I've wired up my DD with relays as I've done with so many vehicles over the years including my '78 CJ5 'Black Betty'. The trouble that I'm having is with verified wiring to/from the Ford PDB I'm using is initially I have 12 output available for low beams. Then suddenly 3v down to 1.8v WTF? One headlight remains lighted and the other is extremely dim. Hi beams function correctly.
I've wired my headlights to the PDB with a junction for left and right low beams and a separate line for hi beams. All connections are twisted, soldered and seal in heat shrink tubing. I must have gone wrong somewhere but for the life of me, I can't seem to figure it out.

Thanks in advance for any help on this.

Gus

 

From another forum; Check the ground contacts. It is possible if the ground to one light is bad it creates a series connection between the lights. I'm going to check the grounds this afternoon. Also After I went to bed I was thinking about this and it occurred to me that the headlights on This setup may be on a fused circuit. On 'Black Betty' they're using the same PDB.

 

Okay grounds are solid and I found that one of the headlights had the wiring reversed for ground and hi beam. Also different wattages of H4. They are working now when switching from Lo to Hi beam there's no issue, but switching back from Hi to Lo beam and they don't reset to Lo unless I cycle the headlight switch.

 

I have no idea how you have the relays wired but if I understand correctly, when you say "cycle the headlight switch", you mean you have to turn the lights off and then back to low? If so then it sounds to me like you are getting some kind of feedback through the relay coil circuit keeping the contacts closed until you kill the power. How many relays are you using? 1 for low beam and another for high beam? so 2 relays total or 4?
Do you have any wiring diagram that you used? What year is your van?

 

Thanks so much for responding 😀. It's one relay for Lo and one relay for Hi. Further down the circuit each relayed line is split for left and right. I'm beginning to suspect the headlight switch itself as there's been a longstanding dome light issue. This van is a '98 E150 club wagon chateau. For switch control of the relays I connected the wiring for Lo and Hi beam from the existing sockets for the original composite headlights.
...and yes I have to turn the headlights off and then they regain normal operation.

 

Here's the Ford PDB I'm using for the headlights and future projects;



and I know this a REAL rough but here's how I wired it (there must be an online program but I haven't found one)

 

So your ground is originating from the composite socket? I am studying your drawing and looking to see where you might be getting a feedback that could hold one of the relays closed. did you have to use a fuse for each bulb or did you just do it that way?

 

Oops my mistake. I see the green line is not a ground but rather the high or low beam power supply from the switch

 

Yes that's correct, sorry for the roughness of the drawing, not my strong suit. As I did with my old Jeep, I run all of my grounds to a ground bus bar that ties with 8 gauge to the negative battery terminal. This is a necessity on old jeeps.

 

Don't be sorry for your drawing that is much better then I can do freehand! I was playing with my program and made a drawing. I was gong to ask you if you wired it like my drawing. When I got done I saw that you had posted Your drawing. After looking at yours, I modified mine to match yours. I don't see anything that could cause a feedback. I like the way you ran a separate ground for each connection as well as the two fuses.

Here is my first drawing.




This is the modified drawing after seeing yours. Unless i have missed something, this drawing below is pretty much the same as your drawing and I see nothing wrong with it.

Your relays are standard relays with a NO and NC contact? If so then you have both wired on the NO contacts?

 

Excellent drawings, thank you very much. Hmmm, I'm not familiar with NC or NO relay contacts, 30, 87, 86 and 85 I know. The ones I'm using are standard Bosch relays.

 

Maybe try disconnecting the power feed from the switch to the high beam relay coil and cycle through the dimmer switch to see if the low beams go off and come back on

Do the same for the low beam leaving the high beam connected and see if the high beams go off and on.

I would hate to see you change the multi function switch and have the same problem.

I am not familiar with the electronics used in your van. maybe an alarm system and lamp delay? My 88 is fairly simple with everything mechanical like your Jeep..
I should kick myself for not buying my neighbors 1985 CJ5. he ran the engine without oil and offered to sell it to me for $600. It was still running at the time!

