80 Series headlight wiring upgrade issues (1 Viewer)

[Cape York boy]

Greetings,

I have used the wiring diagram that may have come from another site, but having issues. Im guessing most people will know the diagram im speaking about. The high beam stays activated after dropping back to low beam. Its obviously being fed from somewhere it shouldn’t. The other thing I have noticed is that low beam is not working on just the one relay. By looking at the diagram, there is the low beam or (on relay) and then the two relays to drive the inner and outer high beams.



I disconnected the plug with three wires that goes into the genuine plug. By touching just the green wire (as per diagram) I can get the low beams to come on. I would not have expected this and think the circuit is being completed by passing through the outer high beam positive wire, the globe and then grounding.



Both high beam relays are removed when im doing this so I believe is the only explanation as the circuit cannot be completed by passing through the resistor brown wire as it was not connected to anything. This could explain where the feedback voltage comes from to hold the relays on.



Any suggestions or tips.

Happy New Year



Thanks

Mat

 

[OffRoadScott]

Greetings,

I have used the wiring diagram that may have come from another site, but having issues. Im guessing most people will know the diagram im speaking about. The high beam stays activated after dropping back to low beam. Its obviously being fed from somewhere it shouldn’t. The other thing I have noticed is that low beam is not working on just the one relay. By looking at the diagram, there is the low beam or (on relay) and then the two relays to drive the inner and outer high beams.



I disconnected the plug with three wires that goes into the genuine plug. By touching just the green wire (as per diagram) I can get the low beams to come on. I would not have expected this and think the circuit is being completed by passing through the outer high beam positive wire, the globe and then grounding.



Both high beam relays are removed when im doing this so I believe is the only explanation as the circuit cannot be completed by passing through the resistor brown wire as it was not connected to anything. This could explain where the feedback voltage comes from to hold the relays on.



Any suggestions or tips.

Happy New Year



Thanks

Mat

I despise anything that is wiring/electrical, me personally I would've just bought the upgraded harness from Slee Offroad

Slee Off Road wire harness

 

[Somebodyelse5]

uh don't do this.

Diode Dynamics SL1's and don't mess with the factory wiring.

 

[Cape York boy]

Unfortunately LED’s are still not ADR compliant here. I don’t want to sound like a wet blanket but they shouldn’t be used. That’s not to say I think they aren’t the best product and shouldn’t be approved. I just want the best product that’s not going to get my vehicle taken off the road.

The factory wiring was never chopped into and I agree shouldn’t be messed with. But standard lighting sucks as is well known. Just need a legal solution.

 

[Somebodyelse5]

Unfortunately LED’s are still not ADR compliant here. I don’t want to sound like a wet blanket but they shouldn’t be used. That’s not to say I think they aren’t the best product and shouldn’t be approved. I just want the best product that’s not going to get my vehicle taken off the road.

The factory wiring was never chopped into and I agree shouldn’t be messed with. But standard lighting sucks as is well known. Just need a legal solution.

Every time I read a thread from someone in the upside down, I am thankful I don't live there.

Gigantic spiders and everything I like is illegal. I would last less than a day before being thrown into the Gulag. I think just this afternoon I've done 3 things that would get me arrested in Australia, but are 100% legal where I am.

@JunkCrzr89 's opinions alone would probably get him heavily ticketed

 

[Cape York boy]

The trick is not getting caught Bit hard to hide the led and they are a sure bet of being pulled over.

ps giant spiders aren’t illegal. They are in the garden. Along with the taipans, croc, scorpions etc lol. We don’t need them as pets.

 

[george_tlc]

Oz 80 series headlights are different than the US. The US models already has a relay for the low/high beams high side.. The other hilarious thing is that the US folk cry that they don't have the oz headlights, even though what is here is pretty damn good for street use and adding decent spotties is easy enough for country/bush driving.

You would need to provide us the Oz headlight wiring for the model you have to confirm what the factory wiring is. If already has relays, then again, don't bother adding another layer of stuff to go wrong.

