Headlight wire harness FJ60 and FJ62 (1 Viewer)

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Headlight wire harness FJ60 and FJ62--And now for FJ40

I have started building these headlight harnesses again. I've updated the harnesses since these prototype pictures. The harnesses I build now look a lot better. :)


After 20 years or so, the headlight wiring in our Landcruisers is just not up to the task. If your headlights are dim and yellow, you know just what I am talking about. Well, it’s time you did something to remedy this unsafe condition.


ULTIMATE HARNESS. Each headlight harness is built around the BUSSMANN weather tight enclosure and comes ready to install. You will simply disconnect your headlights, install the harness, route the wires to the headlights and connect everything up. All wiring is heavy gauge automotive wire. All connections are crimped with a ratchet crimper and insulated with sealed heat shrink. All headlight connectors are high temp ceramic. FJ60 & FJ40 harnesses can be used with stock sealed beam headlights or H4 high power headlights. FJ62 harnesses will come wired for H4/H1 headlights. If you wish to use the harness for stock sealed beam headlights, you will need to purchase a set of adapters for $15. The ULTIMATE HARNESS comes with an additional feature: You can also control auxiliary circuits. The FJ60 & FJ40 harnesses can control 2 Aux Circuits, and the FJ62 harness can control 1 Aux circuit. (NOTE: See post 13 in this thread for more info on the Aux relays.)



AUX RELAY BLOCK. In addition to the headlight harnesses, I also build an Auxiliary Relay Panel. This option is for those that have already upgraded their headlight wiring, but desire a compact solution to control additional high power accessories such as fog lights, additional driving lights, compressor, etc. This is also based on the Bussmann fuse/relay panel and will control five Auxiliary circuits.


See the link below for more info on the AUX PANEL:


LINK>>>Aux Relay Panel<<<LINK


Some customer feedback:

"….the harness works great. I am really happy with the package. Kind of reminds me of Apple products, they just work and are user oriented…"

"I wanted to write a quick note on how nice these harnesses are, I just installed one for one of my customers and it was easy and worked great."

"I'm waiting on Daniel Stern to send some lights, but I can already tell a difference in the stock lights. The harness is top notch."

"….this thing is a work of art…"

"…works as advertised…"




A NOTE about installation: FJ40 harnesses are built to install the relays/relay module by the battery on the flat surface just behind the coil. FJ60 harnesses by default are built to install on the PASSENGER side wheel well or inner fender wall, FJ62 harnesses are built to install on or above the DRIVER side wheel well. (all US spec). If you will need to have the harness built for an alternate installation location, please let me know when you place your order.


Wondering which headlights to buy?

Please see my "Headlight Bakeoff" thread for more information on headlights:

LINK>>>Headlight Bakeoff Thread<<<LINK

Special instructions here for Hella ECE headlights for your FJ62:

LINK>>> Hella ECE Headlights for FJ62<<<LINK

As an aside, my headlight harness is plug and play. It plugs into one of the vehicle headlight sockets that you disconnect when you install my harness. This provides the control to the harness. So, your headlight ON switch, and your HI/LO switch must function correctly. If you are currently having problems with your stock headlights, you must fix this before you can use my headlight harness. Please refer to this thread for help fixing your stock headlights:

LINK>>>Headlight Troubleshooting Thread<<<LINK

You should also refer back to the headlight troubleshooting thread (above link) after you have installed new headlights for instructions how to aim your new lights.

And finally PICS:
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Schematics and Technical Design Details

Here are the schematics for the FJ60, FJ62 and FJ40. When I originally upgraded the headlights in my FJ62, I built a wire harness from a kit. It was built around three discreet relays mounted behind the air cleaner and wires that went across the bottom of the radiator to get to the headlights on the drivers side. I was never really happy with how it turned out. It worked OK, but I thought I could do better. I scoured the Internet looking for a better relay package and came across the Bussmann RTMR relay module. It is designed and rated for the heat and vibration that is encountered in a vehicle installation. Not only that, it is sealed to keep the elements out. The relays and fuses that I selected are rated for engine compartment temps as well. I wanted to use circuit breakers, but the circuit breakers available do not have a high enough thermal rating for the engine compartment, so I went with old fashioned fuses. The relay current rating is well above the 20 amps max that the harness should ever be switching, so there is a safety factor built in. Additionally, the Bussmann relay module has the capacity for 5 relays. That is a bonus for operating other devices such as fog lights, driving lights, air compressors, etc.

