RichS2659 and FuzzFace2 ----- Thanks for the information, it sounds like I need to add the new harness & relays to my existing harness.

I saw one of the harness for a Halogen Head light setup on LMC web page. Is there a better unit out there? I want to put in a new unit

 

You don't have to upgrade anything for Halogen lights but you'll have better results if you use the relays. As I said previously I installed Halogens many years ago to stock wiring. I do have a 104 amp alternator though.

 

To tell the truth I have 2 LMC kits
I bought for other projects that are on hold so I will use 1 of them in my 81 F100 project when the time comes.

They say you can also find the relay kit like LMC's on Amazon & Ebay but I have not looked.
Do you drive a lot at night? Have you had the lights go out driving down the road at night?
The head light switch has a breaker built in and when it gets over loaded, like with halogens lights, the breaker trips.
If the breaker has not tripped then you have been lucky because with age that breaker becomes weak and can trip.

Again if you run the relay kit even with stock sealed beam lights the light out put will be brighter so just think how much brighter using halogens lights.
The load on the head light switch and wiring is removed so the breaker should never trip when driving at night when you need the head lights the most.
Dave ----

 

FuzzFace2 --- Thanks for the additional information. I ordered a relay harness from a guy on Ebay, A guy on this forum that commented to this thread used the unit on his 1970 F100.

 

Thought I'd add a couple photos to this thread.
I picked the Hella headlights mainly because they look, to me, somewhat stock or at least from that time period.
The other image shows where I mounted the relays. Hope this helps anyone looking to do this upgrade...

 

Thanks For the pictures. I will have to check for a good relay connection point when I get The harness.

 

Yeah, I think it's the easies place to mount the dual relays was between the battery the rad core support for me also..
Orich

 

That looks like the place that may work the best. Need to make sure the red 12 volt power lead will reach my solenoid + post or connect to the
battery + cable. Will check it out when harness gets delivered.

 

Got My new light harness with relays and 12 power fuse protection today. Unit is the same as efdavila and other have used. nice clean setup. Will install harness & Halogen lights next week.

 

We talk about old wiring a lot, but when I tested the voltage on my '71 Bronco's headlights I was losing a full 2v between the battery and the headlights, when the truck was only six years old!
I had added Cibié H4's because I knew the performance and changeable bulbs was a good thing from using the on other old cars before that. Boy was I disappointed! All that money (hey, they were like $20 each in the mid-seventies!) and no additional light performance.
That's when I checked the voltage and found the drop. Added in my own relays and what a difference!
Was so chuffed about that success, I added a horn relay too, and finally had a real horn and reliable horn contacts under the steering wheel.

So relays are a definite win in my book.

Paul

 

1 Ton Basecamp --- Your information is just what I am hoping for. Everyone on the site has said that relays in the light harness system is the way to go. I might have even run the OEM seal beams with the extra voltage provided to see how it worked, but with my eyes I need all the help I can get with night driving and the Halogen H4 will sure be an improvement. Hope to have the conversion in by next weekend.

 

Cool. Definitely let us know how it works out. Good or bad (though usually it's all good!) we like to hear results.
And don't go too cheap on the H4's either. Even before the internet was a lowest-price-rules kingdom, cheap lights were still cheap crap. From lenses that literally fall off after getting hot, to reflectors that corrode (not sure if it's rust or something else) and go dark within a couple of years instead of decades, and stuff like that. But worst is the actual performance in the form of the beam pattern.
Very few cars in the old days left the factory with good headlight patterns. Nowadays though, the higher performance LED's from the factory often have (by necessity) a wide pattern with a razor sharp flat cutoff at the top to keep the beam low and light flare to a minimum. This was always a good thing, but now with stupid bright LED's coming from the factory it's literally a necessity. And still it's not enough, but it's better than the alternative.

All that was by way of saying get a light with a good beam pattern if you have the choice. The only two I know of that are mostly consistent in this department are Hella and Cibié (see-bee-eh) both in their "e-code" versions. That's the European specification lights, vs the DOT compliant versions.
I think there are some here using the newer Hella DOT lamps though, so maybe they'll chime in with their beam pattern experience. Maybe efdavila's got them and can comment? Not sure, but the ones in his pic actually look like the e-code lights, so I'm not sure.

There are some Cibié clones out there too, that are very inexpensive and are reported to have the good beam properties. There is the Valéo brand too, which actually IS a Cibié light under their parent company's name. So the same light, for less.
I would have said others, such as the Italian Carello lamps, but I'm not sure if they're even available anymore. And unfortunately, I've actually had one bad experience with Hellas (along with all the other great experiences) so apparently even if made in Germany, Austria or the US (Hella has plants here) anyone can screw up.

Oh, and to add icing to the cake and eating it too... There are a great many bulbs out there to choose from. Legal wattage in the US is 55w low beam and 60w high beam (65w for some lights, but H4's are still 60w I'm pretty sure), but if you're careful and considerate in your use, you won't regret my favorite of the bunch, the 55/100's! Low beam is legal and normal (but better than stock still) but the high-beam is a killer! Like you turned on a full-blown racing style driving light.
I figured that since you don't usually use the high-beams when other traffic is around anyway, having the extra power is a good thing in the boonies and open road. Even if you're not driving 100mph in your truck, seeing farther down the line is still a good thing.

So get whichever ones you like, but my recommendation is either Cibié or Hella e-code lamps.

Good luck.

Paul

 

I have drove my truck with the TOP Gear halogen headlights plugged into the original harness. They were better than OEM seal beams but not that great.

I installed a relay harness that plugs into the OEM light harness (same type that fellow member "efdavila" installed on his truck. Tried the system at night again and I am sure the relay system helps the system but I am still not happy with the halogen light pattern. It is to pin point and does not cover a large area on low beam. It is some what better on high beam but still not that great.

I think I would be better off changing the current Top Gear units to a pair of Hella Vision Plus Halogens like "efdavila" used that have a much better overall pattern on both low & high beam. I need all the coverage I can get for the few drives I do at nite.

Am I missing something here? I would like a low beam pattern that put light in my full lane from head lights out maybe 30'. High beam maybe 1 1/2 lane out 50' or more.

 

1TonBasecaom --- I would like to get as much low beam power as I can get away with. If the normal H4 are 55 on low beam are there any that have 60 or 65? Not really concerned with the high beam as I will not use them on where I travel.

Can I change the current H4 replaceable bulbs with a different H4 to improve my overall low beam pattern?

Please read the section above to see where I am coming from, Thanks

 

Informative thread - thank you!