I've been discussing this over at .com for a while, so I thought I would open it up for disection over here. This is what I picture in my mind for a way to brighten up the headlights on Aaron's Dart Sport... the ol' headlight relay trick. By no means am I an electrical draftsman (my discipline is civil engineering), so forgive any errors in this rough schematic.

I'm assuming the relay "control" wiring would use those coming from the dimmer switch. One is "high" beam and the other "low" beam. I would split the wire, add terminals to the loose ends, attach one to the relay's #85 pin, and run a ground to the chassis off the #86 pin. Attach the other end to the relay's #87 pin and run a new fused line to the #30 pin straight off the alternator's "BAT" terminal.



Am I close? Of course, that would be one relay for both "low" beams. Another would be inserted the same way for the "high" beams. Could I run one lead off the "BAT" terminal and split it after the fuse, or would it be best to fuse two leads?

Now starts the critique...
Jerry

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There's a difference between ignorance and stupidity.
Ignorance is not knowing any better.
Stupidity is knowing, yet doing it anyway.

Looks good to me, except I would use an auto resetting circuit breaker, instead of a fuse. That way if you had a short the circuit breaker would keep tripping and resetting. This would make the lights blink, rather then go out completely. The factory did this, with the circuit breaker built into the light switch.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

Should not be a problem. Your "crude" diagram is much better than what I consider crude.

FWIW - you can also use relays that have two #87 terminals, which eliminates the need for a wire splice after the relay.

I would run the relay's power lead (#30) either directly to the battery positive terminal, or the starter relay instead of the alternator output though. I do not know if attaching directly to the alternator would affect the alternator's 'perceived' load on the electrical system or not.

-S/6

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The "Silver Bullet"
87 Ram D150

This looks pretty close to SlantsixDan's schematic:
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech ... elays.html

Differences I noted:
The roles of relay terminals 85 and 86 are reversed.
Dan runs separate fuses on high and low beams.

This is a good upgrade. Use quality wire and relays.

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"When you find a big kettle of crazy, it's best not to stir it." - Pointy-haired Boss

1964 Valiant V200, 225/Pushbutton 904
BBD, CAI, HEI, LBP, AC, AM/FM/USB, EIEIO

Make sure there's a good ground..........

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

Slantvaliant has already linked to my headlamp relay site, so I don't need to do so again, but I do see a couple things with your schematic that I would do differently:

• Don't run your main power feed through just one fuse as you've shown. If you do this, a fault anywhere in the system takes out your whole, entire headlamp system.

• Your diagram shows sheetmetal grounds adjacent to each headlamp, the way the factory did it. No good! You want to do a complete job of running new, heavy-gauge (use 12ga) wire from the alternator output terminal to the relay #30s, and from the relay #87s to the headlamp feed terminals, and from the headlamp ground terminals to a good ground (alternator housing or battery negative terminal).

• You don't mention wire gauge. Again, you want to use 12ga. It is worth your time and effort to track down headlamp sockets and other supplies that will accept this large-gauge wire (I keep 'em in stock, but I'm also not the only source).

• Rather than splicing or piggy-backing to run two headlamps off the one 87 terminal on each relay, use relays with dual 87 terminals. It's cleaner, easier, more reliable and eliminates the chance of "left brighter than right" type results. Again, I keep 'em in stock, but if you shop elsewhere, remember two things: An 87a terminal is not the same as an 87, and relay quality matters, so don't use the Taiwanese or Chinese garbage that's so easy to find.

• You've got your relay trigger contacts backwards. On some relays it doesn't matter, but on the better relays, equipped with diode and/or resistor spike suppression across the coil, you will make electrical smoke if you hook it up your way. 85 is the ground, 86 is the feed.

• Be very choosy about the headlamps themselves. Old sealed beams are junk. Almost all new sealed beams are junk, including everything Sylvania's selling, especially the "Silverstar" garbage they're hyping so hard. There are a few sealed beams on the market that are half-decent for what they are. First choice in sealed beams would be GE NightHawks, H6024NH, but they are devillishly hard to find. A distant second preference would be a set of New Old Stock (not current production) 6014 or 6015 non-halogen units, and a very distant third would be Wagner BriteLite H6024BL. There are many replaceable-bulb upgrades out there, only a few of which are actually upgrades. The good ones are much better than any sealed beam, but the bad ones are grossly unsafe. Of course, all of them are marketed as being amazing, great lights. If you are looking at upgrade headlamps, find a genuine expert and ask a lot of questions before you buy.

There's other stuff you can do for better exterior lighting, too. Good quality center 3rd brake lights are tough to find, but they are out there (me again! ). There are better bulbs for the brake and turn signal lights. There are ways of restoring dulled brake and turn light reflectors. Etc.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.