Depo Wiring Harness and Install (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Joined
May 7, 2003
Threads
62
Messages
3,163
After reading the various Depo threads, beamshots, and writeups, I decided to give a pair a try to see how they work compared to the U.S. spec lamps with HIR bulbs. One concern I had was with the available options for connecting the 9006/9005 stock harness to the H4/H1 setup the Depos use.

The U.S. spec trucks are wired so that when the high beams are turned on, the low beams stay on. The Depos are designed to be swapped for a Eurospec lamp and accordingly when the high beams are flipped on on the Depos, the low beam element of the H4 lamp need to be turned off. The H1 lamp on the Depo's is a driving lamp that can be switched independently.

What I have seen several forum member's do is buy pigtail harness that wire the Depos to work differently than designed. With these harnesses, the H4 low beam is switched on for the low beams, and the H1 driving lamp element is switched on for the high beams. While this works, I wanted to run the lights as they were intended to be used, plus have the H1 driving lamps come on with the H4 high beam element.

I did a bunch of reading about how to accomplish the wiring, scratched my head, did so more reading, and then decided for the time, effort, and possibility of me screwing it all up, to get someone else to do this correctly. I contacted Susquehanna Motorsports (Rallylights.com) as they build custom harnesses. They have an in house person, Ray, who builds custom wiring harnesses. Ray and I exchanged several e-mails where he asked for the wiring diagram for the truck, how I wanted the lamps configured, etc., to ensure they functioned the way I wanted. An order was placed, and $140 later I get this nice beefy harness in the mail (shown next to the Slee harness for scale):bounce::
P1020755.jpg
P1020756.jpg
 
Last edited:
As you can see, the harness I received was much beefier than the Slee harness which I removed, using 12 gauge wiring throughout (it is worth noting the Slee harness worked perfectly for the 8 years I had it in there). This is sufficient to supply the lamps I am using (80/85 H4 and 55 watt H1 for a 140 watt draw on the high beams) and will support 100 watt H1's if I ever wanted to run them. If you look closely at the harness, you will notice, it only has one trigger connector. The low and high beams are switched off the factory high beam connector (9005 plug). Ray was able to do this because our trucks use ground side switching on the headlamps, so when you turn on the lights, the factory high beam gets 12v to both sides, and when you flip on the high beams, one side of the factory high beams goes to ground to complete the circuit. The end result is that the new harness is actually a cleaner install than the slee harness was.
photo (6).jpg
 
Last edited:
So the install went easily. For the Depo's I chose to run Osram 80/85 low beam bulbs (1700/2400 lumens) and the H1's Hella +50 bulbs (1780 lumens). For the high beams this gives me nearly 4200 lumens on each side.

My impressions of the Depos mirror those of MOT and Ebag333 as he posted here:

https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/530350-depo-headlights-vs-oem.html

The low beams have a typical Euro pattern with a much more even fill and distribution than the U.S. spec lights. They are what I would call a classic halogen euro beam. I do find the low beams to have a bit too much foreground illumination and I wish they had more spread to the beams. As MOT said, these are directly comparable to the factory Toyota Eurospec lamps. If you have these, I wouldn't go switching them out for the Depos.

The high beams are really strong. When the H4 element switches to the high beam, the pattern opens up providing a wider, more diffuse beam, and decreasing foreground illumination. The H1's have a really good long range punch and in fact are bit overly bright for street use where there are a lot of signs (there is a lot of blowback from reflective signs).

Overall, I would rate the Depos as a worthwhile upgrade, but it is not cheap to do it right. The lamps are $200, protective film from Idaho Doug is $35 or so, harness $140, and bulbs are $80, so close to $500 when it is said and done correctly. I would really like to do a bi-xenon retrofit with these as other member's have done, it would really make the side illumination better. The reason I didn't is that I don't have the time or patience to do the retrofit myself, so the cost would be prohibitive. Looking at it, it would be about $500 in parts to get good bi-xenon retrofit lamps plus another $500+ to pay to have them done properly.
 
Subscribed

Nice work
 
What's the difference between this and the innovative harness?

Would this harness work with the innovative turn signal harness?

Is this harness running your spot lights as well?
 
I'm looking for a harness to upgrade the wiring on my truck, and power my Lightforce 170's off the factory foglight harness, all powered off relays straight off the battery, and I think I just found where I'll have it built! Thanks for the info!
 
