G
Guest
Guest
John
I've put your headlight booster together on the bench as follows:
I rigged up two identical bulbs (the ones he supplied, which are H5
fitting & no good to you): one boosted and one direct to the battery,
which was fresh off the charger. Subjectively the boosted bulb was a
*lot* brighter than the unboosted to my eyes.
I also measured voltage difference and light output quantitatively:
It increased the voltage at the bulb by between 2.0v and 2.5v (not sure
how accurate my voltmeter is).
My camera light meter reckoned this gave about 1.5 stops increase in
brightness, that's a brightness factor of more than two.
For those interested in how it works the booster is permanently
connected to the battery, and the existing headlight circuitry is used
to drive separate main and dipped beam relays the switch the boosted
current to the bulbs. The existing circuitry now only has to drive the
relays - a negligible load - and the inner lights on main beam.
All wiring is supplied with no cutting or alteration of existing wiring
needed, and the build quality looks quite good. My only criticism is
that only one fuse is provided, so if that blows you would lose all
lights.
Personally I would prefer to fit separate left & right units, despite
the extra cost, to get round this problem. Although I suppose you would
still have the inner main beams to fall back on.
So John, here is what you do, please read right through before starting.
(Apologies to those not interested).
General. (All references to "left" and "right" are looking forward, so
"right" is driver's side)
--------
(1) The wiring harness supplied will require you to fit the unit near
the right hand battery. I would recommend immediately behind it on the
plastic guard.
(2) You will be taking the +12v feed for it from the right hand battery
+ve terminal. DO NOT USE THE LEFT HAND BATTERY.
(3) You will be taking your earth (0v) connections from the bolts in the
bodywork near the lights that already have black wires attached. I
recommend that you do NOT undo the existing battery earth wire to
bodywork bolt, as that carries a lot of current, but rather the one just
below it used for the lights.
(4) It doesn't say so, but I suggest that you make sure that the body of
the booster when mounted does not touch any bodywork. This will rule out
the possibility of accidental shorts.
Fixing method.
--------------
I've put all the wiring together for you so that you can see how it all
connects. You may need to undo some connectors to feed wires around and
about, but they are easy to reassemble.
(1) Remove your 85w outer headlight bulbs and replace with the best
60/55w ones you can find - I recommend the Philips/Osram "50% brighter".
(Or you can leave your existing ones at your own risk, but you will be
overloading this device.) Leave the inner headlight bulbs alone.
(2) Do not refit the connectors at the back of the bulbs - you'll need
them later.
(3) Mount the booster unit behind (or at any rate near) the right hand
battery, close enough for the red and black wires from its white
connector block to reach battery +ve terminal (red wire) and an earthing
bolt on the chassis (black wire). Make sure that no part of it is
touching metal bodywork.
(4) Mount the two relays nearby, again I suggest on the back of the
plastic battery surround.
(5) Stretch out the wiring harness, and you'll find that you have a
matched pair of male (like the base of an H4 bulb) and female (like the
existing bulb base socket) plugs for the right side of the vehicle; and
female only on the left side. The wire colours to the male are
red/black/white, and the female yellow/black/blue.
(6) Work out how you are going to route this harness from the booster to
each headlight. The right hand one is easy, but the left hand one will
have to cross the front of the vehicle. Feed the wires loosely into
position so that the terminals reach the backs of the bulbs without
stretching.
(7) Connect the female sockets (yellow/black/blue) to the backs of the
bulbs on both sides. Connect the black cables from these sockets to the
nearby earthing bolts on the chassis that the existing headlight wires
use.
(8) Connect the male plug (red/black/white) on the right hand side to
the original socket that used to plug onto the back of the bulb there.
(9) Connect the black wire from the booster (white socket) to chassis
earth.
(10) If you've taken apart any of the connectors in the booster system
plug them back together now.
(11) Finally connect the red wire from the booster to the battery +ve
terminal. Nothing should happen!
Testing.
--------
(1) Turn on the dipped beam headlights and check that they are working.
