low/high sametime w/o britebox

[MountaineerGreen]

Why not just buy a brite box? :scratch:

 

[hunterdan]

I'm too cheap and I like to do things on my own. Im starting to guess that the brite box has a relay built in which powers both lights when the highs are on.

Dan

 

[Charlie]

Brite boxes are a rip-off. They cost way too much for what they do.

If you do it yourself, it could be done so much easier. I am sure you can just put a jumper in your multi-fawked-up switch that will leave the lows on when you push it forward.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

Well, not specifically talking to you Dan. More directed toward Storiled, since he does not know what a diode is and doesn't seem to understand the concept of a relay. Seems much simpler to buy the kit if you don't understand.

Me, I could wire a relay in no problem, but that's another story.

Is there not a risk with burning wires or melting the headlight housing?

 

[hunterdan]

My reasoning for trying to perform this mod is because I have switched over to HIDs and the high beam that is incorporated into the bulb is an H3, and the output is horrible. I have since wired up some Hella 500s into the high beam circuit via a relay. This give me excellent long range lighting, but I am left with very little light directly in front of me. I read al's review of the brite box and he doesn't seem to be having any issues with heat or anything else. While my wire routing skills are not the best, my wiring abilities are improving everyday. I read about the diode thing from this link.
http://www.northtexaspowerstrokes.com/users/kevin/mods/upgradeharness/
What I did not realize, which I just read is that the diode has to go a certain direction. But I believe this may only work if you have the upgraded harness, which I currently do not have. My next bes bet may be to try to figure out how to fire up the low beams using a relay triggered by the high beams. But my concern would be what happens when you pull the stalk back to "flash" the high beams since the lows are already on? I also want to do this because my new HID bulbs will not have a high beam bulb in them, it will just be the low beam HID, so I want the HIDs constantly on to prevent a lag time. If I could get a pin out of the multifunction switch, I'm sure I could figure out a way to keep the lows on with the highs.

Dan

 

[Bill Kemp]

i hope this info doesnt confuse the info but here it is:
KC Hilites makes a relay setup that keeps the high & low beams on at the same time. I used this when I converted the Cad to HID and needed to keep the lows(HID) on w/the brights. The Cad is 9005/9006 so the wires are different but the result is the same and , IMO, could be duplicated with a 9007 set up.
The standard setup for an H4 bulb(not used in X's except export) is that the high element is on with the low in the high beam position. So heat must not be that big of a factor in the bulb life.
Yes diodes are directional & I believe that the small bands on the diode indicate the direction of elect. flow. See which side the small bands are in the powerstrokes pic.
If it warms up a little here I will give the diode tirck a try since I have a harness on the Mounty. The lights, with Catz fogs & PIAA driving lights, are so good that I have no desire to convert them to HID. I really prefer to drive the Mounty at night than the Cad which has the same Catz fogs & PIAA driving lights and HID projectors. If the Cad wasent so much faster, smoother, quicker, better milage ect. I'd drive the Mounty all the time.

 

[hunterdan]

Thanks for the info Bill, I will have to look into that harness from KC. I do not mind doing some wiring, as it is a good learning curve for me. If I can find that harness somewhere, I will buy it and do some rewiring. After reviewing the instructions for the KC kit, it appears as though I could easily do this with a simple 4 pin relay. It looks as though it uses a high beam wire to trigger the relay which draws power from one of the high beam wires, which is then fed to both low beam wires.
http://www.kchilites.com/faq/instructions/6314.pdf

Dan

 

[Bill Kemp]

Well, at least it wont cost a lot in parts to give it a try.
Hope it works......

 

[Charlie]

Is there not a risk with burning wires or melting the headlight housing?

If you mean with brite-box/equivalent mod, not really. Aldive has had a brite-box and never had problems with it. I have held my flash-to-pass back for hours on end driving at night on country roads, so both high and low beams, and never had any heat troubles, or any problems going through bulbs.

