headlight wiring

[nyernga]

Heres a brain twister for the brave.

I installed sylvania headlight bulbs tonight and when test driving the car, with the head and foglamps on, the high beam indicator was dimly lit.

came home, put the previous bulbs in and now the headligyts work, the foglamps come on and the high beam indicator is off....all seemed normal. Problem now is when just using the running lights with the fogs, both headlights light up very dimly. I know someone will suggest a bad ground but it didn't happen until I changed to the sylvania bulbs. Wrong bulbs maybe????? These aren't the stock lights with the sealed beam. It has that l_l connector plug

$10.00 to whoever can figure this out.

 

[jsinga]

If you are interested in getting the most out of your lights put in a relay kit. Look for Daniel Sterns lighting and read his info. The voltage drop in the factory setup is stealing about 20% of the brightness you could get. My 87 wiring had nearly .5v drop through it. Using relays and new wiring and heavy duty headlight plugs will eliminate any future problems and give full battery voltage to your lights. Then if you want to go with overwatt bulbs you won't melt out the headlight and dimmer switch. I have 100/130w bulbs in Ciebe lamps. They pull 18.5a on LOW beam. Each light has a 30a fuse and a 40a relay with 12ga wire to the lamp and 8ga feed from the battery.

JS

 

[nyernga]

If you are interested in getting the most out of your lights put in a relay kit. Look for Daniel Sterns lighting and read his info. The voltage drop in the factory setup is stealing about 20% of the brightness you could get. My 87 wiring had nearly .5v drop through it. Using relays and new wiring and heavy duty headlight plugs will eliminate any future problems and give full battery voltage to your lights. Then if you want to go with overwatt bulbs you won't melt out the headlight and dimmer switch. I have 100/130w bulbs in Ciebe lamps. They pull 18.5a on LOW beam. Each light has a 30a fuse and a 40a relay with 12ga wire to the lamp and 8ga feed from the battery.

JS

Thanks JS. I had heard about the upgrade setup using relays. The 100/80 watt bulbs I had in there did have a tendency to burn the headlamp plugs. I just got in the habit of picking up a supply of them from the junkyard and replacing them. These sylvania bulbs are supposed to not need the relays which is why I switched. I have a feeling I may have bought the wrong bulbs which is why the headlamps glow dimly when just the forlamp/running lights are on. Off to the parts store today to see if I'm right.

Len

ps: I'll check out those Daniel Sterns