Fixed up my HID wiring and built a relay/load center

[greatwhite]

Well, I finally addressed something that has been bugging me for a while; the HID wiring and always looking for 12V power taps.

The HID's got upgraded to 12 Gauge wiring to ensure a good power supply. It's relayed for good power right from the battery.

I also needed to address being able to flick on the high beams without the HID lows going off. HID ballasts really don't like to be interrupted like that and can often die from the on/off spikes.

I though about the "4HI" modification, but that just seemed kind of clumsy with the relays already in the system. So, I ran a new wire and tapped the wire from the dash mounted headlight switch instead of the engine bay wiring that runs through the multifunction switch in the column. Now, the HID's come on with the dash rotary switch no matter what happens with the hi low selection. Does away with an extra relay too.

Now to address a place to mount all my relays and power taps. Where to collect them all up in one location rather than hidden all over the engine bay? A bit of metal work, a touch of welding and a spritz of Rustoleum black and I had a nice tidy spot:

http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r618/justonepict/11C4197C-1375-49A8-9602-9C18A56FE6D2-4827-00000DD64AEA54D5.jpg

Collects up all the relays, has a Fused 60 A 4 gauge 12 v supply, a ground terminal and room for more in the future. Lots of room and nice and tidy. It will probably get a fuse center as well.

I also took the time to mount the (gasp!) Ford DRl module:

http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r618/justonepict/BCCBE7F3-D50F-44FE-AA0C-32291C2D07E2-4827-00000DD651BDBACA.jpg

You can just see the black box behind the battery. It was a quick clean solution to needing DRL's (law in Canada). It runs the bumper fogs on 1/2 power with ACC, full power when they are selected on, turns them off with low beams selected (but will stil run as fogs with the fog switch on) and turns them off the park brake is set.

While I was on a roll. I redid the my custom center console:

http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r618/justonepict/188C5139-6BB8-4CD7-AC86-CA3CAC54F1AD-4827-00000DD56D48D929.jpg

I incorporated a 200W inverter to run the various things we always seem to be dragging around with us (laptop cell phones, etc).

It started out as a cobra microport 200W inverter:

http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r618/justonepict/206847764.jpg

Had to slip in the cooling fan for the inverter heat sink:

http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r618/justonepict/A24BC082-9498-4460-838A-91C574995C0B-4827-00000DD574251353.jpg

I also closed up the iPod holder slot so I would a have a place to make a pen holder and attach the CB mic.

Coming along nicely....:cool:

Now that I've got it all sorted, I ordered my HID kit for the high beams. When it gets here, it will get a full 12 guage relayed wiring harness also.

As a side bonus, the relays remove all the heavy load from the interior light switches and places them all on the relay contacts. Simple matter to swap out a readily available relay instead of the expensive and hard to source GM switches....:)

[greatwhite]

Well, wired up the relay's for the HID's.

All the flicker, color shift and dropping out issues are gone.

Stock wiring was the problem, just waaaaay to undersized to feed the HID's. I went 12 gauge direct from the power post (feed is 6 inches of 4 gauge to the power post) to the relays and then to the ballasts. Total wire length is about 24 inches. Great for very low voltage drop.

While I was at it, I did a "4 HI" modification.

But I went about it a little bit differently than most; I took the low beam relay trigger off the dash switch instead of the underhood wire.

Why do this?

Well, it's a little bit more difficult than tapping the underhood wire because you have to sort out which wire in the dash switch is the low beam and run another wire through the firewall, but you also have completely bypassed the troublesome multifunction switch in the steering column.

The multifunction stalk can completely fail and I will still at least have my low beams. Also, because the multifunction switch is out of the loop, when I flick on my high beams the low beams are completely unaffected.

No relay switching, no flickering power to upset the HID ballasts and a nice clean OEM type installation.

:cool:

[Edahall]

Did you install the HID's in new headlight housings or did you use the existing housings?

How is the light output compared to the stock halogen bulbs?

[greatwhite]

Did you install the HID's in new headlight housings or did you use the existing housings?

How is the light output compared to the stock halogen bulbs?

New housings with clear lenses. The OEM lenses are fluted and will scatter HID lights. I grafted Acura TSX projectors into the aftermarket housings for proper cut off and light projection.

Output compared to stockers?

There is none.

Literally a night and day difference....if you'll pardon the play on words :D

[DieselDavy]

greatwhite,
That new setup is way cool! I love the way all those relays re neatly mounted! I must have missed your original pictures from Aug.
If you had your schematic of what you did and sold that plate with relays mounted and all the customer had to do is wire similar to your schematic, I'll bet you could sell a bunch of them just here on "The Page"! ( I know I want one!)
Awesome work man!

[greatwhite]

greatwhite,
That new setup is way cool! I love the way all those relays re neatly mounted! I must have missed your original pictures from Aug.
If you had your schematic of what you did and sold that plate with relays mounted and all the customer had to do is wire similar to your schematic, I'll bet you could sell a bunch of them just here on "The Page"! ( I know I want one!)
Awesome work man!

