show up till later, and of course when it ain't as handy to fix.

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And I noticed it after I had it all wire tied together.

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But this is a good spot to talk about relay tech and the two ways to wire one. 12v across pins 85-86 trigger the coil inside. This can be done by grounding one pin and switching the hot 12 volts to the other. Like what is going on for the headlights. The other way is to have constant 12volts to one pin and switch the ground. This is how the ford horn buttons on cruse control optioned trucks are, and not what I was thinkin up above makin a permanent ground for the horn relay.

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So you can see how the blue wires for the two light relays are to ground, and the blue wire for the horn relay going to a low amp circuit.

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[TLBREWER]

It was warm enough in PA today for shorts and a t-shirt?

Tom

 

[Exekiel69]

Yes, beautiful day .

 

[Camarogenius]

I'd get confuzerated with all those wires being the same color. Thanks for the diagrams though. I'm either gonna do this, or go H.I.D. I've been cruising ebay looking at H.I.D. kits, I'm just afraid of buying something like that from ebay. Acouple years ago, I bought two remote starter kits that were supposed to be top quality, and got garbage. I'll make my mind up soon.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

Here is some more reading on the headlight modification.

http://ramchargercentral.com/index.php?action=howtoshow;id=55

It is Dodge/Ramcharger; but, twelve volts is twelve volts.

Also, I am a little confused; are the Sylvania Silverstar and X-tra Vision bulbs only for the style of lights that have seperate bulbs/lenses??

My 1985 has rectangular one-piece sealed beam bulbs.

I don't guess they make a Silverstar for me, do they??

What is the best/brightest sealed-beam available, legal or not, for my truck??

Thanks.

 

[The Warden]

What is the best/brightest sealed-beam available, legal or not, for my truck??

No reason to keep a sealed-beam setup on your truck! Take a look here. I did this conversion in '04 with my truck, and even with 60/55 watt bulbs, the difference is amazing. While technically illegal (but I highly doubt you would be caught, since the light pattern actually makes it less blinding for other drivers), IMHO the E-code bulbs are really superior in terms of light pattern, efficiency, etc. I plan to completely revamp my headlight wiring (adding relays, upping the wire gauge, etc) when time and $$ allow, and as soon as I do that, I plan to go with 100/80 bulbs

 

[Agnem]

Great link Warden! They are near me, so I might make a trip up there some time. What's really driving me crazy right now is how dim my dash lights are. Everything else is fine. I suspect an accumulation of dust and a subseqent cleaning and inspection of the dash will come at some point.

 

[hheynow]

so what are the part numbers for the better relays? i know you showed me last night but i was sidetracked about the calc test.

wiring relay harness P/N 30815 or 30816

 

[84TD]

Here is a really good link that decribes this process....

http://www.ford-trucks.com/article/idx/8/039/article/Whiter_Whites_Brighter_Brights.html

I did it to my capri already, it was the worst, couldnt even see the lines in the rain! Now it does really well with the sivlania super whites.

The Truck is next.

 

[yARIC008]

Great link Warden! They are near me, so I might make a trip up there some time. What's really driving me crazy right now is how dim my dash lights are. Everything else is fine. I suspect an accumulation of dust and a subseqent cleaning and inspection of the dash will come at some point.

Mine aren't too dim but I came up with a solution a while back. Luxeon 1 watt LEDs, i think i figured the light output at one time to be 2x greater than normal incandescent bulbs.. All i need to do is figure out how to power them without breaking the bank, i have some huge resistors but they just use up to much energy and get too hot. I already spent 100 bucks on the LEDs and resistors, to get the proper powering units will be another 60...

But the Luxeon LEDs beam pattern is similar, i think, to incandescent bulbs, as to light the dash similarly to incandescents do; with or without the little fiber optic plastic deals to redirect the light.

In the end, I hope for white dials instead of brownish dials..., less heat, less energy used, and practically inifite instrument cluster lighting life.

 

[84TD]

Mine aren't too dim but I came up with a solution a while back. Luxeon 1 watt LEDs, i think i figured the light output at one time to be 2x greater than normal incandescent bulbs.. All i need to do is figure out how to power them without breaking the bank, i have some huge resistors but they just use up to much energy and get too hot. I already spent 100 bucks on the LEDs and resistors, to get the proper powering units will be another 60...

But the Luxeon LEDs beam pattern is similar, i think, to incandescent bulbs, as to light the dash similarly to incandescents do; with or without the little fiber optic plastic deals to redirect the light.

In the end, I hope for white dials instead of brownish dials..., less heat, less energy used, and practically inifite instrument cluster lighting life.

That sounds like a fun project...1w leds would be freakin really bright though. It wouldn't be to hard I dont think. All the dash lights are in parallel right? If you used 6 of the leds with 12vdc in I think around a 500ohm resistor would work on the + side, or if you want them really bright around 240ohm.