Rather than route the wires under the radiator (heat makes the wires brittle over time, and it is difficult to run the wires across the bottom of the radiator without removing the grill), I decided to route the wires across the firewall for wire longevity and ease of install. The stock harness actually goes through the firewall and across inside the dash and back through the firewall on the other side. So this is the same philosophy that Toyota used with the original wire harness design. The problem is, Toyota used wires of too small gauge to the headlights. This is one reason the stock headlights and harness are so inadequate. My wire harness uses 12 gauge wires to the headlights, and 10 gauge wires to the battery and ground--more than enough to handle the expected load of 400 to 500 watts. According to wire sizing charts, 14 and 12 gauge wire would have been adequate for the load and distance, but since wire capacity decreases with heat, I decided to go up one wire size to ensure maximum voltage actually gets to all the headlights.

You will also notice that my design has two fuses: one for the passenger side, and one for the drivers side. This is how Toyota designed their FJ60 and FJ62 headlight circuit and it provides a safety factor wherein if one fuse blows, you will still have at least half your headlight capability on both Hi and Lo Beam. FJ40 stock wiring has only one fuse for all the headlights! My harness for the FJ40s has a fuse for each low beam headlight element, and one fuse for both high beam elements.

Because Toyota uses switched ground theory for FJ62 headlights, some H1 headlights with metal housings will not work with FJ62 stock wiring. The metal housing is a direct short to ground for the H1 headlights, and will blow the fuse as soon as you turn on the headlights. My FJ62 harness design allows for this by changing the high beam only, or H1 headlights to switched hot.
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Great idea! I would love the option for you to have one more product, which is where you supply everything but we build it. Kind of like the megasquirt kits are offered!
 
Great idea! I would love the option for you to have one more product, which is where you supply everything but we build it. Kind of like the megasquirt kits are offered!

I have considered doing that--including all the parts for each option, but that would drive the final cost up for each option except for the completed deluxe harness option of course. I'd have to figure out what to charge for that.
 
Pics of the light harness installed in my FJ62

Here are a bunch of pics of the Ultimate Harness installed in my FJ62. These pictures are of the prototype harness. The first two pics show a couple of different mounting options. The preferred mounting position would be like the first pic, but since the Bussman relay block is weather tight, it could also be mounted sideways. I build the harness a little long so you have some leeway where you mount it. The FJ60 model by default will mount on the opposite side, but it can also mount on this side should you desire. Pic three shows one way of routing the wires to the drivers side headlights.
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Pics of the light harness installed in my FJ62--Part 2

The first pic shows the headlight connectors and where the wire harness plugs into the vehicle wiring. It is the black plug that mates to the tan stock headlight plug. The second pic shows the wire bundle going back to the firewall and up over the brake booster. The third pic shows the wire bundle going across the firewall. There was an unused retainer clip right above the back of the engine that came in real handy.
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Pics of the light harness installed in my FJ62--Part 3

The first pic shows the wire bundle leaving the firewall and crossing the passenger side inner wheel well. The second pic shows the wire bundle coming out from under the air filter intake and dividing: the red wire has a fusible link where it connects to the battery. The black wire attaches to the battery cable ground point on the inner fender wall. The third pic shows the wires to the headlights going past the battery tray. You can see the stock headlight connector in the background. Nothing connects to it on this side.
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Pics of the light harness installed in my FJ62--Part 4

This pic is looking down at the headlights on the passenger side. You will notice that the connector on the inner headlight is different than the rest. This is because the battery is in the way of it coming straight back from the light. So this connector is at 90 degrees and the wires go through the same hole as the other headlight on this side. And that's it for the Ultimate Harness installed in my FJ62. It looks good and works great. Let me know if you have any questions. Either ask them on this thread or PM me.
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Looks beautiful! PM coming soon.

