Headlight rewiring from 4 to 2 lights. Ok so I havent had 4 headlights in forever, only 3. One was use for a fresh air intake. Got some fancy HIDs and put it all back to 4 but dont like it. And dont want to need a 2nd set of HIDs to make it a 4set. Re-cap ok so when on low beam the two outers are bright and inner are dim for a running light. When you hit the Brights, the two outers are now dim running lights and the two inners are your Brights. Ok so now my brights are dimmer then the lows as they are HIDs. Considered getting two more but one set is plenty bright and I can remove the two inners and run a dual snorkel air cleaner. Anyone do this mod yet? How did you re-wire them? Considering just doing a cut splice n merge of the two headlight wires so all the stock switches can operate the single set of lights from high to low. But I would then be lighting both filaments in the HIDs at once all the time. They would just switch back n fourth as to which one gets full power and which one is dim. Good idea or bad to have both lite in the bulb??? Or just rewire it with a different switch, toss in an old floor stomper switch to change from low to high??? Am I making any sense here???
Have searched and found a few post but no real info on what they did to get just the two outters to be a hi/low and keep factory switching. The HIDs I have are made to be a hi/low light so they are ready, I just need the juice to flow to the right prongs for them to work that way.
I like to use aircraft landing lights in place of the high-beams ... they turn night into day. If you are still using the high beams for fresh air, then you should look up a wiring schematic for a Monte Carlo or Gand Prix of the same vintage to verify the wiring changes ... or better yet, for a factory appearance, look for one of these cars in a junk yard (or Camaro, Firebird, Vega, Apollo, Nove, atc.) and pull the wiring harness for the lights all the way to the headlight switch. I would think that would convert the whole system. Aren't the dual (high & low beam) headlights physically larger than the single circuit ones? Either way, you should be able to map the wires by electrically testing the existing wire leads to find out where to splice/rewire the new connectors/connections. Ken
Ive gotten lucky so far and folks haven't been flashing me as my only response would be to turn on the brights which are mucho dimmer. I may just give up on doing it right. I got a nice two position switch I can use and just rewire the headlights with all new wiring, leave the rest of the wiring alone. If need be I could always hook it all back up in a pinch on the side of the road in the dark if need be. I need to get a bigger alt though, stock one is on the edge of power use if I have everything on. [ lights, stereo system, heater ] think stock was like 45-60 amps. which is odd for a fully loaded all electric wagon though I dunno maybe 100amp alt were not around in the 80s???
At those amps, you start to push the limits of the old wiring systems for the '70's ... '80's systems did have 80 - 100+ amps, but not much more. Ken
Forget the "HID's" because unless they are engineered by a lighting engineer, they are worthless as you are finding out. For excellent automotive lighting, see http://cibieusa.com/cibie_main_frameset.htm . I have used Cibie' lamps for over 30 years in everything from my GSX to everyday drivers. You will never find better lamps and they really do "light up the road". Sorry Ken, they will make aircraft landing lights look like they are not even turned on and this is from personal experience. Matt, your outboard lamps already are wired for Hi/Low from the factory. The inner lamps are Hi only, as you already know. You do not have to do any rewiring for Hi/Low operation as long as your wiring hasn't been messed with. To let you know how bad those "HID's" you have are, it sounds like they reversed the high and low positions in the bulb contacts!!! Talk about "engineering"!!! Throw them out and get some proper lamps.
Just looked it up and a stock replacement is 63amps $35-$40 That isn't enough amps for an all electric cars with some bumpin tunes,extra fog lights and Hids.
The beauty of using aircraft landing lights is that they are fairly stealthy as they can fit in place of the stock inboard hi-beams. Brad, I don't know the candle power between the Cibie's and various landing lights other than to say I like being able to make the car look stock and that I'm pretty sure if they are bright enough for 747's to land, there is no question that they are pretty darn bright - bright enough to illuminate the race track (road) for both cars and the spectators ... The only Cibie's I have seen are the large rectangular vintage ones seen on the old Cougar XR-7's (3/4's the foot print of a license plate) or the dinnerplate-sized round ones on the market now. Also, replacing the hi-beams allows the electricity to be used for the higher power lights instead of requiring more electricity from the system as this was a concern of Matt's earlier in the thread. I know many others have chosen the aircraft landing light option because of the ability to keep the car stock-looking and have never heard anything but praise for the added candle power. Ken
Hmmm looking at the chassis book it sure does look that way, the funky operation must be a crossed wire or bad prong location. Though so far they work better then stock lamps.
I drew it out and it is screwy. The wiring is shown how it is or should be. Can see switch position and what results I get. Something is crossed wired for the inner to be dim when the lows are on. Vise versa some reason the outter isn't running full bright.
Ken, My experience with aircraft lights is that they have a poor beam pattern for road vehicles. The Cibie's have a spot pattern whereas the aircraft lights are more of a vertical pattern. Both will fit in a 5 3/4" headlamp socket without issue, so looks is not a problem. With a 100 watt H1 bulb in the Cibie's, you can't even tell the aircraft lamps are on. I've done just that...lined up 2 cars and turned on the lights. With the 100 watt bulbs, one will need to wire in a relay in the high beam circuit (lt green wire), otherwise they will overload the headlamp switch. Try a Cibie'...they really are fantastic lamps.
Here's a link that speaks of all types of automotive lamps, including retrofitting HID's: http://www.danielsternlighting.com/home.html . Very worthwhile read.
Cibie's are like $100 per lamp If i was going to spend $400 on lighting...... first off I wouldn't.. secondly I'd go HID kit for $95.
Brad, Thanks for the article. Interesting reading. You said you are running 100 watt H1 high beams? Did you use a 10 gauge wire and relay for it?
I did use a relay mounted close to the headlamps but did not use 10 ga wire. The existing wiring, with the relay withing a couple of feet of the lights, works just fine.
I am not sure I am reading this correctly, but it should be this way. On the low beam setting, only the low beams, on the outside should be illuminated. This should be the filament providing a beam that is lowered, and to the right. On high-beam, the inside lamp should be illuminated, and the outside high beam filament should light, creating a beam going almost straight down the road. There are no "dim" lights, unless you mean that they are not as bright. Essentially, there is full voltage going to all of the filaments, and a good ground for all. I hope that that is what you meant. For the record, though the smaller 4 light lamps do not have the beam spread, if correctly aimed and wired, the 4 light system is superior to a properly working two lamp system. I agree with those suggesting the Cibie system. They are aimed and designed to provide the maximum lighting on the road, with no exceptions. They also allow the use of different bulbs in the lamps, which allows one to upgrade when funds permit. I personally have used the 80/120 W bulbs on the low beams, and the 120 W on the high beams, which permits me the use of low beams in traffic with superior visibility. One aside here is that there are drivers insisting on the use of high beams, even in dense traffic situations. I have never had someone refuse to lower their high beams when I flashed mine. the easy way to determine the current draw for any light is to divide the wattage by the voltage, giving an accurate amperage figure. Figuring that these bulbs draw about 50 A, when all lit, I strongly suggest a 100 A alternator.
Ray, you are exactly correct in your assessment of how US headlamps are configured. The OP sometimes didn't have a clue as to how things work, hence his stilted question(s) on this subject. I know exactly what you mean when you say nobody leaves their hi beams on when you turn yours on...I have the same setup PLUS a set of Oscar + driving beam lamps with 100 watt bulbs. Turns night into daytime and nobody, absolutely nobody fails to dim their lights. :Brow:
