Headlight upgrade, with doubts
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 1,132
Likes: 14
From: A town SC
Headlight upgrade, with doubts
Ok, I bought these and installed.
All was ok for a while, then later I switched to high beams and all bulbs died. Back to low and their good. So hit the parts house for a new high/low beam switch. Everything back to normal........for fifteen mins of use. High beams started blinking on and off. I immediately kicked them down to low and back to normal.I reached down to feel the low beam switch harnes and it was pretty warm. I didnt mess around any further because Its dark and currently driving. I got home left the car running with the high beams on for thirty mins. Harness wasnt as warm and didnt repeat what it did earlier.
My question is : Does this setup need some sort of heavy duty harness? Was this j7st a fluke? Could there be an issue with the factory harness that when fixed would be ok? Any input appreciated
All was ok for a while, then later I switched to high beams and all bulbs died. Back to low and their good. So hit the parts house for a new high/low beam switch. Everything back to normal........for fifteen mins of use. High beams started blinking on and off. I immediately kicked them down to low and back to normal.I reached down to feel the low beam switch harnes and it was pretty warm. I didnt mess around any further because Its dark and currently driving. I got home left the car running with the high beams on for thirty mins. Harness wasnt as warm and didnt repeat what it did earlier.
My question is : Does this setup need some sort of heavy duty harness? Was this j7st a fluke? Could there be an issue with the factory harness that when fixed would be ok? Any input appreciated
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 1,132
Likes: 14
From: A town SC
New info on this. I drove the car again and I got the blinking thing again. Got home and figured out that at idle volt gauge reading about 13 volts on high beam with no problems. I can then run the rpms up to around a 1000 rpm, the volt gauge runs up to around 14.5 the blinking comes back. It seems like a breaker reseting. Highs will be on ten to fifteen secs all lights go out for two or three secs and back on. Is there a breaker or a relay that could be getting hot and reseting?
Safety Car
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 4,886
Likes: 202
From: Jackson MS
Ok, I bought these and installed.
All was ok for a while, then later I switched to high beams and all bulbs died. Back to low and their good. So hit the parts house for a new high/low beam switch. Everything back to normal........for fifteen mins of use. High beams started blinking on and off. I immediately kicked them down to low and back to normal.I reached down to feel the low beam switch harnes and it was pretty warm. I didnt mess around any further because Its dark and currently driving. I got home left the car running with the high beams on for thirty mins. Harness wasnt as warm and didnt repeat what it did earlier.
My question is : Does this setup need some sort of heavy duty harness? Was this j7st a fluke? Could there be an issue with the factory harness that when fixed would be ok? Any input appreciated
All was ok for a while, then later I switched to high beams and all bulbs died. Back to low and their good. So hit the parts house for a new high/low beam switch. Everything back to normal........for fifteen mins of use. High beams started blinking on and off. I immediately kicked them down to low and back to normal.I reached down to feel the low beam switch harnes and it was pretty warm. I didnt mess around any further because Its dark and currently driving. I got home left the car running with the high beams on for thirty mins. Harness wasnt as warm and didnt repeat what it did earlier.
My question is : Does this setup need some sort of heavy duty harness? Was this j7st a fluke? Could there be an issue with the factory harness that when fixed would be ok? Any input appreciated
Read this thread. Page 1 talks about an expensive ready made harness. The remainder talks about a good DIY solution.
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...p-options.html
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 6,929
Likes: 842
From: melbourne florida
2023 C3 of the Year Finalist - Modified
Daniel Stern lighting. You need to make your own harness, believe me it not hard buy your stuff from stern it takes the load off your headlight switch. You will not believe the difference.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 3,105
Likes: 96
From: Sunrise FL
One other BIG advantage about using relays is not often mentioned. It takes the load away from the firewall bulkhead connectors. The pins there can corrode and fail under high amp loads (causing voltage drop and dim lamps).
Advanced
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 55
Likes: 4
A simple headlight relay upgrade kit will vastly improve your voltage to your new upgrade. On typical installs, when using your existing headlight leads as triggers for the low/high beams I see an average of 1.5-2V increase to the lights which represents approx. 20% light output increase. So make sure you re-pin for H4 and install a high quality sealed beam to H4 relay kit.
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Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 1,132
Likes: 14
From: A town SC
Did you modify your headlight connector wiring? H4 pin out is different than sealed beam.
http://webpages.charter.net/ceday/Ca...Conversion.jpg
Advanced
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 55
Likes: 4
No....just the low beam connector. Don't bother using the Chinese "ceramic" connectors you see flooding EBay either-theyre about as stout as dried toothpaste. And, their 59-series terminals are pretty cheap as well-nothing beats using genuine Packard/Delphi connectors and terminals.
Instructor
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 104
Likes: 68
From: Colorado
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 7,445
Likes: 970
From: Tennessee/Rhode Island
The light switch has a built in circuit breaker which will cause the headlights to flash on and off when overloaded...AKA when the high beams are on. My guess is your lights are using 55/60 watt lows and 55 watt high beam bulbs. I ran into this issue on my 78 back in 1983 when I installed my Hella Euro lead crystal lenses which had the bulbs I mentioned above. Remember the OEM sealed beams only pulled 35 watts which is why you are having an issue. The easiest fix is to run a relay to the high beams which uses the headlight high switch to tell the relay to turn the high beams on using current from the battery terminal on the alternator. As soon as I ran the highs off the relay...never had an issue again. You need to reduce the amperage dram through the headlight switch. Still have the same Hellas today with 55/60 watts lows and 100 watt highs now and use the original OEM headlight switch. Relay for the highs only will solve your issue (or you can run the relay for the lows) as well.
Last edited by jb78L-82; Jan 21, 2016 at 06:30 PM.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 5,339
Likes: 546
From: Central Texas
The light switch has a built in circuit breaker which will cause the headlights to flash on and off when overloaded...AKA when the high beams are on. My guess is your lights are using 55/60 watt lows and 55 watt high beam bulbs. I ran into this issue on my 78 back in 1983 when I installed my Hella Euro lead crystal lenses which had the bulbs I mentioned above. Remember the OEM sealed beams only pulled 35 watts which is why you are having an issue. The easiest fix is to run a relay to the high beams which uses the headlight high switch to tell the relay to turn the high beams on using current from the battery terminal on the alternator. As soon as I ran the highs off the relay...never had an issue again. You need to reduce the amperage dram through the headlight switch. Still have the same Hellas today with 55/60 watts lows and 100 watt highs now and use the original OEM headlight switch. Relay for the highs only will solve your issue (or you can run the relay for the lows) as well.
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-pictures.html
Last edited by Street Rat; Jan 21, 2016 at 06:45 PM.