Headlights?

yARIC008

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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.

Sounds easy in theory, but these LEDs pull 3.9 volts, so can only put a max of 3 per 12 volt line. i need 5 LEDs so i need a 12 volt wire with 3 and then one with 2, so it'll be different resistors and really big wattage ones. The ones i have are huge and get 300 + degrees, so it's no good, gotta get transformers.
 

adrianspeeder

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Sorry for the delay folks, here is the exciting conclusion.

Starting at the relay center, I just brought the harness around and ziptied to the core support.

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I felt the headlight connector and harness was ok for now, and simply cut off from the stock wiring and tied into my feeder wires from the relays. Black for ground, red for lowbeam and green for the highs. Moving on...

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I used some split tubing over the rad for now, and when I get some more will do the whole harness.

The drivers side light is a bit easier as this is just a butt connection into the feeder wires and not a splice like the pass side. Pay no attention to the hackjob stock horn butchery the PO did. It's all cut off and now the stock horn button triggers that third relay in the other pics to run the air horns.

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adrianspeeder

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Now its under the dash work time. First step is to take off the headlight and wiper knobs. For those that never have, you use a small screwdriver to flatten out the spring steel and it slides right off the shaft.

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The left side simply pops off, while the right has one screw in addition to the spring clips

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Here is the switch bracket ya gotta take out.

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And now the prize of the headlight switch. I'm tapping in here as I still haven't found the short/break in the stock headlight wiring so the red wire is what you want for as direct as possible for power when the switch is pulled on all the way. If you don't have 12v there, the switch is bad.

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I spliced two wires to the red output from the switch to go to
1. The low beam relay
2. My soon to be installed highbeam switch.

Cutting the wire kills any power floating down to the floor switch, and then from there either the high or low beam stock wiring.

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adrianspeeder

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I went with a green lighted single pole, single throw toggle to run my high beams. The bottom wire comes from the headlight switch, preventing me from leaving on the highbeams without the headlight dinger goin off. The middle wire goes off to trigger the high beam relay, and the black wire is a ground for the bulb when the toggle is on.

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Mounted up, *Shoulda used it for the NAWWWSSSS instead* lol

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Ok, that wraps it up for this install almost. I'm still lookin around for silverstar bulbs, possibly a pushbutton to flash the highs even with the lows off, and I must say even the stock bulbs are easily twice as bright. I only wish i had a voltage reading when I started, but it seemed just as dim as on my 84 when it only had 10volts at idle through the stock wiring. Both the 84 and 88 now have full 14 with the motor runnin and the high plus low at the same time I feel make this a must do mod.

Get those wire strippers ready and let the questions fly. I'd be happy to help.

Adrianspeeder
 

subway

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VERY nice high quality job! ;Sweet


i dont know about that i have seen this in person, what he dousent tell you is that when he turns on his headlights all his buzzers turn on and his doors lock. :D

no it is a nice set up, just got to nit pick having all the same color wiring though. i have built electronic test boxes to test curcuit boards for my company and everything has to be a seperate color to track or we could never find a problem or modify the thing in time.

nice work:thumbsup:
 

hheynow

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just got to nit pick having all the same color wiring though.

I just received my wire harness relay (the one I linked above) and the wiring is colored so even a dummy can wire it right.
 

subway

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so glad you asked:D my last pet project, the engineer gave me a shematic and i did all the rest of the design. sourced the parts and designed the pogo test part on top, wired it and it ataully worked the first time.:eek:
 

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MIDNIGHT RIDER

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adrianspeeder,

Does the green switch do away with the stock dimmer switch?? or am I just a little confused??:confused:

I have been following this thread closely; as, I intend to do my Ford and the wife's Dodge/Cummins, as soon as I get some more vital projects taken care of.

I hope to get mine wired such that the low-beams are on with the headlight switch on, and the dimmer-switch turns off, and on, the high-beams.

Thanks for posting the pictures and drawings for the rest of us to learn from.
 

Agnem

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Well I can sympothize with Mr. Speeder. Wire 18 gauge and lighter is easy to get in a gazillion colors pretty cheap. Good stuff #14 and heavier, is astronimically priced, limited in color variety from retail venues, and difficult to find. Nice job on the test box. Next time you come over, look underneath my model railroad. LOL
 

adrianspeeder

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adrianspeeder,

Does the green switch do away with the stock dimmer switch?? or am I just a little confused??:confused:
...
I hope to get mine wired such that the low-beams are on with the headlight switch on, and the dimmer-switch turns off, and on, the high-beams.
...

Yes i did away with the floor switch. For all I know it is bad, and even though I like "old school truck stuff" the floor switch just bothers me anyway.

If you want to keep you stock switch it is super easy to just tap from the stock headlight socket with the stock low beam wire triggering the low relay, and the stock high beam wire triggering the high beam relay. Just like in the first diagram I posted, and how I did the '84 if you look in my sig link.

Now if you want the high + low on at the same time with the stock switch, you need to use a diode which is pretty simple to do as well.

Adrianspeeder
 

adrianspeeder

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Well I can sympothize with Mr. Speeder. Wire 18 gauge and lighter is easy to get in a gazillion colors pretty cheap. Good stuff #14 and heavier, is astronimically priced, limited in color variety from retail venues, and difficult to find. LOL

Yeah I hear ya. I used almost a 100 foot spool of 12 gauge and it cost 20 bucks. 14 prolly would have been fine, but I go big or go home.

Adrianspeeder
 

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