US low & high beams are high side switched, i.e. the 'negative' side of the LOW beam bulbs goes direct to ground and the 'positive' side is switched by the relay. The stalk controls the factory relay and doesn't carry the LOW beam headlight current. It DOES carry the high beam ground current (weird setup, but likely to allow to simplify the flash to pass and light retainer functions and save some pennies).

Yeah, seems some oz docs and movies have exaggerated the danger in the bush. I'm much more cautious out there of the 2 legged animal than any of the local fauna & bugs.

Edited to correct as per Jon below (thanks Jon for the ewd page). My old age is setting in. Last time I touched the lights on our 80 was to add some spotties and did add a relay to isolate their high current path. I've always added spotties since I've never found a stock high beam setup to have enough light for country roads, regardless of vehicle or their 12V source.

cheers,
george.

 

[Somebodyelse5]

The trick is not getting caught Bit hard to hide the led and they are a sure bet of being pulled over.

ps giant spiders aren’t illegal. They are in the garden. Along with the taipans, croc, scorpions etc lol. We don’t need them as pets.

You guys misunderstood, your spiders are huge and you can’t have guns to protect yourselves (from whatever you want protecting from)

Plus my 80 is an australian police officers wet dream

 

[jonheld]

US low & high beams are high side switched, i.e. the 'negative' side of the bulbs goes direct to ground and the 'positive' side is switched by the relays.

The US spec only has 1 headlamp relay. The low beams are +12 switched and the high beams are ground switched through the stalk. Both high and low beams are fed from the same single relay.

 

[sunrk]

Headlights on 80's are negative-switched meaning the positive side of the circuit is always live to the relay(s).

High beam switching/activation requires a current flow through the low-beam filament of the outer lamp(s). Otherwise the switching might not work and the hi-beam indicator light in the dash won't function.

When I fitted a Pirahna 4-relay loom to my 80 the switching didn't work without the special 'circuit completer' lamp (an actual lamp that is a very low wattage 12 volt bulb on a housing) is wired into the unused factory H4 headlight plug. It's been fitted for a heap of years so I don't remember the exact config now.

As for legalities, I currently run Stedi H4's that are technically illegal but no police officer has challenged me about them yet and they've been in for over 2 yrs though I have them aligned somewhat correctly (which is very important). I have Stedi H1's to go in the hi beam only inners. So many vehicles never originally fitted with LED's now run LED or HID aftermarket headlights that I reckon 15+ pct of all light vehicles on NSW roads are probably 'illegal' if the rules are strictly interpreted.

The other key rule (for Australia) is that you are not allowed to have any more than two 'dipped beam' (ie low beam) headlights on, but so many new vehicles also now have 'wank factor' LED 'daylight running' lights... Yuk. And people tend to drive a lot more with their normal headlights on all the time as a result.

 

[george_tlc]

US low beam has ground side always ground. See Jon's US ewd page above. The relay switched +12 is the switched power for the low beams. Other market 80s may be different, so it is essential to refer to your market specific ewd for these kind of questions.

Cheers,
George.

 

[Cape York boy]

So it turns out, Im a retard! I had managed to swap over the 87 connectors for the right side inner set of wires. I wasnt even going to update and just delte the thread and pretend like it never happened. But i was raised to own your mistakes. Hopefully if anyone else has similar problem they will go back and double, double, double check everything. I spent three days on and off to figure it out. Just missed the simple stuff.

I end up figuring it out by isolating the low beam circuit as i was certain that was were the issue was (i was right). That all checked out so i jumped the 87 terminals individually straight to + and figured out what was going on.

Much brighter than standard and worth the muck around.

 

[OffRoadScott]

So it turns out, Im a retard! I had managed to swap over the 87 connectors for the right side inner set of wires. I wasnt even going to update and just delte the thread and pretend like it never happened. But i was raised to own your mistakes. Hopefully if anyone else has similar problem they will go back and double, double, double check everything. I spent three days on and off to figure it out. Just missed the simple stuff.

I end up figuring it out by isolating the low beam circuit as i was certain that was were the issue was (i was right). That all checked out so i jumped the 87 terminals individually straight to + and figured out what was going on.

Much brighter than standard and worth the muck around.

We all make accidents, we are human. There are others that may say otherwise.