John Lee's Halogen Headlight with Relay's Upgrade

[Sharps40]

Time for a safety upgrade....a bad connection at the radiator bulkhead and I occasionally loose one headlight. That plus they are old sealed beams and I'm putting in halogen. Higher draw than the original system would handle since all the power runs thru the headlight switch....I'll insert relays to run the halogens and also to pull power directly from the battery thereby eliminating the loop of high amps thru the switch.

Heres the supplies...



Here is the faulty bulkhead connector...I've tagged the low beam wire (brown). The green wire is high beam.



Down here at the DS sealed beam I've tagged the low beam wire, ground is obvious, the third wire is high beam.



With all the power looping thru the headlight switch and the high/low switch, I only receive 10.8 volts of power at the headlights.



Mounting the new sealed beam halogen in the bucket, the original T3 sealed beam on the right.



Over on the passenger side, a broken socket and a rigged up ground wire.



The new replacement sockets are high temp rated for the Halogen lights.

[Sharps40]

Rather than fiddle with fuzes, I installed a 30 amp self resetting breaker to protect the circuit. Mounted to the radiator shroud and ready to wire up.



A single 12g wire (top) taps power directly from the connections to the + terminal of the battery on the radiator shroud.

A pair of 12g wires (bottom) out will send power to the High and Low beam relays. Now all the high amp load on the switches (factory set up) is transferred direct from battery to relay. The switches should now be operating at a single amp or so, just enough to trigger the relays.



Breaker installed and the two relays. High beam relay (green wire) to the left, Low beam relay (brown wire) to the right. All the new wires plumbed in, crimped and soldered connectors and nicely wrapped to provide protection/better looks. Both relays are grounded to the radiator shroud up at the original ground point for the horn relay.



Finishing up the hookups at the headlights. New sealed beam halogens installed in the buckets. New high temp connectors installed and connected to the relays output terminals.



These are the grounds for the individual headlights. One each left and right in the radiator shroud. Once the left and right windscreens are reinstalled, they will be invisible.



After double checking all the connections and tracing the wires one last time, I apply power. Zowie, 12.5 volts at the light sockets. Almost 2 volts gained at the lights where needed. Should be blinding for deer this fall!



Oh yeah, Way brighter on low beam than the sealed beams ever were on high.



Waitin for darkness, gotta aim em and test drive!

[Sharps40]

I checked the voltage at the lights with the motor running....full 14.5 volts, just whats needed to blind anything lookin at my truck!

[NEWFISHER]

Great write up.

[Sharps40]

Thanks...The Official John Lee Jr thread is getting long/harder to find stuff in so, figured breaking out somma the projects into individual threads might help folks out, specially with searches for how to's.

[wayno]

This is an upgrade that's in my future

[Sharps40]

I love the new halogens and the fact that I no longer have to wiggle wires to get everything working!

[wayno]

What should the AMPS be on these relays.... 30? 40?

will these work?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/20-PIECES-30...item1e8185114f

[Billett]

Those will work fine. The ones you don't want are on the left and have a diode in them



I did the same thing with my truck a while ago using E code hellas and off road bulbs. After properly aiming them I've never had a problem with other people flashing because the lights are too bright, but man are they amazing from my side of the grille. It's like driving around in my wife's newer civic.

[1963c-10]

Rich, save the t-3 for me if you decide to not use it.

[gofastnut]

Thanks for the detailed upgrade, Sharps!

[Bullett]

Awesome do-it-yourself post, I want to do the same thing to my 62', now I have something to go by. Thank you for taking the extra time and effort.

[Indian113]

As usual another great" How Too" by you. Thanks for taking the time to do this, it's a really great write up and easy to understand.

[Sharps40]

Originally Posted by wayno

What should the AMPS be on these relays.... 30? 40?

will these work?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/20-PIECES-30...item1e8185114f

I used a 30 amp relay for each circuit, one for low, one for high. I put a 30 amp breaker in front of em...its a self resetting so I don't have to worry bout corroded fuzes.

[Sharps40]

Originally Posted by 1963c-10

Rich, save the t-3 for me if you decide to not use it.

Its just gonna get broke layin around here....last I checked both High and low worked fine. Ya can have it.

[Sharps40]

Yall are all welcome....I gotta go to FAQ and start copyin the good stuff to word so I can save it as a pdf and mail/down load it to my kindle. That way when I'm on the road or inna garage I'll have how tos with HD pics and if broke down on the road I can show 17 year old- goggleyed- used to swappin lectronic junk on a rice burner- most complex experience to date is fart can installation- mechanic dude how it was assembled and how I want it fixed

[Sharps40]

But I'm not pickin on the youngins....couple of em are smart and have Chevy Trucks!

[T and S]

Do you have a schematic of the wiring, or can direct me to where it is ? Ah my bad, I see it in first photo. Is that on this site somewhere ?

[Sharps40]

The schematic shown in my pic above is on one of the threads here on site. I think I did a search on headlight conversions and came up with a buncha schematics, that one was the clearest and simplest to read. It might even be in one of the FAQ headlight relay how to's

[T and S]

Thanks!!

[pestwagon]

what did it cost? There is a similar kit on Ebay $85

[LostMy65]

Originally Posted by pestwagon

what did it cost? There is a similar kit on Ebay $85

Be Cautious of this guy:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=613436

[Sharps40]

I don't recall but it was well under $85. Go to oreillies or autozone and price out the parts. I recon it'll be cheeper an ye'll be keepin your money in your home town not sendin it off to some where far away and waitin weeks for parts to arrive.

Heck I think the wiring harness kit from LMC, (though it is seeming in need of modifications on arrival) is only $30 with relays..

$85 bucks seems to be a bit of a kick in the you know whats.

[pestwagon]

Originally Posted by Sharps40

I don't recall but it was well under $85. Go to oreillies or autozone and price out the parts. I recon it'll be cheeper an ye'll be keepin your money in your home town not sendin it off to some where far away and waitin weeks for parts to arrive.

Heck I think the wiring harness kit from LMC, (though it is seeming in need of modifications on arrival) is only $30 with relays..

$85 bucks seems to be a bit of a kick in the you know whats.

THAT was my point!

[luvbowties]

Originally Posted by Sharps40

I don't recall but it was well under $85. Go to oreillies or autozone and price out the parts. I recon it'll be cheeper an ye'll be keepin your money in your home town not sendin it off to some where far away and waitin weeks for parts to arrive.

Heck I think the wiring harness kit from LMC, (though it is seeming in need of modifications on arrival) is only $30 with relays..

$85 bucks seems to be a bit of a kick in the you know whats.

Just for information, I recently installed a kit from LMC, one I'd ordered several years back. It was relatively plug 'n play, simple to install, and seems to work just fine. Of course, they may be selling a different product today(?); if so, it may be a different quality. However, I am satisfied overall with the one I used.
Sam