low/high sametime w/o britebox

[Bill Kemp]

I did it just like this guy: http://www.northtexaspowerstrokes.com/users/kevin/mods/upgradeharness/

Do you still have the KC kit installed?

 

[celly]

I did it just like this guy: http://www.northtexaspowerstrokes.com/users/kevin/mods/upgradeharness/

Do you still have the KC kit installed?

Yeah, I even used the photo he posted of the diode installed in the extra OEM connector and still nothing.

I thought the KC Lites relay may be complicating things so I disconnected the power to it. Still nothing. Do you think I should disconnect the entire KC Kit completely and then try again? I plan to anyhow.

Which harness do you have? I know that SUV lights redesigned their harness a few years back. Theirs used to be yellow and now it's pretty much black (as in standard split loom black).

Maybe their's hope for me yet when I remove the KC Lites wiring.

 

[BrianDye]

Instead of pushing the lever forward, you can just hold it backwards. No modifications needed.

Chances are it wont happen, obv, well depending on temp, and conditions of your wires, but doing that, you could burn out some wires, theres only 1 ground, because only one beam's on at a time, so you could burn out wires holding both on, cus you got twice the power going through that ground.


but hey what the hell lmao.
I do it just about every night, i think i might try to wire up a switch under my light knob to turn the high beams on so i can just flip that switch lol, if i do, or figure out how, ill do a write up.

 

[Bill Kemp]

Probably remove the KC relay kit completely is best.
I have the yellow, APC type harness from suvlights (old). Although that shouldnt make any difference.
Good luck..Today is the day!!

 

[celly]

Probably remove the KC relay kit completely is best.
I have the yellow, APC type harness from suvlights (old). Although that shouldnt make any difference.
Good luck..Today is the day!!

Didn't work with the KC kit removed. I've given up for now. I may hit up Suvlights for some guidance later.

 

[celly]

Hiya Bill:

I contacted Suvlights last night and was surprised to hear from them at around midnight my time (11 PM California time). Here is what he said:

"Yes, very simple, just get a diode and install between the high to low beam relay triggers.

its the 2 outer wires on the blue male 9007 socket

you can install there or further up by the relay sockets."

Unfortunately, I think he is telling me that I need to install a diode pretty much like I did already (with no success). The "male" socket is I assume the extra harness (which isn't blue I might add).

He also said to install "further up by the relay sockets". Do you figure he's telling me to just splice them in to the wires themselves on the aftermarket harness?

He wants to me call him for further info, but I don't want to sound like a complete moron on the phone either. I do better with photos and words.

 

[Bill Kemp]

Do both(hi/low) of your lights work now? And diode is going in the correct direction?
IDK if a larger resistance diode is needed w/HID. (Is there such a thing?)
I'm running out of lame suggestions.

 

[storlied]

Ya know how we have the fogs on with parking lights mod? (or whatever you set them to)

Well.... obviously low get's cut with high... anyway we can duplicate the fog mod for this application? Where exactly in the truck does this operation happen? (low voltage killed)

 

[celly]

Do both(hi/low) of your lights work now? And diode is going in the correct direction?
IDK if a larger resistance diode is needed w/HID. (Is there such a thing?)
I'm running out of lame suggestions.

Bill, I scored a pile of diodes from our Radio Shack equivalent. 25 in total for just a few bucks. Maybe I'll keep trying because Suvlights seems to be saying that the mod should work.

Yes, both highs and lows work fine. That's why I want to try this again. I finally got my highs focused much better (they were way too high).

I appreciate all the help as always.

 

[celly]

Still can't get the diode mod to work and tried numerous ones last night. It might be a HID thing. I think I'll call Jen at Suvlights and see if he has some more suggestions.

 

[storlied]

I don't know if this is relevant but I've noticed that sometimes when voltage is cut, even for a second on a HID light, it might not ignite again (even if power restores) unless you kill the power and turn it back on. (unplugging and plugging it back in for example) I noticed this because my high voltage line from one of my ballasts is damaged and it'll only work if the cord is bent a certain way.

The way I see it is, even though power is coming through the high.. there's still that split second where there is no power after the low is cut. (diode or not, the HID might not ignite again if this is the case..without a "restart" of the system)


Is there anything we can do on the truck side of things to duplicate pulling the stick backward? Works fine for me, HIDs aren't affected at all, and I've held it back for quite awhile on some drives.. so I'm pretty sure the wiring can take it, and the ground is good enough... I mean hell, it's less power than normal operation... what is it.. 55w low 85w high, and for our setups.. 35w low with 55w high.

