Head light help

Badbrad3701

Badbrad3701

Borrowed Money
Joined
Oct 18, 2012
Messages
646
Was on way home the other night and Could smell something like it was burning. Felt the dash and it was hot above the head light switch. Last night was on way home and lights went out and had to hold the switch on the steering colum back to have head lights. Truck is 1998 12 valve. Also was wondering what everyone running for head lights cause mine suck. Thanks in advance.
 
Chrysler has a pigtail with relay kit and headlight switch. I'll get the part number when I get back to the shop.
 
I currently have some cheap ebay housings. Decent light pattern with halogen bulbs. I will be going to a projector retrofit set eventually.
 
Sport headlights with 4 bulbs on low,with a custom made harness that pulls power off of the batteries instead of the switch. That's why the switch always melts.
 
I was heading back from MI to CO at about 3am when my lights went out. I ended up going to a junk yard and getting a replacement switch and pigtail (luckily it was the newer upgraded one too) for $11. When I got home, I redid the entire headlight setup.

What I did was to take the outputs to the headlights, put the lows on a 15A relay, brights on a 15A relay, have a 25A auto-reset breaker, and I have a diode connecting the highs relay to the lows (that way the lows stay on when I turn on the brights).

I've been issue free since I made this change, and my headlights are way brighter now than when they were running all that current through the switch on ~20ga wire.
 
CorneliusRox said:
I was heading back from MI to CO at about 3am when my lights went out. I ended up going to a junk yard and getting a replacement switch and pigtail (luckily it was the newer upgraded one too) for $11. When I got home, I redid the entire headlight setup.

What I did was to take the outputs to the headlights, put the lows on a 15A relay, brights on a 15A relay, have a 25A auto-reset breaker, and I have a diode connecting the highs relay to the lows (that way the lows stay on when I turn on the brights).

I've been issue free since I made this change, and my headlights are way brighter now than when they were running all that current through the switch on ~20ga wire.
Click to expand...
That sounds like the route I need to go. Like to have lows and highs on at same time.
 
Badbrad3701 said:
That sounds like the route I need to go. Like to have lows and highs on at same time.
Click to expand...

I highly recommend it. If you want to do it the right way, get waterproof pigtails for the relays, heatshrink everything, and keep the relays in the fender behind the drivers headlight (there's a pocket for wiring and what not).

I ran the wires across to the passenger side with plastic conduit (split wire loom) attached to the positive battery cable that goes to the passenger side.
 
CorneliusRox said:
I highly recommend it. If you want to do it the right way, get waterproof pigtails for the relays, heatshrink everything, and keep the relays in the fender behind the drivers headlight (there's a pocket for wiring and what not).

I ran the wires across to the passenger side with plastic conduit (split wire loom) attached to the positive battery cable that goes to the passenger side.
Click to expand...

Where u get the diode?
 
Badbrad3701 said:
Where u get the diode?
Click to expand...
Radioshack, but any electronics store, or even Amazon. You don't need a high current one because you won't have high current running through that section. Your higher current section is what actually makes it to the headlights.

Badbrad3701 said:
What's everyone running head lights ?
Click to expand...
I 'upgraded' to some cheapo aftermarkets with projectors. I then took them apart, added better glass from 'The Retrofit Source', and recently upgraded from halogens to HID's from DDM Tuning.
 
If you pull the facia off the dash and drill some holes into the top of the vent tube under the light switch it won't heat up so badly. There isn't any air circulation up there. Also, switching to LEDs, in addition to the relays for the headlights, for your exterior lights decreases the load on the switch. White LEDs also won't melt the plastic on the rear license plate light.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top