Do you have a recommendation for the H1/H4 replacement housing and lamps for an FJ62? My understanding is that I want the H1 for the high beam and H4 for the low...Does your harness use the H4 as a High/Low in adddition to the H1 as High? Also, is there a connection for the running lights on your harness, or do we leave the original harness in place for that?

Thanks for the brilliant work!
 
I have Cibie H4/H1 headlights. Your understanding is correct that they are not sealed beam. The H4 light has low beam and high beam, and the H1 is high beam only--very similar to the stock sealed beam lights in that respect. The reflector housing is what costs the most, and the replaceable light bulbs are relatively cheap. I think the Cibie or Bosch headlights produce the best light pattern, but are also the most expensive. Hella and others also make them. Personally, I can only speak for the Cibie headlights. They have a great vertical cutoff on low beams. This allows you to run higher wattage lights without blinding oncoming traffic. The focused light pattern also lights up the road better and leads to less eye fatigue.

Both the STANDARD harness and the ULTIMATE harness are "plug and play". All the headlights are disconnected, and the new harness plugs onto the headlights. The new harness also plugs into one of the vehicle HI/LO light sockets to provide normal light switch control of the harness. Only the headlights are controlled by the new harness. All other vehicle lights--parking lights, marker lights, etc are still controlled by the original harness.
 
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I dig the headlight connectors you're using. Are those ceramic connectors? I was planning to build my own going off your schematics (but routed differently since I can't mount the fuse/relay box in the same location) and using right angle connectors for all my headlights, since I run the huge Optima Yellow Top and have hardly any room for the connectors as it is.
 
Wiring of the Aux relays

The ULTIMATE Harness comes with a useful feature not found with any other headlight harness that I have seen: It has one or two Aux circuits. The fuse/relay panel has space for 5 relays. I ship it complete with all five installed, even though all are not used for the headlights. So that means you have one or two for your add-on devices such as Fog Lights, Additional Driving Lights, Compressor, etc. The extra relays come wired and ready for you to attach your devices. There are two colored wires for each Aux relay. You connect the fat one (12 gauge wire) to your device--extra lights in this diagram. The relay is turned on by grounding the skinny wire. which then closes the relay and puts battery voltage at the corresponding fat wire. You can do this (ground the skinny wire) through a switch you install in your dash. It can also be configured so that when you switch on your high beams, additional driving lights come on (assuming this is legal where you live). The Aux relays are there however you would like to use them. If you don't choose to use them, then you have spare relays sitting in the fuse/relay panel should you ever need them.

Each Aux circuit can power about 240 Watts. The total simultaneous power for the entire fuse/relay panel should not exceed 650 Watts.
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If I was to go with some aftermarket lights like an HID set (Xenon, etc) or something like that would this work or would I need to go with a completely different setup?
Sorry I'm not that up on lighting setups but I know a lot of the aftermarket options come with wiring and relays.
 
I have no experience with HID lights, but I have done enough research to know that my wiring harness will provide enough current to drive the HID lights. The headlight plugs in my harness are standard H4 (with the additional H1 for FJ62). So in addition to the ballasts and the HID bulbs you would need an adapter plug for the H4 connectors, but you wouldn't need any other relay kits. You would also need to replace your stock sealed beam headlights with a lens/reflector designed for HID. The last MUD thread I remember reading on the subject implied that there aren't any made for the 7 inch round headlights.
 