 

[storlied]

Well, not specifically talking to you Dan. More directed toward Storiled, since he does not know what a diode is and doesn't seem to understand the concept of a relay. Seems much simpler to buy the kit if you don't understand.

Me, I could wire a relay in no problem, but that's another story.

Is there not a risk with burning wires or melting the headlight housing?

I'm cheap and like Charlie said, too expensive for the simple function it performs.. but anyways.. I'll figure something out with a relay.. It shouldn't be that hard at all. As for wires and melting, Aldive has been running with this setup for I think 2 years now and no problems, some other users the same for longer.

 

[storlied]

Heh, beat me to it.

 

[hunterdan]

Well, at least it wont cost a lot in parts to give it a try.
Hope it works......

I figure I can probably do this for about $12-$15 with all the parts I have lying around. I just need to buy 2 relays for this and a few spade terminals. The diodes only cost me $1.06 with tax from radio shack, plus about 15 minutes of time soldering up the leads to the ends of the diodes and shrink tubing them to prevent water intrusion. I am also going to pick up a fuse block to run most/all my lights off of instead of having multiple locations and wires hooked up to the battery. Will let you know how it turns out tomorrow after I wire things up.

Dan

 

[little x]

Since we're on this subject. . . I've been trying to figure out a way to keep the stock fog lights on with the high beams. The easy way would be to rout a diode from the high beams to the fog lights, but then they would always turn on with the high beams, instead of only when they were already turned on. Any thoughts?

 

[Charlie]

I bet if you changed the MFS to give out the signal to low beams at the same time as the highs when pushed forward, it would probably leave the fog lights on too

 

[sjr033]

The fog light mod has already been covered in another thread.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60518&highlight=fog+light+high

 

[hunterdan]

It Works!!!

Ok, I just got done wiring up 2 relays to keep my lows on with the highs, it works and works great!!! I used these instructions from the KChilites webpages.
http://www.kchilites.com/faq/instructions/6314.pdf
I followed the diagram, and everything works as it should. No odd effects or anything. It took me a few hours to set up, as I had to run out and get 2 relays, some spade connectors and another roll of wire. I then realized I forgot some ring terminals for the ground wires, so I ran out and grabbed them. I also soldered all my connectors and shrink tubed them all. I also found another method to connect all my power wires to the battery with out stacking terminals. Its a gold ring that slides over the battery post, then your battery terminal slides on over top of it and the post, when you tighten the terminal, it clamps that gold ring to the post. The ring has 3 male end spade connectors that allows you to connect up to 3 female spade connectors. It works, is clean, easy and only cost $4 for a pack of 2. Once I find a picture of them online, I will post them up, and do a quick review on them as well. I could have probably done this with only one relay, but I used 2 to keep the loads on the relays down just in case. So to recap things, I essentially performed the brite box mod for about $20 using 2 relays and the KC wiring diagram. Thanks to Bill Kemp for leading me to the KC harness. The wiring is not hard, just time consuming, it is no harder than wiring up a set of fog lights. Keep in mind that if you do not have all the stuff handy, other than the relays and maybe a few connectors and shrink tubing, it might be cheaper to buy the KC kit, but if your like me and like to do things yourself, then you can make your own harness.

Dan

 

[Bill Kemp]

Congrats, Dan.
Diodes--shmiodes...
Real men use relays!




(Although I think I gonna try the diode mod)

 

[hunterdan]

Thanks again. If I still had the upgraded harness, I think the diode mod would have worked, although I am still thinking it might work if I have the direction of the diode correct.

Dan

 

[hunterdan]

Wow...

I must say between the Hellas and the HIDs, this thing really lights up the night with all my lights on, even without the lower fog lights, the difference is incredible. Now if my new bulbs would show up, I'd be able to properly aim the lights and be able to use more of the available light...

Dan

 

[storlied]

Is 87 triggered by 86? n That's pretty much all there is to this? Nice.. is a fuse really needed? Also, this all works with both headlights or do I need to make this thing twice, for each headlight?