 

I've already changed the multifunction switch and I must say that I'm not impressed with their design. I may go to a foot dimmer before this is over. It did have an alarm at one time it seems but the interior curtosey lights have been stuck on only recently, which is why I suspect the Light Switch.
I had a wonderful '81 E150 panel, black in color that was so easy to work on. I equipped this van over the years with a high power Pioneer head unit, two amps 8 speakers, CB radio with 250 watt brick, H4 headlight conversion with Hella Vison + headlights and Flösser 140/90 H4s. Also a pair of Hella Jumbo driving lights with 140 watt H3's
Got a new crate motor (300 4.9L), AAmco rebuilt RUG/RAB 3+1 Overdrive manual transmission (this van came equipped with a floor shifter, like a pickup truck), I converted that with a Hurst shifter but the stick was too short so this was my solution;




new exhaust system for old one rotted away, replaced driveline, u joints
replaced shifter bracket (unique to RUG/RAB trans. remanufactured clutch pedal bellcrank assy.new radiator, brand new tear out seats from a Frieghliner truck w/armrests L/R (these were the most comfortable auto seats I've EVER sat in, long distance trips were no problem even in my later years.



This van had been paneled inside with insulation and carpeting.




Also instead of too small sofa beds I got a metal framed futon on close out from WalMart for $50.
That 300 inline motor was so easy for tune ups, oil and filter changes. Only things missing were Cruise Control and AC. I really miss ol 'Easy Bake'


My Jeep, 'Black Betty' is my other ride;



These older Jeeps are so easy to work on as well, and lots of forum support online.

 

byw what program did you use for that drawing? It looks pretty slick to me

 

I wrote a reply to you (unless it went somewhere else) and it did not show up.. I guess i will condense this one..

I just used MS paint. Ihave worked with it for years and I am fairly fast with it. I am sure there are those that are much better though. I do a lot of copy and paste like with the relays. I did a search for automotive relays and copied the drawing . Cut out what part I needed and pasted it into the square box I had drawn. To do the second relay, all I had to do was select the first one, click copy, click paste, and there i had a second one to move where I wanted to.
With the bulbs, I drew one where I wanted it and copied and pasted the second after flipping it over.

Anyway in my last post i sent You condolences on your loss of Shake and Bake even though that was 4 years ago you had invested a lot of yourself it that van and it looked great!

As to the drawing and your wiring..
I did the drawing in part because that made me think about how it had to be done and not have any feedback issues. Much better then just trying to visualize it in my brain which doesn't always work so well these days! BUT you wired it properly and I cant see any reason it isn't working. The only thing I am thinking is that perhaps there are some electronics somewhere in between the multi function switch and the composite connector where you pulled the power from to operate the relays that are not working correctly. I wold think that the old wiring had 2 relays for the headlights, what happened to them? Also thinking about how when some people swap to LED bulbs, their turn signals no longer work because there is not enough resistance to operate the flasher unit. perhaps there is something in the original electronics that is not seeing the resistance from the bulbs since the draw is now just relays. Without knowing the exact original wiring of your van it is hard to tell..

Foot dimmer would work great. That's what Shake and Bake had. Dont know what side you have the PDB and relays on but you know with the floor switch, you could run power directly to the relays and switch the grounds to the relays through the foot switch. You could pick up the ground right there at the foot switch and then run 2 wires to the relays. I have never replaced a foot dimmer switch so they are pretty reliable.
Was also thinking about my old 67 Mustang I used to own. It had 3 foot switches, you might say left foot multi function switch! besides the floor dimmer, just above it wa the windshield fluid pump and part of wiper switch circuit. If you pressed the fluid switch down, the wipers would come on as well as the washer pump. If you were driving in a mist and wanted to have intermittent wipers, just tap the switch when you needed to clean the windshield!
Back in those days there were no open container laws it was important to have a free hand!