Put up with lousy headlights long enough. I plan on getting a HD harness/relay for my '95 Aerostar. Will go with Sylvania Xtravision and try the Slyvania lens restoration kit. Replaced a failed headlight switch a couple of years ago after its' connector fried.
Anybody care to refer a vendor for the wiring? Looking for a kit that somebody has had positive experience with. Not interested in a home made harness or HID conversion.
In the contrary, I've loved pre made harnesses, which are actually cheaper unless you already have most of the materials. The ones from SUV lights are good. You just need the 9007 set.
I have found most DIY harnesses, no offense to anyone, to be of inferior quality to a pre-made one. I'm sure there are those who put the extra attention to details. The ones I've used I got GOS performance, link above.
The relay harness I made cost a lot less than that GOS set. I used 10 gauge wires and stainless bolt-on connectors with waterproof seals. No pre-made kits come with anything like that. I think I made my first set in 1993 for my Mustang, and it's still working. I made my second set in 2000 for my Aerostar, and it's still working.
I say if you're going through the trouble of re-wiring your lights, do it right. The pre-made stuff is convenient, but definitely won't work as well what I made.
Thanks for the link. The GOS performance link in the tips is non working. My search turned up the same for them. I was just about to order a cheaper one but will instead follow the suggestion. As long as the harness delivers the power as promised I will be happy with the up grade. I do not have any interest in rounding up wire, relays, connectors, shrink tube, soldering materials, etc. when I can get a plug and play that is recommended by someone here.
The prices on these is actually much higher than when I purchased mine a few years back. I bought mine from GOS for about $45, which is a hard price to beat. But at $85, that leaves lots of room to buy connectors and relays and stuff.
I'd think again about homemade if I saw a detailed list of parts. I'm sure when I see a plug and play package contents all will be obvious. Spoke to a guy at NAPA today about a pre made harness. He did a quick search and found the GOS link. Sure, he "had all the components in the photograph, but check out how easy it would be to install this", he said. 85 bucks is less than I just paid to fill my E350 with gas, I thought.
What you need to make your own is two automotive grade relays with sockets. These can be had from various sources, but the ones that include the socket almost always come in a 5 pack, you only need two. Still you'll have a couple spares, and maybe you could make two harnesses. You also need the wire, and I agree, 10 gauge is probably the best overall size. In theory, even larger would make lower resistance, but at that point the difference would be indistinguishable and expensive. You need the right sockets, I can't remover which side is considered male or female. If you get the ones that plug onto the headlight, those are the important ones. You will need two. The other one is optional but recommended, basically for easy installation, you want to use a socket so the stock headlight plug plugs into the harness to activate the relays. You can just splice, but then the option to remove them is decreased, and the potential for corrosion or connection problems at the joint are increased.
You can install a breaker if you want, or a fuse, though personally, these are headlights, I don't think its a good idea to fuse them. If you do, use a high amperage rated fuse, you do not want headlights going out because of a fuse. A thermal breaker would be better if you want circuit protection.
You should get gold plated ring connectors, one for the ground, and two for the power connections on the two relays, one for high beam, the other for low beam. All joints should be either crimped with a professional grade crimper (no channel locks or pliers here) or soldered, and joints should be sealed with either heat shrink tube or liquid tape, so that moisture cannot corrode the connections.
The build is really quite simple once you locate all the parts.
Again, I'm not sure which sockets are considered male or female. A male is going to go inside the female, but in the case of these connectors, they seem to both go inside each other.
Back when these were around $45 it was a no brainer, unless you already had most of the materials, the pre made one was a much less expensive. But at $85, I think that leaves plenty of wiggle room to make your own harness and save money, even with having to purchase component parts from multiple sources.
The easiest fix would be to simply replace the failed headlight switch with another stock version. It will probably cost about the same. But then, it would be just a matter of time before it fails again.
It's so easy to make your own that works better. I made a set of 3, for the hi/lo/fog lights. Here is a picture of the power end of thehttps://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/aWpQkt-nmhFfQmQNkuk84dMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0 connection:
I got a large lug with a ring big enough to fit over the stud on the starter relay, and the hole for the wires is big enough for three 10 gauge wires. I jammed the pigtails from the fuse holders into this, crimped it, flowed solder into it, and then sealed ith with RTV and heat shrink. The other ends of the fuse each go into their respective relays (one of the contact sides) shown in the lower right corner. Those connectors were crimped to ring lugs and also soldered. They were attached to the spades on the relays with stainless nuts and bolts (the spades had to be drilled for this). I could have sealed these with RTV and heat shrink as well, but so far (about 12 years) there have not been any problems. Since my van uses the older style sealed beam head lights, the stock sockets were totally exposed. I got some sealed sockets from the junk yard off of some Nissan cars, and connected the 10 gauge wires from the relays to the wires on the sockets (also sealed with RTV and heat shrink).
The easiest fix would be to simply replace the failed headlight switch with another stock version. It will probably cost about the same. But then, it would be just a matter of time before it fails again.
It's so easy to make your own that works better. I made a set of 3, for the hi/lo/fog lights. Here is a picture of the power end of thehttps://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/aWpQkt-nmhFfQmQNkuk84dMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0 connection:
I got a large lug with a ring big enough to fit over the stud on the starter relay, and the hole for the wires is big enough for three 10 gauge wires. I jammed the pigtails from the fuse holders into this, crimped it, flowed solder into it, and then sealed ith with RTV and heat shrink. The other ends of the fuse each go into their respective relays (one of the contact sides) shown in the lower right corner. Those connectors were crimped to ring lugs and also soldered. They were attached to the spades on the relays with stainless nuts and bolts (the spades had to be drilled for this). I could have sealed these with RTV and heat shrink as well, but so far (about 12 years) there have not been any problems. Since my van uses the older style sealed beam head lights, the stock sockets were totally exposed. I got some sealed sockets from the junk yard off of some Nissan cars, and connected the 10 gauge wires from the relays to the wires on the sockets (also sealed with RTV and heat shrink).
Sounds like you did a pretty good job, but you did make one small mistake. RTV is highly corrosive to copper as it cures. You should have used liquid tape instead. Not saying you did get any corrosion, but RTV is not the right stuff for sealing electrical connections.
My dad told me about when he worked at Thiokol, of of the idiots ignored his request to seal an assembly with urethane and opted to use a silicon sealant instead because it was cheaper. Even though the silicone never came in direct contact with the electronics, it was only used to seal the enclosure, the acetic acid vapors at the circuit traces. The entire test had to be aborted as a result, and the boards had to be replaced. Dad wasn't in charge of the financial end of things, but he estimated the mistake cost about $50,000. This was totally stupid too, because it was a government contract, it doesn't matter that silicone was cheaper, the government would have paid for everything regardless of what it cost.
Your 10 gauge is a lot thicker than the circuit traces they would have been using, so you were obviously fine. I'm mostly pointing this out so that nobody else tries to use RTV to seal the connections. They could always be the unlucky ones.
This forum is owned and operated by Internet Brands, Inc., a Delaware corporation. It is not authorized or endorsed by the Ford Motor Company and is not affiliated with the Ford Motor Company or its related companies in any way. FordŽ is a registered trademark of the Ford Motor Company.
