LED Headlight Conversion on the CHEAP (3 Viewers)
- Thread starter dodored
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Just wanted to add a thought to the H4 Hella High Wattage bulbs. I've seen where these types of high wattage bulbs draw more current that is safe for the harness/plug. After a few months of usage in a friends 88 PU, it melted the plug housing on the back of the bulb. JAT
Conversion harness, or factory harness? I can see this happening to the factory plugs, which is why you need to do the conversion with the ceramic plugs.
It was the factory harness. Heavier gauge and ceramic plug would be the way to go, for sure.
dodored
That ain't your cake Phillip! That's Simones cake!
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You guys are 100% on the money. The LED WILL NOT WORK on a 1987 Toyota without special wiring provisions.
Now the rest of the story:
My truck has just got back up on it's feet after an extensive mechanical refresh (new motor, trans, clutch, rear axle etc. etc.) and for this reason I have not been driving it at night, or even on a regular basis. I have struggled getting parts like the discontinued Cold Start Temperature Sensor, which I come to find you can only buy used. When the parts finally straggled in I started driving the truck at night, as my confidence grew.
Then I noticed it - sometimes it seemed like my headlights were not even on! Jiggle the switch and then they pop back on again. Then I saw that the high beam indicator light was lighting up on low beam position. What gives? I thought back the the conversation above this post and realized that the LEDs were causing the confusion. A quick switch out of H4 lamps confirmed my suspicion.
You guys are 100% right and demonstrate the power of the Ih8mud forum. Thanks a hundred times over!!!
You guys are 100% on the money. The LED WILL NOT WORK on a 1987 Toyota without special wiring provisions.
Now the rest of the story:
My truck has just got back up on it's feet after an extensive mechanical refresh (new motor, trans, clutch, rear axle etc. etc.) and for this reason I have not been driving it at night, or even on a regular basis. I have struggled getting parts like the discontinued Cold Start Temperature Sensor, which I come to find you can only buy used. When the parts finally straggled in I started driving the truck at night, as my confidence grew.
Then I noticed it - sometimes it seemed like my headlights were not even on! Jiggle the switch and then they pop back on again. Then I saw that the high beam indicator light was lighting up on low beam position. What gives? I thought back the the conversation above this post and realized that the LEDs were causing the confusion. A quick switch out of H4 lamps confirmed my suspicion.
You guys are 100% right and demonstrate the power of the Ih8mud forum. Thanks a hundred times over!!!
Do LED's cause issues with the high beam indicator light? Because I have LED's (for now, came with it) and have no indicator even after cluster bulb replacement.
This won't give you the added benefit of having better voltage at the light via an upgraded harness, but here's another option for converting from a switched ground to the switched power that an LED headlight needs
hidkitpros.com
LumaWerx™ H4/9003 Switching Ground Polarity Module
Solution - A common problem found on many older Japanese vehicles: a switching ground opposed to traditional switching power for headlamp systems. While
hidkitpros.com
Yes, 4crawler explains it this way:
- The switched ground harness has additional circuitry to isolate the low and high beam relays and most importantly to provide the power to illuminate the high beam indicator light, as is done with the stock wiring.
- This is needed because in stock form, the high beam indicator actually is powered by current "leaking" though the low beam filament (when it is turned off that is). When a relay is installed in place of the actual light bulb, the 15-20 mA of current that the relay coil uses is not sufficient to illuminate the high beam indicator, so it'll appear to be "burned out".
- The switched ground harness feeds current back from the high beam relay, via a diode and resistor, to power the high beam indicator.
So I currently have HID’s from DDM tuning. Pretty bright, not too many issues over the years. Kit includes an entire harness with ballasts and relays. Only issue is I’ve never had a high beam indicator light. Can I use this adapter thing in conjunction with my current setup? Thanks!
Ya know, I thought it was my dash. I have a high beam light, but it's dim. I have the conversion harness for H4 headlamps.
So I am doing the H4 conversion this weekend. Bought the light assy’s from LCE and I just recieved the harness that was referenced in the link above. It appears to be a straight forward install, except I dont see where the replacement harness plugs into the truck. Does it go in the fuse box?
that is the only place I see male connections that are similar to the ones a the new harness. I looked in the fsm and the correctly colored wires are present in the fuse box.
Edit
Just watched a you tube video, looks like there should be a plug by the passenger HL, so it looks like I will pull the old HL and see if it is down there.
that is the only place I see male connections that are similar to the ones a the new harness. I looked in the fsm and the correctly colored wires are present in the fuse box.
Edit
Just watched a you tube video, looks like there should be a plug by the passenger HL, so it looks like I will pull the old HL and see if it is down there.
Last edited:
You're over analyzing this. Unplug headlights. Take headlight plug and plug into new harness. As I recall you only use one. The two ceramic plugs go onto the headlights. The red wire goes directly to the battery. Black wire to the ground location of choice.
Yeah, I do that.
Once I saw that video I realized the plug is underneath the headlight and I should pull it out first.
Once I saw that video I realized the plug is underneath the headlight and I should pull it out first.