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I have no experience with HID lights, but I have done enough research to know that this wiring harness will provide enough current to drive the HID lights. The headlight plugs in my harness are standard H4 (with the additional H1 for FJ62). So in addition to the ballasts and the HID bulbs you would need an adapter plug for the H4 connectors, but you wouldn't need any other relay kits. You would also need to replace your stock sealed beam headlights with a lens/reflector designed for HID. The last MUD thread I remember reading on the subject implied that there aren't any made for the 7 inch round headlights.
Thanks for the info. HID is expensive and I haven't really looked into the difference a lot. I know some Xenon bulbs are claiming to have similar brightness (however if they are directed as well or will last as long I can't say). I like your kit and when I want to upgrade my lights I'd rather get yours than buy theirs if I can : )
 
I think you have some pretty good options with your FJ60 besides HID. You can get Roundeyes, or CIBIE, or Bosch, or even IPF direct replacement headlights. You could also try top of the line sealed beam. My harness will work with all of them. Any of them coupled with my harness will be an improvement over stock.
 
Out of curiosity, I took one of these Bussmann fuse/relay blocks and submerged it in a pail of water to test how "weather tight" these things are. I swished it around for several minutes, dried it off and took it apart to see if it leaked any water inside. There were no leaks. So, the weatherproofing is pretty good. If you actually submerge it in a water crossing, you would want to open it up and make sure there were no leaks, but in normal operation, I think the fuse/relay block is pretty weather tight.
 
I really am interested in this product, Im trying to wrap my simple mind around it. Let me know if i have this right: So for the 60 series the red fused wire hooks to the battery, the black wire is grounded in the engine bay, One blue connector connects to the right light, the black male connector connects into the existing headlight connector (assuming to provide the switch and also high beam indications), then the other blue connector is connected to the left light. the relays are just mounted on the side.

couple questions (assuming the above is right!)
1. Is the wire from right to left light just meant to run along the rad core support or do i have to run it all the way around the firewall like the 62 pics you posted?
2.How does the aux wiring work? Assuming its the black relays in the pic- do you just run the ground to a switch and the power to the accessory?
3. Is it possible to get the upgraded harness without the aux wiring? (just the headlights)

Thanks for your help and patience, im pretty slow with electrical stuff!
 
I really am interested in this product, Im trying to wrap my simple mind around it. Let me know if i have this right: So for the 60 series the red fused wire hooks to the battery, the black wire is grounded in the engine bay, One blue connector connects to the right light, the black male connector connects into the existing headlight connector (assuming to provide the switch and also high beam indications), then the other blue connector is connected to the left light. the relays are just mounted on the side.


You understand this correctly. With the FJ60, the fuse/relay block mounts on the passenger side.


couple questions (assuming the above is right!)
1. Is the wire from right to left light just meant to run along the rad core support or do i have to run it all the way around the firewall like the 62 pics you posted?

It goes around the firewall like the FJ62 install pics. It is much easier around the firewall than at the bottom of the rad support. You wouldn't want to run it over the top of the rad support because of heat which crystallizes the plastic wire insulation which then cracks, moisture gets it, corrosion, end of the world kind of stuff. :D

2.How does the aux wiring work? Assuming its the black relays in the pic- do you just run the ground to a switch and the power to the accessory?

The Aux relays are not separate relays, they are included in the fuse/relay block. For the Ultimate Harness, the fuse/relay block comes with space for 5 relays. The headlights use 3 or 4 relays (FJ60 or FJ62) which leaves 1 or 2 leftover. I could leave these out and only ship the harness with relays necessary for the headlights, but that would be a waste of good potential, plus you have spares built right in. So I ship with all 5 relays installed. You can put the extra relays to work just as you describe--switch the skinny wire to ground and the relay closes providing battery voltage to your device. One cool thing you could do is power an Aux Fuse Block with one of the relays. This would be a separate fuse block mounted in the vehicle interior (under the dash, under a seat, behind a panel) and used to connect all your low power devices that are such a pain to find a good power source. See the schematic below.

3. Is it possible to get the upgraded harness without the aux wiring? (just the headlights)

If you don't care about it being weather tight, and if you don't want Aux relay functionality, then a STANDARD HARNESS which uses standard relays and has no Auxiliary potential may be adequate for you. This is the harness in the first pic in Post #1 above (the ULTIMATE HARNESS is the second pic).

Does that help?
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