(2) Then turn on main beam and check again. Your outer lights should be
noticeably brighter than the inner.
(3) Leaving it on main beam feel round all the circuitry you've added
for any heating, and waggle all the wires listening for any sparking or
flickering. Ditto on dipped beam. If you have any poor connections then
tighten them up.
Tidy up.
--------
Now you need to tuck the wires up so that they are out of the way, can't
fall into the fan, and are tidy. Cable ties help here. Give some
thought to the need to disassemble in the future (radiator replacement,
crash repair, etc)
Also if you have routed wires through any holes or tight gaps make sure
that the cables won't chafe and wear through. If you are worried about
this possibility fit a rubber grommet to holes, or wrap the cable in
many layers of insulating tape (or a piece of old rubber piping), but it
is best to avoid potential pitfalls by avoiding such things.
Then you may need to re-align the headlights - remember you can now
blind oncoming cars more easily. I find the best way of doing this is
on a deserted stretch of flat straight road.
And finally...
--------------
You've left the original left hand side socket hanging loose. Your nice
new spotlights require (we think) a +12v feed that ideally is +ve when
main beam is on, well that socket provides just what you want.
Looking at the socket (as if you were a bulb) there is a horizontal
terminal at 12 o'clock, and vertical ones at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock. 3
o'clock is earth, but I can't rememember whether it is 9 or 12 that is
main beam.
"It is left as an exercise for the reader" (as my old text books used to
say) to find out which one provides the switching current you need for
that pesky switch. Crimp a male spade terminal to that red wire and try
it in each to see which comes live with main beam, then you have your
spots sorted out as well. Wrap this up well with insulating tape and
tuck out of the way.
Also remember that the booster will shorten bulb life, so you need to
carry spares.
Cor, wot a long email. I hope it makes sense.
If you send me your address I'll get the unit posted back to you.
Christopher
____________________________________________________________
Electronic mail messages entering and leaving Arup business
systems are scanned for acceptability of content and viruses
I've put your headlight booster together on the bench as follows:
I rigged up two identical bulbs (the ones he supplied, which are H5
fitting & no good to you): one boosted and one direct to the battery,
which was fresh off the charger. Subjectively the boosted bulb was a
*lot* brighter than the unboosted to my eyes.
I also measured voltage difference and light output quantitatively:
It increased the voltage at the bulb by between 2.0v and 2.5v (not sure
how accurate my voltmeter is).
My camera light meter reckoned this gave about 1.5 stops increase in
brightness, that's a brightness factor of more than two.
For those interested in how it works the booster is permanently
connected to the battery, and the existing headlight circuitry is used
to drive separate main and dipped beam relays the switch the boosted
current to the bulbs. The existing circuitry now only has to drive the
relays - a negligible load - and the inner lights on main beam.
All wiring is supplied with no cutting or alteration of existing wiring
needed, and the build quality looks quite good. My only criticism is
that only one fuse is provided, so if that blows you would lose all
lights.
Personally I would prefer to fit separate left & right units, despite
the extra cost, to get round this problem. Although I suppose you would
still have the inner main beams to fall back on.
So John, here is what you do, please read right through before starting.
(Apologies to those not interested).
General. (All references to "left" and "right" are looking forward, so
"right" is driver's side)
--------
(1) The wiring harness supplied will require you to fit the unit near
the right hand battery. I would recommend immediately behind it on the
plastic guard.
(2) You will be taking the +12v feed for it from the right hand battery
+ve terminal. DO NOT USE THE LEFT HAND BATTERY.
(3) You will be taking your earth (0v) connections from the bolts in the
bodywork near the lights that already have black wires attached. I
recommend that you do NOT undo the existing battery earth wire to
bodywork bolt, as that carries a lot of current, but rather the one just
below it used for the lights.
(4) It doesn't say so, but I suggest that you make sure that the body of
the booster when mounted does not touch any bodywork. This will rule out
the possibility of accidental shorts.