I really do think the bi-xenon harness is the key here... somehow use the motor power to kick a relay on for the high's.. sounds perfect to me.

 

[celly]

I really do think the bi-xenon harness is the key here... somehow use the motor power to kick a relay on for the high's.. sounds perfect to me.

Still waiting for you to do it rather than just posting about it.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[Bill Kemp]

IamTodd did it w/his install. http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=156455

 

[storlied]

It'll have to wait until Summer, sorry. If you have the harness already why not give it a try? Makes perfect sense, and I can't see anything wrong with it. (Even though the motor wires are scary thin.. they're going to be triggering a relay anyways.)

My harness is laying in the back of my truck right now, I removed it completely. I'm not going to mess with it until Summer.


If anything, I can do a test for you... I'll rig it up so the motor power kick's on the relay for my Hella's. But even that'll have to wait a little while.

 

[celly]

IamTodd did it w/his install. http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=156455

Yup, he's the only one I know with these lights that is running quad beams so far.

 

[celly]

It'll have to wait until Summer, sorry. If you have the harness already why not give it a try? Makes perfect sense, and I can't see anything wrong with it. (Even though the motor wires are scary thin.. they're going to be triggering a relay anyways.)

My harness is laying in the back of my truck right now, I removed it completely. I'm not going to mess with it until Summer.


If anything, I can do a test for you... I'll rig it up so the motor power kick's on the relay for my Hella's. But even that'll have to wait a little while.

I want to stick with my Suvlights harness actually. Rock solid, heavy duty wiring, better relays etc.

I wouldn't ditch your harness. I was having "issues" when I went naked without a harness (i.e. lights didn't always turn on when I fired up using autolamp). It's a fairly common occurence when you wire up directly to OEM harness and is also a good way to toast your ballasts if they're not quite getting the power they need. Less of an issue without autolamps, but that's a feature I've always liked using (I've had it on my last three Explorers).

Why not use a harness if you have it? It's a quick install too. Just because you can't get at your highbeams, doesn't mean you shouldn't be running your lows using the best possible power source which is guaranteed when using a harness. I ran my old HID harness until the Suvlights one was delivered. Sounds like you're hard on your ballasts as it is.

 

[storlied]

With the specific harness I have, it just made it a mess to wire up the HIDs with the projectors.. I found it much much easier to do it the way I did.. but I do agree with your point about power sources.. I may look into the SUVlights harness you and a few others have invested in.

 

[celly]

With the specific harness I have, it just made it a mess to wire up the HIDs with the projectors.. I found it much much easier to do it the way I did.. but I do agree with your point about power sources.. I may look into the SUVlights harness you and a few others have invested in.

Really? I just made a small slit in the rubber cap and ran the two AMP conectors from the bulbs and then plugged into the ballasts. Of course instead of running the power from the bulb sockets, you just hook the ballasts directly into your harness. I find the HID harness install easier than powering from your system. Of course, you won't have highs under this scenario unless you wire it like Todd did (and get Quad beam to boot....he's running the halogen high beams from his OEM sockets).

The Suvlights harness does take away the "flash to pass" functionality and so far is resisting the "diode mod". There is a cheaper version of the Suvlights harness (and one they used to sell as their own). It's rebranded by APC and other ricer type companies and can be had for about $20 less than Suvlights (it's a yellow harness. Suvlights uses traditional black split loom for theirs). Quality isn't quite there with the cheap one but seems OK. I scored one and it didn't work. Too much hassle to return so I'm keepint it around for spare parts (I've already used the 9007 female connector on it as a cap for the passenger side OEM male plug). I know a guy from another site who got his to work right away (he got it from the same eBay seller I did). I know of others who have had decent success with that harness. Bill Kemp uses it (non-HID) and the diode mod works with his without a hitch (as mentioned earlier in this thread).

Just search around for "9007 headlight harness". What I like about this option is that I'm powering off the battery AND I have both my highs and lows. It's as plug and play as it comes.

Done.

 

[storlied]

What about taking the multifunction switch out and modding it? Could that be an option at all?

 

[celly]

What about taking the multifunction switch out and modding it? Could that be an option at all?

Go for it.