Sorry, only "wiring diagram" i have is the one i see in my head while im building it.

I could draw one up but its pretty simple:

Trigger wire to the relay coil, coil ground, the 12+ to the relay and back out to the load (ie: accessory).

The bracket is just that: an simple sheet metal bracket.....

[Kennedy]

Curious if you've actually measured the "need" for enlarged wiring with the HID's?

I can say for certain though that with my HB harness there would be no need PLUS the 4 hi part is dirt simple.

I have done this both ways on my newer trucks. The 07 has the HB harness and HID and the 2012 has the HID's straight up. Both run incandescent Hi beam do to strike up time.

[greatwhite]

Curious if you've actually measured the "need" for enlarged wiring with the HID's?

I can say for certain though that with my HB harness there would be no need PLUS the 4 hi part is dirt simple.

I have done this both ways on my newer trucks. The 07 has the HB harness and HID and the 2012 has the HID's straight up. Both run incandescent Hi beam do to strike up time.

OEM wiring would get warm due to resistance when powering the HID's, be it corrosion at the connectors, age or the factory wire gauge itself. Truthfully, I don't care why at this point.

With the redone wiring the system doesn't even flinch. No flickering, no heating, fast spark up.

That's enough justification of the "need" for me.

It also has the additional bonus of removing the high load off the dash and column mounted switches and moving it to the easily replaced underhood relays. Another important factor when living in an isolated location. I can pick up a standard 40a relay at the local store but there's no way I'm getting a headlight switch for a 1998 K2500 GMC here in less than a week at best. Just as long (if not longer) for the multifunction switch in the column; which by the way is toast in my truck. Wires fatigued from the tilt column action and numerous up and downs for working under the dash over the years. I know because I've had it apart once already and soldered them back together. Those wires break, you get no headlights at all. With my current setup, the multifunction switch is bypassed for power. All it does is trigger the high beam relays. It can fail altogether in the column and I will still at least have my low beam HID's, which put most high beams to shame anyways. all my high beams do is add fill above the cutoff line of the TSX's.

Where I live, HID's are an upgrade you definitely want over halogens. Black as pitch on the island of Newfoundland. If you're every driven a country road in southern England after dark, you know what I mean. Add lots of moose who care nothing for vehicle traffic. 457 collisions last year alone. that's a lot when you consider the population of this island. When a Moose hits a vehicle, people die. You need to see that moving wall of fur and flesh waaaaaay down the road just to survive here. Semi trucks look like something out of Mad Max here just for that reason.....and they still get put out of commission when the hit a Newfoundland moose. This is a "no fooling around zone" after dark.....

People routinely prefer to convoy with me in front when we go places after dark because with the high and low beam HID's burning night literally becomes day. If I know in advance I also pop on the 4 HID projector converted roof mounted driving lights ( I run dual alts by the way). People see wildlife in the woods miles ahead when I'm in front that they never would have seen. I often have to ask my buddy with the "plug and play" HID conversion to turn his light off if he's behind me. Horrible pointless glare. No one ever complains about my HID low beams (except the fools who feel the need to lower their Honda civic in Newfoundland! LOL!).

I've been asked several dozen times where I got the lights and more than half a dozen times to do the conversion for people for cash payment. They're just that good.

I could care less if my high beams take and extra 5 or 10 secs to reach full power over halogens. They come on and stay on. They're not for "flicking", they're for filling in above the TSX projector cutoffs. I don't "flick" my high beams at people, even if they have theirs on. I just look off to the side and carry on. They're past in a few seconds anyways. Flicking high beams is discourteous at best and dangerous at worst.

Flicking my particular high beams could lead burned retinas!

I also hear flicking high beams can get you killed in some places south of 49.....no thanks.

Plug and play HID kits are crap. Retrofiting a proper set of HID projectors is the only way to go. Proper wiring is a part of that retrofit. Re-based HID capsules is just fooling yourself into thinking you get better headlights. What you get is brighter, not better. My TSX projectors make the guys with the re-based lights look foolish. I know, I've been called out on it before. We've lined up side by side in the same trucks and my "proper" retrofits throw light further (and wider) down the road by at least 100+ feet. Not to mention, you can stand in front of my truck when the lights are on and not be blinded. Not true for my friends who have popped re-based bulbs in stock housings. Horrible glare,light scattered all over the place....completely pointless.

I freely admit that not everyone needs the kind of "light power" I'm packing. But I do where I live and I'm the most popular guy to be around on a night drive...

For someone not capable of making their own harness or looking for a simple plug and play (Gawd, I hate that phrase) solution, a commercially available kit such as yours will most likely fill the bill.

I walk a different path.....a brighter,clearer, safer one.

With lots of truck killing moose on it!

:)