SolidState
No Mo SHO
I was going to atempt to build my own, but I haven't the time or knowledge to do it right. I don't know what relays to get, and I am assuming that I need two; one for lowbeams and one for highbeams....
Before & After headlight harness
- Thread starter SHO92
- Start date
Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.
HoustinoJillian
name's JUSTIN
you need one harness.
SolidState
No Mo SHO
was that directed at me? if so, yes, I know I only need one harness. But I think I need two relays.
Markus
SHO Member
SolidState said:
You'll need:
-2 relays
-many feet of wire
-connectors for the relays that must be soldered to the wire
-connectors for power and ground wires that must be soldered to the wire
-heatshrink tubing or liquid electrical tape to seal connectors
-headlight connectors
-circuit protection - fuse or circuit breaker (and NOT fusible links)
-plastic wire loom protection (the corrugated plastic that covers and protects wiring)
-a way to trigger the relays (either a plug that mates with the existing headlight connector or a splice into existing headlight wires)
You can tell that you won't save money by building your own harness and that to create a long lasting harness means spending a lot of time sweating the details.
Whichever way you decide to go be sure to power the new harness from the alternator or battery (alternator preferred) and to ground the headlights to the altenator, engine block, or battery (alternator preferred). You'll want to ensure the relays are protected from the elements. I usually mount them whereever there is space and then cover them with some sort of weather shielding. I have also been known to put the relays into a weather tight box and then mount the box under the hood. If the wire connectors are properly soldered and sealed they should last the life of the vehicle. I prefer to use automotive circuit breakers rather then fuses because my tests have shown that there is less voltage drop across a breaker than across a fuse. Also, breakers reset themselves when a wiring fault is remedied - fuses and fusible links do not and you could find yourself stranded at night with these 2 protection mechanisms.
HoustinoJillian
name's JUSTIN
ah my bad, read too quickly
ManySHOs
[]=[] []
Markus said:
I actually power mine from the positive stud on the firewall mounted fusebox. I started doing this because the suvlights harness fits much better this way. I've been grounding it to the body (driver's side inner fender/frame rail)
Ian
Markus
SHO Member
ManySHOs said:
Your power is probably OK. If your 93 is the same as my 95 power will flow from the alternator to the starter and then from the starter to the firewall fusebox through a fusible link. You'd probably gain a very small amount of voltage by connecting the power directly to the alternator but I'm not sure you'd see much of a brightness increase. Grounding lights to the body is never a good thing. You could run a 10 or 12 gauge wire from your current headlight ground to the battery or alternator case to rectify this.
SolidState
No Mo SHO
I am powering my fog lights off my starter, and grounding them to the body, but I am planning on running the headlights off the altenator.
How do you ground to the altenator?
How do you ground to the altenator?
Markus
SHO Member
SolidState said:
Use a ring connector of sufficient inside diameter so that one of the alternator mounting bolts will fit through the ring. Crimp and solder your wire to the connector and attach it to an alternator mounting bolt.
rlw001
New Member
Consumer Reports testing shows the GE Nighthawk bulbs as superior to the Silverstars. I was hoping for a more dramatic improvement with my Silverstars. I can wait to see how much the harness improves my night vision.
SolidState
No Mo SHO
Markus said:
great, thanks!
no one doubts that the silverstars are bright in dry conditions. And they are a little whiter, but on a wet night...it gets scary....
Slo-Sho
It wasn't me!
Aftermarket headlamp harnesses are a great start to achieving maximum lumens output from the headlamps. I think however this post is a bit misleading as making your own harness is relatively simple and not some voodoo magic. You simply take two relays (or one if you only want to upgrade one circuit for whatever reason).
Relay #1 SPDT 5 pin standard Bosch type relay (very common)
Wire pins as follows
87 Battery +
87a Not used
30 Headlamp plug
86 wire from existing lamp socket(HI or LO)
85 ground.
The 86 pin wire will "trigger" the relay.
The 30 pin wire goes to the lamp socket.
In my case I had the spare parts and time, so the cost was very minimal.
Relay #1 SPDT 5 pin standard Bosch type relay (very common)
Wire pins as follows
87 Battery +
87a Not used
30 Headlamp plug
86 wire from existing lamp socket(HI or LO)
85 ground.
The 86 pin wire will "trigger" the relay.
The 30 pin wire goes to the lamp socket.
In my case I had the spare parts and time, so the cost was very minimal.
