4 Hi Headlight Mod

[jkeaton]

So you're saying the 18 gauge wire I used for mine might not be such a good idea?

 

[shovelbill]

your old system, to put it simply, used 18G wire from the battery, to the light switch then to all the lights......now, you have the switch triggering a relay that supplies power to the lights.....what gauge wire did you run to the relay and how short is the run from the relay to the lights? you might have improved it, but certainly not close to the optimum.

 

[gmachinz]

GM had to cut costs down as cheap as possible so that wiring may not be optimum but it's acceptable-at least when building millions of trucks. Luckily for the aftermarket where I'm concerned, cost is not so heavily weighed over quality.

 

[kennythewelder]

your old system, to put it simply, used 18G wire from the battery, to the light switch then to all the lights......now, you have the switch triggering a relay that supplies power to the lights.....what gauge wire did you run to the relay and how short is the run from the relay to the lights? you might have improved it, but certainly not close to the optimum.

O used 10 gauge, but 12 should be fine. 18 will work, but the lights won't be as bright I don't think

 

[MT Mike]

I had ran out of non-adhesive harness wrap and was awaiting a stocking order-just a crossover time where I was expecting parts to come in despite a lot of orders coming in....his harness should be there by now tho!

I received the harness this afternoon, it was worth the wait. Very high quality. I look forward to getting installed later this week. I'll post some pictures once I do.

 

[gmachinz]

How the heck did you use 12ga wire with 280 series terminals for the headlight connectors? There isn't enough terminal to hold the strands on a 12ga end.

 

[gmachinz]

I received the harness this afternoon, it was worth the wait. Very high quality. I look forward to getting installed later this week. I'll post some pictures once I do.

Thanks Mike! Let me know how it works out for ya!

 

[kennythewelder]

Like I said, I used a 10 GA wire on mine. There i no need to rewire everything. If you are just doing the 4 high mod, then all you are doing is tapping into the OE wiring. I simply spliced and soldered the 10 GA wire into the OE harness. If you are going to add another relay to supply the low beams to make them brighter. I simply cut the supply wire next to the battery, and soldered the new 10 GA wire to the OE wire that feeds the light bulbs, and used the OE wire from the harness coming from the cab as my switch wire. Just a few inches of small wire is ok, but several feet will not supply enough amps for very bright head lights. The larger the wire, the more amps it can flow.

 

[gmachinz]

Like I said, I used a 10 GA wire on mine. There i no need to rewire everything. If you are just doing the 4 high mod, then all you are doing is tapping into the OE wiring. I simply spliced and soldered the 10 GA wire into the OE harness. If you are going to add another relay to supply the low beams to make them brighter. I simply cut the supply wire next to the battery, and soldered the new 10 GA wire to the OE wire that feeds the light bulbs, and used the OE wire from the harness coming from the cab as my switch wire. Just a few inches of small wire is ok, but several feet will not supply enough amps for very bright head lights. The larger the wire, the more amps it can flow.

Ah ok. I thought you somehow squeezed 12ga wire ends at the connectors. Well that explains that. I don't like splicing factory anything-I like to be able to completely remove or upgrade without affecting any factory wiring is all.

 

[kennythewelder]

Ah ok. I thought you somehow squeezed 12ga wire ends at the connectors. Well that explains that. I don't like splicing factory anything-I like to be able to completely remove or upgrade without affecting any factory wiring is all.

a lot of people use this style

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conectors for this. (Vampire clips ) I have seen these fail in time before. I don't like them, but they will work for a while, and they are easy to remove.