I just got some Depo HID headlights and had the same conundrum when looking at the wiring. Also, with no instructions included by the seller and none which I could find while searching I was a bit frustrated. I've contacted Ray at Susq Motorsports to do a similar setup for me.

Thanks Cary! :cheers:
 
Ray is building my harness today as well! Do you have any problems with the 80/85 lows being too bright since they are well over the DOT max wattage?
 
Cary - I have DEPO lights sitting on my doorstep now. Was there a part number or reference number for your harness that I could use when talking with Susquehanna Motorsports? I am thinking of calling them this afternoon but just want to be sure and have the right info at hand to help the conversation.
Thanks,
Jonathan
 
I too am wondering about this and was about to call them....

Let me know what you guys find out!
 
I made a call today and spoke with Ray at Susquehanna Motorsports about the wiring harness in question. He remembers making it, but will need to find the drawings made to document how the harness was put together and will call me back next week. Once I have an assembly number, I will post it along with a parts list of everything that I am using to make this headlight modification come to fruition.

Jonathan
 
So with this harness you were able to utilize both the high and low filament on the H1 bulb? I'm probably going to go this route as well. Just couldn't figure out if it worked the same as factory or not
 
It worked perfectly. Although I have had a ballast failure which I have not allied on the warranty. Still need to do that.
 
So with this harness you were able to utilize both the high and low filament on the H1 bulb? I'm probably going to go this route as well. Just couldn't figure out if it worked the same as factory or not

Yes, with the Susquehanna Motorsports Harness HL28202S (modified for the FZJ80) The switching logic would be that when in Low Beam only, the H4 low filaments are lit. On High Beam, the H4 low beam filaments are off. The High beam H4 filaments are lit & the H1 High Beam filaments are lit. Just to clarify, the H4 bulbs are the ones with dual filaments not the H1 bulbs. Ask for Ray or e-mail him ray@rallylights.com , he will take good care of you and get the harness out in a timely manner.

I had the Slee Harness previously installed and was going to use the Innovative Wiring Harness H1/H4 adapter with the Slee Harnesss to the Depo Headlights but in the end I pulled the Slee Harness and used the Susquehanna which was better following ways, 1 harness, 1 vendor, full use of dual filaments in H4 bulbs, beefier harness overall than the Slee Harness plus as mentioned above a cleaner overall install.

To me, if you are going to keep your FZJ80 for anytime adding the Depo lights with the Susquehanna Upgrade Harness is a must.

 
Last edited:
Where did you run the harness wire to the passenger headlight? Also, how did you connect the ring connectors to the battery? Thanks. PM me or whatever is easier for you please.



As you can see, the harness I received was much beefier than the Slee harness which I removed, using 12 gauge wiring throughout (it is worth noting the Slee harness worked perfectly for the 8 years I had it in there). This is sufficient to supply the lamps I am using (80/85 H4 and 55 watt H1 for a 140 watt draw on the high beams) and will support 100 watt H1's if I ever wanted to run them. If you look closely at the harness, you will notice, it only has one trigger connector. The low and high beams are switched off the factory high beam connector (9005 plug). Ray was able to do this because our trucks use ground side switching on the headlamps, so when you turn on the lights, the factory high beam gets 12v to both sides, and when you flip on the high beams, one side of the factory high beams goes to ground to complete the circuit. The end result is that the new harness is actually a cleaner install than the slee harness was.
View attachment 667782
 
Does Ray have a P/N now for the 80 depo harness?
 
Yeah, I was just looking at this this weekend and getting ready to pull the trigger. Wasn't sure if when @Shickalee said "Yes, with the Susquehanna Motorsports Harness HL28202S (modified for the FZJ80)", means that that is the correct p/n that has already been modified, or if that harness needs additional modifying for the correct switching. I was going to call Ray this week, but will wait if someone can help out.
 
Yeah, I was just looking at this this weekend and getting ready to pull the trigger. Wasn't sure if when @Shickalee said "Yes, with the Susquehanna Motorsports Harness HL28202S (modified for the FZJ80)", means that that is the correct p/n that has already been modified, or if that harness needs additional modifying for the correct switching. I was going to call Ray this week, but will wait if someone can help out.

As I recall, HL28202S is the stock number and the end product is a modified harness for the 80 series Depo lights based on HL28202S. Just call Ray and he will get you setup.
 
awesome. thanks for the quick response!
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom