headlight upgrade

[fulsizjeep]

I am sure plenty of folks have been down this path. Eight years ago, I bought a custom headlight harness from a forum member. I regret that he has since passed away. I bought it and a few other things for a brighter headlights project on my wife's Waggy. It ended up sitting in a box. That happens.

Fast forward to last month and there is a short in the headlight circuit trying to melt the headlight switch. I discovered the factory light harness splices bare and touching metal on the front header panel. The soldered splice had lost it's factory duct tape and the loom was rotten and falling apart. Must be time then.

Right away I found two wire connection on the low and high beam relay plugs were broken. A friend came by for a visit so I enlisted his help. We got the connections fixed. We got the new harness installed and began troubleshooting other issues right away. The new H4 lights did not fit the headlight buckets. They got modified with a zip wheel so they would fit. H4 headlights got installed but the the lights were not consistently working correctly. We came across two other connections to the relay plugs broken and fixed that. There was still trouble with the lights working consistently. Finally, we realized two wires were swapped on the Hi beam relay plug. Got those swapped and still had issues. By then we were on our second day of work. Finally we figured out the relays will not work right once the battery voltage got down to under 10 volts. Threw a battery charger on and WAH LAH! To be thorough, the headlight and hi/lo beam switch were also replaced with new ones.

Wifey is going to really like the H4 lights compared to the yellow headlights the Jeep has had for so long.

[RustyDusty]

I would like to see your results, but your photos are a no show for me. I have found that I can post photos directly if I resize to under 1 megabyte. If that could work for you, I would like to see your success. ++ for tenacity.

BTW Voila! is stupid french spelling, but that's what comes of having cheese-eating surrender monkeys as next door neighbors (they did conquer us Saxons too, so I have to give them some credit. (But their spelling is still stupid!))

[tgreese]

That factory duct tape will get you every time.

No pics here. Says "Image not found."

[fulsizjeep]

Thanks, I had broke the links. Let me know if they still don't show.

[tgreese]

Works now. Woohoo!

[jsinajeep]

I can not find the LIKE button

[RustyDusty]

So...seat of the pants, how much better is the non-yellow lighting?

[fulsizjeep]

How much? A shitload.

One of the things we discovered is the voltage at the head lights on the stock wiring is 11.3 volts when the battery is 12.4 volts so you lose about a volt in the wiring harness, switch and various connections. The new lights get power straight off the battery through a relay. That improvement alone is worth it.

[bigun]

Even stock lights would benefit by going through a relay straight to an isolated power, because so much is lost between resistance in the switch and dimmer. Good job hopefully it'll keep the Jeepstress safe and happy

[dodgerammit]

Already have Serehill's relay mod. Was thinking of doing the same with some vision x housings and h4 bulbs for white lighting. This made up my mind.

[tgreese]

I wrote quite a lot about this here http://www.earlycj5.com/xf_cj5/index.ph ... il.142321/ - including some discussion of the electrical rationale. You eliminate considerable length of small-gauge wire, mechanical connectors and switch contacts when you add the relays. Lots of pictures too.

[letank]

Serehill headlight relay is so well designed, installed on the 85... much better than my DSPO work done in 2002 on the 74 before the Ouray trip...

[fulsizjeep]

BTW Voila! is stupid french spelling, but that's what comes of having cheese-eating surrender monkeys as next door neighbors (they did conquer us Saxons too, so I have to give them some credit. (But their spelling is still stupid!))

I agree. That is why I spelled it in American.

[fulsizjeep]

Serehill headlight relay is so well designed, installed on the 85... much better than my DSPO work done in 2002 on the 74 before the Ouray trip...

I agree that it is well designed. In my case, there were defects. 4 of the 12 ga. wires at the relay plugs were broken at the blade connector. I believe the harness was in such a tight coil, that it put a strain on the crimp. They are also soldered. Maybe the crimps were too tight also. Then the 2 wires that needed to be swapped in the plug for the Hi beam relay. It placed the trigger voltage for the relay to ground. The trigger voltage is supplied from the stock wiring that lights the hi beam. Left unchecked, it would have heated the stock wiring harness up - maybe even get smoke in the wires. I am not trying to rag on Serehill, rest in peace. Just stating facts.

[fulsizjeep]

Here is a view in the daylight. The blue in the right headlight is a reflection off a blue dog crate just to the right of where I am standing.



Additional note on the install. The relays that come with the harness required a little higher minimum voltage to trigger (around 9.8) than the relays that are actually installed (around 8.7). They were bought at O'Reilly Auto Parts.

[HowardT64]

WOW!!!! Do they have square ones?? Rather are there square ones....

[dodgerammit]

WOW!!!! Do they have square ones?? Rather are there square ones....

There are. You want to be careful. Not all h4 housings are equal. Many cheapies on fleabay just scatter the light and blind oncoming traffic. I have my eyes on these: https://headlightrevolution.com/vision- ... 4-5x7-7x6/
Price is per pair.

[freehold]

WOW!!!! Do they have square ones?? Rather are there square ones....

There are. You want to be careful. Not all h4 housings are equal. Many cheapies on fleabay just scatter the light and blind oncoming traffic. I have my eyes on these: https://headlightrevolution.com/vision- ... 4-5x7-7x6/
Price is per pair.

Can I ask what made you want to consider these headlights? I am really interested in improving my headlight range (I feel like I have to drive with the hi-beams on to see anything at night right now, which is certainly not ideal), but I'm not sure if I should go the relay route, the new headlight route, or both.

[lkmarsh]

The problems Flint had with the oem wiring are universal. ALL headlight upgrades should include relays.
All original wiring and switches should be replaced to avoid a fire hazard. BTDT. One thing not mentioned
was the wiring running in front of the radiator. Mine was baked to a crackly crunch, so much so the insulation
crumbled when I touched it. Fifty year old wiring is unlivable, and new wiring is cheap insurance.

[dodgerammit]

WOW!!!! Do they have square ones?? Rather are there square ones....

There are. You want to be careful. Not all h4 housings are equal. Many cheapies on fleabay just scatter the light and blind oncoming traffic. I have my eyes on these: https://headlightrevolution.com/vision- ... 4-5x7-7x6/
Price is per pair.

Can I ask what made you want to consider these headlights? I am really interested in improving my headlight range (I feel like I have to drive with the hi-beams on to see anything at night right now, which is certainly not ideal), but I'm not sure if I should go the relay route, the new headlight route, or both.

Here is a good review with actual demonstration of focus of beam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1JtVou4pSY

but yes, do relays first.