"brighter" lights don't seem any brighter? | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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"brighter" lights don't seem any brighter?

AGodlyCanuck

Well-Known Member
Joined
June 13, 2018
Messages
196
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City, State
Nelson, BC. Canada
Year, Model & Trim Level
1992 Explorer 4dr 4x4 XLT
So I upgraded my 9004 sylvania Ultras
45/65w
Hella Optilux 9004 Extreme White
80/100w

My 55w spot lights to 100w hella h3's and neither seem to be any brighter. Is it possible that maybe they aren't getting enough power to be truly bright? Or was that a wasted $35?
 



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Abbreviated thesis on headlights:
1) If you cannot see the bulbs clearly through the lenses, the light is being scattered going out, with much of it being reflected back into the housing. Your lenses need to look nearly as clear as glass. Replacements are cheap.
2) Pull up to a wall at night and check for aim. There are generic diagrams out there to show proper headlight alignment.
3) The stock configuration routes headlight power through a lot of relatively thin wire and switches. There are wiring harnesses out there that get more voltage to the bulb, and the difference in 1/2 volt is significant... there's a reason why these harnesses are popular, and they are easy to install too.
4) The 90A alternator is... shall we say, a fair weather alternator. But, if you start using major power accessories, such as the heater blower, wipers, and headlights, it has a hard time keeping up, and in fact, does not if you sit and idle for a long period of time with all that stuff on. The 130A alternator is an easy replacement, same bolts, belt, and connections. When I did this, I asked if they cared that I bought a 130A alternator and returned a 90A core, they were fine with it.
5) Still, the 130A alternator... that's 130A output at full engine speed. At idle, it's a lot less. See chart below (note, that's alternator RPM, not engine). To improve this, you can install an undersized alternator pulley, which will increase alternator speed relative to engine speed and give you better output at idle. You will also need a slightly smaller belt.

I'm giving you these steps in order of ease, price, and bang-for-buck. Just doing step 1, new lenses, may improve things dramatically.

Something people often try is to install the next generation bulb, I forget the designation, but you have to trim some tabs to make the bulb fit. I tried this too. The problem is that the filaments in the bulb are in the wrong orientation and position for the reflector to produce a good pattern. You get more light in all the wrong places, and it's a weird pattern, you can't fix it with aiming, it's just a waste of money.

You could certainly install some aftermarket lights to augment your existing lights. There are some low-profile LED lightbars that are pretty impressive! But, do not power these off the headlight circuit. You will burn out wiring, the headlight switch and/or the high/low beam switch. Run this power through a relay triggered by the high beam circuit or by a toggle switch of some kind.


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Thank you for the information!

IM going to start by disassembling some old lenses and giving them a full polish and reseal them and what not. More effort but cheaper than buying brand new ones. as i am a poor SOAB
I am definitely thinking of getting a 130amp alternator from a 1995 Explorer.
Then i am considering the 'Relay upgrade'.
 






Sounds good. I had a car with lenses frosted from years of sand/roadsalt exposure, and I did the polishing thing because they were very pricy. I had to re-buff them every year, but it worked.

On the relay upgrade, the easy way is with a pre-made harness. But, you can imagine the wiring, it wouldn't be difficult to DIY. You really just need some heavy gauge wire, a relay, a socket, time and soldering.
 






Got any places you would recommend for the larger wiring harness?
 












it does say not for use with models with DRL's... which mine has...

Becos Canada
 






I rewired my headlights based upon a explorerforum thread I can't locate by searching. I basically ran a 10 gauge wire directly from the battery to two relays, one for high and one for low beams. I ran a heavier gauge wire than OEM from the relays to the headlight plugs. The headlight switch now only activates the relays, so I don't have all those amps going through the switch. This makes it more efficient and will help the switch last longer. I noticed right away the lights were brighter.
 






I rewired my headlights based upon a explorerforum thread I can't locate by searching. I basically ran a 10 gauge wire directly from the battery to two relays, one for high and one for low beams. I ran a heavier gauge wire than OEM from the relays to the headlight plugs. The headlight switch now only activates the relays, so I don't have all those amps going through the switch. This makes it more efficient and will help the switch last longer. I noticed right away the lights were brighter.

Sooo, do i need 2 or four relays?
And what gauge and length of wires do you think i should pickup tomorrow?
 






2 relays
10 gauge wire from battery to relays with a in-line 30 amp fuse. Mine is about a foot long as the relays are next to the battery. I think I used 2 different colors of 12 gauge wire for high and low beams, not sure of the length. Need to go from passenger side to driver side. I have a bunch of wires in a harness running across the top of the radiator due to my battery being moved to the driver side and the headlight wires are in that harness. You are going to have to figure out how you want to run the wiring. I cut the OEM wires off about 1" from the OEM plug, then stripped, doubled them over and soldered the 12 gauge wire to it. Used thick marine grade shrink wrap to cover the bare wiring. Used the old wiring to wire the relay triggers, high and low beams. I don't ever remember when I did this, it was many years ago. The only picture I could find was when I purchased a label maker during my rebuild and went to town, and its only of the relays. You don't need 80 amp relays, its what I had handy. 40's would be fine.
I am also not sure if that effects your daytime running lights. I don't have them, because...America
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Cracked the headlights apart. Polished the hell out of them, cleaned the reflective surface which was hazed over and reassembled them.

