hey dan, i have the harness that gives power to the headlights from the battery. there are alot of people that have done this here. well, it plugs into one side of the headlights, and then into the relay and back outto both headlights. that leaves the other side stock headlight plug empty. i put the diode there. it basically backfeeds the low beams when the highs are activated. and it keeps the fog lights on when the highs are on. oh, i just ordered the 50watt 9005 hid kit from sharpHID the other day. i hope they arent too bright and the bulb length isn't too long. i know how bright my 35 watt hid headlight bulbs are.

 

just got home and opened up my new lights. i still need to test them and i'll bake the housings in the morning.

 

bronco, did you get an extra set of factory headlights too. you will probably need them if you want to drive the truck in between when you are doing the retrofit.

dan, i just installed my 50 watt hid's in my factory fogs. they are soooo bright. you actually can turn the headlights off and it still is bright. i can actually say, that you cant even tell that the headlights are even on. they dont get hotter that the halogen 9005 bulb either. length is perfect too. i just wish i would have gotten at least a 6000k bulb. with the higher wattage ballast, all temps seem more yellow. maybe even 8000k would match the factory 4300k headlight bulbs at 35 watts.ill try to get some pics tomorrow night so by friday i will have them on here. i know that i contradict everything i have said about hid's in reflectors but i think for fogs are ok. i also think that the 35 watt hid's would have been better than these. but i dont regret buying them especially the $227 price. and that was including a heavy duty battery harness with relay.

 

just tested them out and they work! no i didnt get an extra set of housings. i have seven days off and a bunch of other vehicles sitting around. oh and racer dont get me wanting another set of hids before i even get these ones installed. lol. i have found a bunch of wiring diagrams on hid planet so i think i can figure it out. just need to buy some diodes, relays, fuses, and some female h13 pig tails. or maybe i'll just cut into my factory wiring. once you go hid you never go back right?

 

how true. i got pigtails though. made my own harness with all weatherpack connectors so that way, i can just unplug everything and service them if i have to. i can completely remove all of it and install with factory 05 stuff in about 5 minutes and leave no trace. you just need 1 diode to keep the low beams on when the highs are activated. post some build pics if possible too. good luck and take your time. slow and steady = better finished product. only cut a bit at a time.

 

hey racer (or anyone else that runs their lows with their highs) do you know what diodes from radio shack will work. I bought one 1NT4742A that is rated for 12V and 21mA and another N5406 that is rated for like 400V and 3A. I have never worked with diodes before so i am not sure exactly what these ratings mean.

oh and i got one housing seperated what a pain. it took 260 degrees for 30 minutes but i melted my ambers. harness is almost done too.

 

Well, to figure out what kind of current the diode will be passing = Wattage / Voltage so 55W/12V (well actually your voltage is like 13 and a half, but the diode will drop that back a little so just use 13V). So approx 4.2 amps. Slightly less again since the drop in voltage from the diode will also slightly drop the wattage, but trying not to go into to much math here.

I'd say the one with the mA rating is definatly a bad idea (.021A) and even the 3A might not last too long. The voltage rating isnt important so long as its over 14V which most are (but between 100V and 1,000V means nothing in an automobile).

I'd look for one with a 50V or higher rating and 5A or higher rating juts from my quick calcs.

 

i forget the exact diode but i remember its like over 1000v. i have the package in my toolbox at work. when i get to work on saturday, i will check it out and i will post the ones i have. i have never had a problem. i just got one of the biggest diodes they have. it doesn't really matter. you will have everything fused.

 

yeah I understand all the electrical math(actually took an electrical engineering class) i just didnt know if i got to big of a diode if it would inhibit its blocking capability. but thanks guys i'll just go get the big one although the diode will only be running a relay and two solenoids not the headlights themselves.

also do you know if when the light switch is turned from low to high if there is a short period of time (ms) where there is no voltage going to the relay. i read of this problem on another vehicle and i dont want to be reigniting my bulbs every time i switch from low to high. i read there is a trick where you put a 1000-4000 uf capacitor across your relay to keep power going to your lights for .5-1s while you switch between low and high. not sure if this is necessary on our vehicles.

 

Oh yeah, if the diode is just powering a solenoid and not the headlights directly then a much smaller one can be used. If you can get specs on the solenoid then you can tell for sure what you need for the diode but chances are any power diode will work. But to be sure look at the specs on the relay for coil wattage or coil current (not the current rating of the relay itself, which will be much higher).

Yeah there will be a short break in the power as you switch from low beams and high beams. A capacitor will remedy that but not sure how large of one is needed, 4,000uF sounds like it would be about the minimum. You can calculate how long it will take to discharge. I'm not sure what the HID low beam wattage is, I previously said 55W but thats for a halogen light. I think HIDs are around 36W. Lets say at 36W you have an equivilent circuit resistance of 5.3 ohms. You can calculate whats called the RC time constant wich is the time it takes for a cap to charge/discharge 63.2% of its charge. 5.3ohm * 4,000uF (.004F) = .02 seconds. So at approximatly a 36W draw with a cap on the 12V line (well 13.8 or whatever) then it will discharge about 63% in .02 seconds. You might want to look a little bigger, but if your flipping the switch pretty quick that might be enough, I guess the time inbetween the positions on the switch is only a blink of an eye.

 

Yeah my hids are 35W. I think the difference in our calculations are that i would be putting the capacitor across the coil of a relay which would draw alot less power than the lights themselves and allow the capacitor to discharge more slowly. the capacitor would just keep the switch on the relay closed and allow the lights to still draw power directly from the battery not through the capacitor. let me know if this makes sense i could be on the wrong track. thanks

 

Yeah, again I forget your powering a relay and not the lights directly, if the relay is say just a few watts or less than the time the cap will power it would be like a factor of 10 greater.

 

Wiring is done and both lamps are mounted. I'm now in the second stage of aiming. They are pretty close but not perfect. Getting the cutoff level is not easy.

 

Lookin great! What did I tell you about baking your headlights!? Don't cook the amber reflector haha. I did mine too! How far away are you aiming your lights? It think you measure the height from the ground to the center of the projector then back up 25ft from a wall. Then turn on the low beams, and measure the height of the beam on the wall. It should have dropped 2.1" I hope this helps.

 

Also, it helps when aiming sometimes, to unplug one light. That way you can clearly see the beam of each headlight. It looks like both of your projectors need to be rotated inward towards the center of the truck.