I'm having some issues on my 1976 with the headlights flickering. It noticed it a while back with the stock halogens, but put it aside since I was still rebuilding some of the other parts and wasn't planning to drive it for quite a while. Well, i finally got around to the front of the car and rebuilt the headlight buckets entirely, and put in Richard454's electric conversion (which is awesomely designed and works great). I was installing my DapperLights LED upgrades and got everything plugged in and working, only to realize I never got to the issue. Here's what I'm scratching my head about, maybe you guys can help.

When I run the lowbeams, I don't see any issue with the flickering, when I turn on the highs, it can take anywhere from 10-30 seconds, and then the lights start to go on and off and flicker intermittently and not in any sort of pattern, just quickly and for different lengths of being both on and off. I removed the drivers high beams and it seem to resolve the issue, until a few minutes later i got a flicker, but the time between was much longer, 30seconds to a minute or two, and only one flicker, not the continuous flickering when all 4 bulbs are present. Plugged the Drivers light back in and almost instantly back to the fast and intermittent flickering. Anyone have any ideas? I did replace the original switch in the dash a while back, and works fine, could it be a bad switch causing the issue? I've checked, traced, and cleaned the grounding points. Let me know what you think, all possibilites I can check, will be checked. If anyone can figure out this issue, I know it'll be this group. Thanks in advance.

 

Link to a 20 second video of the issue

 

Hey Corey-

The headlight switch has a built in circuit breaker- although halogens with the same wattage won't pull more power than the stock- unfortunately the repo switches are "known" for this.

Best cure is a couple relays to take the full power of the headlights going through the switch-

 

Save yourself a lot of grief and install a pair of aftermarket headlight relays. Completely solves the problems related with new halogens and old wiring. I install the relays on all my vintage cars. Less load on that vintage system and headlights much brighter.
Do a search on this forum, you'll find several good threads on it.
Greg

 

Sounds good, I wanted to do the relay upgrade (I actually have them all in a box in the garage) I'll tackle that this weekend. I upgraded my lights to the Dapper Lighting Projectors with the 30Watt LED bulbs, but any stress off the system I can take, I'll do. Such a quick response from you guys! I'll hopefully update with the fix.

 

Mounted and ran the relays for the headlights this weekend, everything is up and running well. Let the high-beams sit on for a few minutes and not a single flicker at all! Followed @Richard454 wiring guide and went all too easy, Thanks again for the help! Nearing completion of the full rebuild and upgrade to 30Watt LED bulbs with Halo's and turn signal switchback, unfortunately the driver low beam had a factory defect in the halo soldering, so a new one is already on route. once it's finished up, pics to follow

 

Raising this thread back from the dead!

i bought yes Dapper 575 with halo lights and I'm having issues with my halos turning off when my headlights are on. They worked fine got 3 months then one day they shut off when my headlights are operated. If the car is at idle the halo comes on. One thing to note I did not install any relays to my highs n low beams. Do I need to install relays?

 

Your headlights get power in a very convoluted way-

Power runs from the starter- through fusible links across the firewall-
Then through the bulkhead connector to the ignition switch and the headlight switch-
From the headlight switch to the dimmer- back through the bulkhead connector to the headlights!

AND at the headlights- this is how the convoluted grounding is done!!! Se below.

Also inside the headlight switch- the power travels through a bi-metal strip.
If too much current flow through the metal- it heats up- expands and disconnects the power to the headlights-
As it cools down- the power is reconnected.
Repo headlight switches are notorious for the "strip" not be incorrectly rated- especially when hook it up to 50 year old wiring.
Thus causing the headlights to turn off and on
.
Should you use relays- which get the power directly to the headlights? YES!!!
It bypasses the higher amount of current drawn through the headlight switch- the relays pull way less then 1A of current.

 

The problem I had on my 82 was one light bright, two lights dim and one not on at all...not to mention that they would not go up or down either but I replaced the sockets that the lights plug into and they all work perfect now. Pretty cost effective and easy fix. The I fixed the pneumatic hoses and control valves and and and and...

JT

 

Let me rephrase my problem.. my headlights work hi and lows... it's just my halos rings turn off when I put it into drive. The halo stays on when I'm in park.

 

You have your halo's connected to the wrong wire/power source- or your reverse light is not seeing a good ground.

 

Hmmm you know what I did installed LED taillights. I got rid of my reverse light and installed a xenon reverse license plate light. Because when the halo were first installed they were working normally for 3+ months. Up until they just turned off when I put my car in drive.