Seems to have made a difference.
Will definitely be doing a Relay upgrade next.

Turns out tapping a flat head screwdriver along the edge with a hammer eventually will break it loose... Took maybe... 2.5 hours to do both sides.

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I have done the aforementioned wiring harness upgrade with individual relays for the lows and highs on my Chevy truck. My truck is a 94, but I am using the sealed beam lights from the 88-89, because I like the retro engineering.

Anyways to the point of my reply, just by upgrading the wire size to I think I used 14 gauge versus the factory 18 gauge (maybe I’m sizing it wrong), is literally hands down so much better than anything I have ever done to any vehicle I have ever owned.

Schematic I used for my truck, but should be fairly universal:
3C3BA3B5-988D-4502-B22F-C2CEF7934A3B.png


The backwards lighting I did from the original plastic composite setup it was born with.
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This business with the harness not recommended for DRL's has been bugging me because there's really no obvious reason why it should not work. I've been going through wiring diagrams with and without DRL and there are no differences at this point in the circuit. Plenty in the dashboard, but not out at the battery and lights.

Then it occured to me, and I'll give you the quick answer, then a very long boring involved explanation. There is a chance doing this will damage your DRL module. The new relays, when de-energizing, could send a voltage spike to the DRL module and blow out the semiconductors inside. It's really the only reason I can find for them not selling this as DLR compatible. Now, maybe it will, maybe it won't, maybe it will work for a while, I don't know. I'm just saying... this could blow your DRL module.

Ok, here's the long version:
Do you know/remember old ignition point systems? The old black can coils? If so, you are a step ahead. When those points closed, they completed a circuit to energize the coil. (You got +12 from the ignition switch, the points provided ground). Energizing the coil set up a magnetic field in the coil core. Now, when the points opened, the coil no longer had a complete circuit, so the magnetic field collapsed. And the collapsing field, created a pulse of high voltage out of the coil tower.

What we have here is a very small version of this. When the relay loses power to the it's coil, the relay's magnetic field collapses and sends a pulse back up the the wire that energized it. Now, in a US vehicle, that's perfectly fine, there's nothing on the line because the switch is open. The problem with a DRL car is that there is a DRL module still on that wire, and I'm thinking the DRL module is not designed to deal with a voltage spike in this way.

If you Google for 'Relay Kickback', you might get a better explanation and some pictures, as well as a way to use diodes to keep it from happening.

Ever notice the diode in the power distribution box? It serves this purpose to protect the Ign Control Module.

Again, I'm not saying 'don't do this'. I'm saying it might blow your DRL module, and then you will have added cost and labor to get it working again. Just a thought.
 






This business with the harness not recommended for DRL's has been bugging me because there's really no obvious reason why it should not work. I've been going through wiring diagrams with and without DRL and there are no differences at this point in the circuit. Plenty in the dashboard, but not out at the battery and lights.

Then it occured to me, and I'll give you the quick answer, then a very long boring involved explanation. There is a chance doing this will damage your DRL module. The new relays, when de-energizing, could send a voltage spike to the DRL module and blow out the semiconductors inside. It's really the only reason I can find for them not selling this as DLR compatible. Now, maybe it will, maybe it won't, maybe it will work for a while, I don't know. I'm just saying... this could blow your DRL module.

Ok, here's the long version:
Do you know/remember old ignition point systems? The old black can coils? If so, you are a step ahead. When those points closed, they completed a circuit to energize the coil. (You got +12 from the ignition switch, the points provided ground). Energizing the coil set up a magnetic field in the coil core. Now, when the points opened, the coil no longer had a complete circuit, so the magnetic field collapsed. And the collapsing field, created a pulse of high voltage out of the coil tower.

What we have here is a very small version of this. When the relay loses power to the it's coil, the relay's magnetic field collapses and sends a pulse back up the the wire that energized it. Now, in a US vehicle, that's perfectly fine, there's nothing on the line because the switch is open. The problem with a DRL car is that there is a DRL module still on that wire, and I'm thinking the DRL module is not designed to deal with a voltage spike in this way.

If you Google for 'Relay Kickback', you might get a better explanation and some pictures, as well as a way to use diodes to keep it from happening.

Ever notice the diode in the power distribution box? It serves this purpose to protect the Ign Control Module.

Again, I'm not saying 'don't do this'. I'm saying it might blow your DRL module, and then you will have added cost and labor to get it working again. Just a thought.

Honestly, you’re one of my favorite people who reply in here, because you break it down easy, and give the scientific information to go with. I find myself doing the same when I’m talking to someone who isn’t vehicle literate.

While I’m certainly no expert in electrical, I have definitely ramped up my skills with my recent work in my truck where I merged two harnesses together that were probably never meant to be combined. I wouldn’t put myself in any professional category when it comes to wiring, it just doesn’t scare me like it used to.
 












That looks good, except I used the original high and low beam wires to activate the relays. Why I mounted the relays right above the driver side headlight light housing.

That makes sense as well.
 






so i legit woke up in a dead sleep the other night and i realized why my 100w spotlights are so dim...

I didnt hook them up with a Relay XD

So im going to need to pickup 3 relays and a heckton of wire lol
 



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Did you polish the lens to perfectly clear?

I used to use Meguiar's PlastX on mine, and could get to perfectly clear with a lot of elbow grease....
 






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