Fixing method.
--------------
I've put all the wiring together for you so that you can see how it all
connects. You may need to undo some connectors to feed wires around and
about, but they are easy to reassemble.
(1) Remove your 85w outer headlight bulbs and replace with the best
60/55w ones you can find - I recommend the Philips/Osram "50% brighter".
(Or you can leave your existing ones at your own risk, but you will be
overloading this device.) Leave the inner headlight bulbs alone.
(2) Do not refit the connectors at the back of the bulbs - you'll need
them later.
(3) Mount the booster unit behind (or at any rate near) the right hand
battery, close enough for the red and black wires from its white
connector block to reach battery +ve terminal (red wire) and an earthing
bolt on the chassis (black wire). Make sure that no part of it is
touching metal bodywork.
(4) Mount the two relays nearby, again I suggest on the back of the
plastic battery surround.
(5) Stretch out the wiring harness, and you'll find that you have a
matched pair of male (like the base of an H4 bulb) and female (like the
existing bulb base socket) plugs for the right side of the vehicle; and
female only on the left side. The wire colours to the male are
red/black/white, and the female yellow/black/blue.
(6) Work out how you are going to route this harness from the booster to
each headlight. The right hand one is easy, but the left hand one will
have to cross the front of the vehicle. Feed the wires loosely into
position so that the terminals reach the backs of the bulbs without
stretching.
(7) Connect the female sockets (yellow/black/blue) to the backs of the
bulbs on both sides. Connect the black cables from these sockets to the
nearby earthing bolts on the chassis that the existing headlight wires
use.
(8) Connect the male plug (red/black/white) on the right hand side to
the original socket that used to plug onto the back of the bulb there.
(9) Connect the black wire from the booster (white socket) to chassis
earth.
(10) If you've taken apart any of the connectors in the booster system
plug them back together now.
(11) Finally connect the red wire from the booster to the battery +ve
terminal. Nothing should happen!
Testing.
--------
(1) Turn on the dipped beam headlights and check that they are working.
(2) Then turn on main beam and check again. Your outer lights should be
noticeably brighter than the inner.
(3) Leaving it on main beam feel round all the circuitry you've added
for any heating, and waggle all the wires listening for any sparking or
flickering. Ditto on dipped beam. If you have any poor connections then
tighten them up.
Tidy up.
--------
Now you need to tuck the wires up so that they are out of the way, can't
fall into the fan, and are tidy. Cable ties help here. Give some
thought to the need to disassemble in the future (radiator replacement,
crash repair, etc)
Also if you have routed wires through any holes or tight gaps make sure
that the cables won't chafe and wear through. If you are worried about
this possibility fit a rubber grommet to holes, or wrap the cable in
many layers of insulating tape (or a piece of old rubber piping), but it
is best to avoid potential pitfalls by avoiding such things.
Then you may need to re-align the headlights - remember you can now
blind oncoming cars more easily. I find the best way of doing this is
on a deserted stretch of flat straight road.
And finally...
--------------
You've left the original left hand side socket hanging loose. Your nice
new spotlights require (we think) a +12v feed that ideally is +ve when
main beam is on, well that socket provides just what you want.
Looking at the socket (as if you were a bulb) there is a horizontal
terminal at 12 o'clock, and vertical ones at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock. 3
o'clock is earth, but I can't rememember whether it is 9 or 12 that is
main beam.
"It is left as an exercise for the reader" (as my old text books used to
say) to find out which one provides the switching current you need for
that pesky switch. Crimp a male spade terminal to that red wire and try
it in each to see which comes live with main beam, then you have your
spots sorted out as well. Wrap this up well with insulating tape and
tuck out of the way.
Also remember that the booster will shorten bulb life, so you need to
carry spares.
Cor, wot a long email. I hope it makes sense.
If you send me your address I'll get the unit posted back to you.
Christopher
____________________________________________________________
Electronic mail messages entering and leaving Arup business
systems are scanned for acceptability of content and viruses