ManySHOs
[]=[] []
Slo-Sho said:Aftermarket headlamp harnesses are a great start to achieving maximum lumens output from the headlamps. I think however this post is a bit misleading as making your own harness is relatively simple and not some voodoo magic. You simply take two relays (or one if you only want to upgrade one circuit for whatever reason).
Relay #1 SPDT 5 pin standard Bosch type relay (very common)
Wire pins as follows
87 Battery +
87a Not used
30 Headlamp plug
86 wire from existing lamp socket(HI or LO)
85 ground.
The 86 pin wire will "trigger" the relay.
The 30 pin wire goes to the lamp socket.
In my case I had the spare parts and time, so the cost was very minimal.
It is simple but not cost effective unless you get the parts for free.
Ian
SolidState
No Mo SHO
I have a good idea of how to do it. It might not be entirely cost effective, but it is nice because you can customize the lengths of cable to your specific application.
Markus
SHO Member
Slo-Sho said:Aftermarket headlamp harnesses are a great start to achieving maximum lumens output from the headlamps. I think however this post is a bit misleading as making your own harness is relatively simple and not some voodoo magic. You simply take two relays (or one if you only want to upgrade one circuit for whatever reason).
Relay #1 SPDT 5 pin standard Bosch type relay (very common)
Wire pins as follows
87 Battery +
87a Not used
30 Headlamp plug
86 wire from existing lamp socket(HI or LO)
85 ground.
The 86 pin wire will "trigger" the relay.
The 30 pin wire goes to the lamp socket.
In my case I had the spare parts and time, so the cost was very minimal.
You're right, there is no voodoo. Your description of parts required does not mention new headlight sockets. This is OK because I assume you used your existing sockets by just cutting them off the factory wiring. Many people don't want to do this and this is why they build/buy harnesses with new sockets. You also don't mention the MOST important part of the circuit - circuit protection. I hope you used either a fuse or a breaker in your wiring. You can save a little bit of money by using a SPST relay rather than a SPDT relay. Depending on where you live (I live in Canada) you have to weather proof the crimped connections to/from the relay. I have seen non weather proofed crimps fail after just a few months. The crimps I make are soldered after crimping and are weatherproofed after that. I've never had a connection fail in more than 15 years. You don't mention wiring protection. I always cover the new wiring with plastic wiring loom protectors.
I'm not trying to get on your case here. The wiring is simple but the description of what you did leaves out critical safety features and, depending on climate, critical weather proofing.
I build custom harnesses regularly and even with bulk buying of all components I'm hard pressed to meet the cost of the harnesses from the likes of SUVlights.
Slo-Sho
It wasn't me!
Ah yes, thanks for the replies. My original post depicted a very general write-up but I can provide a detailed "how-to" if such a thing is desired. Inline fuse holders are about ~$1.xx at your local auto parts store. You can also buy the factory Ford crimp terminals at Napa for the headlight sockets for cheap.
SHO92
New Member
With building your own harness, the only way to making it truly plug and play is to use a Female 9007 plug, the same connector that is on the headlight bulb itself. I have not seen these avaliable anywhere, which means that you have to cut into you factory harness.
This is one of the main reasons I went with the SUV harness, I didn't want to cut into the factory harness. Plus I was done installing the harness in 10 minutes, not the hours it would have taken to make my own.
This is one of the main reasons I went with the SUV harness, I didn't want to cut into the factory harness. Plus I was done installing the harness in 10 minutes, not the hours it would have taken to make my own.
nkb93
SLO 4 SHO
SHO92 said:
FWIW, I found female 9007 connectors at Wal-Mart, near the headlight bulbs and crimp-on electrical terminals. They're not the best quality, I would have preferred bigger leads (I think these were 18 AWG), but I just cut it close to the connector and spliced in the bigger wire, so now there's only a very short section of the smaller wire. Has worked great for the past year or so.
If I had to do it again, I'd just by the ready made harness. It took me about 5 hours to fab up my own harness and install it neatly. Also, I probably spent almost as much doing it myself after I bought all the individual parts.
-Nate
HoustinoJillian
name's JUSTIN
nkb93 said:
i think i may have some out in the garage from a looong time ago when i had an accident in my 89... if i find em in there i can send them to someone that needs em cheap, not tryin to hijack for a nondonated sale, just seeing if i can help out. PM me to keep this thread on topic.
SolidState
No Mo SHO
I think SUV lights acutally sell the male and female 9004 and 9007 plugs to help you build your own harness...
