Brighten
Your Lights - Installing Headlight Relays
some information
provided by
Daniel Stern Lighting
What?
Everyone has seemed to hear of this but it continues to
mystify many. This is a rather simple conversion with
drastic results. Upgrading your Jeep's headlight
circuit is a rather straight forward process and can provide
that much needed nighttime light without the addition of
expensive driving lights or replacement headlights.
Reality:
Factory design sucks - well mostly
The power for
your headlights is provided through a long electrical path
that includes your headlight switch and headlight dimmer
switch. All of this wiring, contacts, corrosion, and
connectors compound together to amount to a significant
voltage loss. Headlight output is drastically
diminished with the decrease in voltage.
Solution: More
power to the bulbs...but how?
Shorter path to
the lights from the battery, also, higher capacity wiring.
Usually the wiring in a Jeep is 16 to 18 gauge. 12 -
14 gauge in this application usually is best. Also, a
larger gauge short wire can carry more current than a same
gauge longer wire. If you are wondering how we can
have a shorter path to the lights but still be able to turn
them on and off within the cab of the Jeep enter the relay.
A relay is a remote switch. A standard relay is turned
on by a small amount of current that actuates a magnetic
switch and only draws minimal power. The other side of
the magnetic switch is another switch that can carry a
larger amount of current. In this case the Jeep's
headlight switch turns on the relay which in turn turns on
the headlights.
Before I did
this on my own Jeep the headlight switch used to get too hot
to touch. It eventually failed. This was the
point I looked into this upgrade and now the switch does not
even get warm due to the small amount of current required by
the relay.
Parts:
-
Relays: (2)
Use a set of quality relays, remember, these are
powering your headlights. Usually if you are using
them you NEED them.
-
Protection: Protect
the new circuit with a fuse. These new wires
can carry a large amount of current and can cause a lot
of bad things to happen quickly if the wrong thing
touches a ground source. A useful power tap
accessory is an excellent addition to a Jeep.
Painless Wiring makes a nice weather proof
fuse block.
-
Wire: Use a
minimum 14 gauge for the main power lead and a good
ground. Some smaller wire may be used for smaller
connections.
-
New
headlight plugs. Why not? You are going
through the trouble...no sense in reusing your old
corroded light plugs. These are available at most
automotive stores.
Before you
tackle this project make sure you do things neatly and
properly. Your vehicle headlights are as important as
brakes. Know what you are doing! This project
involves soldering and vehicle electrical understanding.
|