Driving light upgrade

Joined: 18 Aug 2003 Location: Perth

Anyone know of or use any of the driving light/loom upgrade kits?? Wanna know how hard they are to install if hard at all and who makes the best and how much.

Cheers
Marc

Joined: 24 Aug 2003 Location: Launceston

i made my own headlight wiring for previous hilux. two 6mm fused wires to feed relays (1 high beam,1 low beam) then 4mm wire to globes. was awesome Laughing

havent transferred to my cruiser yet (i removed all my little mods before selling) as cant decide where to put sealed box i put all my realys in.

definately give it a go, in older cars with crappy wiring makes huge difference. hey marc, what vehicle you putting in in? positive or negative switched lights?

Lance

Joined: 18 Aug 2003 Location: Perth

Honestly mate im not fully into wiring, knowledgewise but love messing around with it. So exactly what type i have i dont know all i know is i have a 88 4.2 Maverick.

Marc

Joined: 18 Aug 2003 Location: Perth

Whats the difference between positive and negative switched lights?????

MArc

Joined: 05 Jan 2004 Location: Snowy Mountains

The amateur answer (I think) is that positive switched have spearate power and common earth to activate the high and low beams. Negative switching in headlights is when you have common pwer and separate earth.

Although . . . . . I could just be talking crap. Rolling Eyes

Joined: 24 Aug 2003 Location: Launceston

mention building your own because i find electrical easy. mechanical on the other hand Embarassed

ok, in your headlight globe you have both high and low beam filaments. have 3 connections (tabs), one to high beam filament (call it high), one to low beam filament (call it low), and last is joined to other side of both filaments (ie joined together) (call it common)

positve switched lights: common is connected to earth at all times. high and low are pulled down to ground unless light is selected (at light stalk) and then high goes to +12v for high beam, or low goes to +12v for low beam. can only have either both off, high beam on or low beam on

negative swithed lights: common is connected to +12v at all times. high and low are pulled up to +12v unless light is selected (at light stalk) and then high goes to ground for high beam, or low goes to ground for low beam. can only have either both off, high beam on or low beam on

positve switched vehicles are easier to make wiring upgrade than negative switched. actually usually convert negative switched to positive switched with relays, takes one extra small wire and one diode, one resistor

hope that is clear Very Happy

lance

Joined: 18 Aug 2003 Location: Perth

So what would be a simple way of working out wether my car was a positive switched or a negative switched system, really wanna give the upgrade a go myself, where would you purchase what you need??

MArc

p.s. Cheers for your help #Big smile

Joined: 24 Aug 2003 Location: Launceston

you'd have h4 globes right? most cars do, if you pull headlight globe out will have 3 prongs on back that loom connects to. the connector is square shaped, 1 prong per 3 sides. globe has male connector, loom female

ok, crappy diagram looking into back of connector (connected to globe):

. ----

| ...... |

now, connector far left is common of globe. top is low beam and far right high beam. common is right, mite be mixed up on low and high.

so, now measure voltage of each tab respective to battery ground, lights off, low on then high on. just push multimeter probe onto back of tab or carefully pierce insulation with sharp stanley knife.

work that out first then will see if negative or positve switched.
btw can get most/all parts thru ashdowns, tricky dicky, bursons etc

lance

Joined: 09 Nov 2002 Location: Traralgon Vic Aust.

When checking for neg or pos switching, disconnect both headlamps as only disconnecting one may cause a backfeed on the neg switched pin on the plug.This may cause confusion.
All GQs are neg switching and the two outside pins on the headlamp plug are common pos and high beam neg switch. Don't remember which is which though....

Joined: 24 Aug 2003 Location: Launceston

DAZZ wrote:

When checking for neg or pos switching, disconnect both headlamps as only disconnecting one may cause a backfeed on the neg switched pin on the plug.This may cause confusion.
All GQs are neg switching and the two outside pins on the headlamp plug are common pos and high beam neg switch. Don't remember which is which though....

sorry, i meant to remove globe just to confirm what type you have. put globes back in like dazz said to check operating voltages.

if you are interested i know of local (to me) manufacturer that among other things makes wiring loom for h4 cars. includes connectors to globes as well as into original loom as sense inputs. simple matter of connecting this up to relays and have new headlight loom.

Joined: 24 Aug 2003 Location: Launceston

finally transferred my headlight loom into cruiser. Very Happy

reckon they looked brighter middle of the day than wot they were light middle of night armsup

Joined: 24 Aug 2003 Location: Launceston

this is picture (sorry its blurry, still not used to digi cam) of connector to headlight. so, this is looking at back of connector

black wire = ground

red wire = low beam

green = high beam