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Topic: Hi beam and Lo beam question (Read 9390 times) previous topic - next topic

Hi beam and Lo beam question

Reply #15 –
Quote from: TheFoeYouKnow;406234
Hopefully, before you go, you will tell me your system type. autolamp + autodim, or autolamp only?

its a 20th anniv ,,
has auto lamp and auto dim
no wiring mods except this but its all designed with a safe back out plan incase i want to go back to factory layout.

Hi beam and Lo beam question

Reply #16 –
Figure 2.
This is my Hi-Lo mod, whereby you cause the low beams to stay on while the High beams are activated (a must if you have or are adding Bi-Xenon HID projectors).  You can see that R/Y feeds the relay and that when the relay is energized (shown energized in the diagram as noted on the diagram) power is diverted from the low beams to the high beams.  To keep them on together, I use a 6 or so inch SINGLE STRAND from a piece of 12awg wire to bridge circuit 15 to circuit 13.  The diagram doesn't show this, but on the vehicle the two run side by side and I remove 1/2 inch of insulation from both and then I tightly wrap the strand around both and then solder and tape.  Low beams will now remain on when the relay energizes.  I did this because I retrofit projectors and I didn't want to use the junk relay kit that you get with the kit. If you have a TC, your fogs will stay on also. I would fix this by adding a 5 pin interrupt relay, but since I don't have a TC I never have.
X

Hi beam and Lo beam question

Reply #17 –
Quote from: TheFoeYouKnow;406237
Figure 1.
This is from 88, but it's the same as 87.  I used 88 because my scans are clearer than yours. What we're doing is pulling circuits 14 and 15 off of the headlight switch. You can do this anyway you want, but because for the moment I'm telling you what to think, what you should do is cut both the red/yellow wires a couple inches from the connector and then join them together.  At the connector, you'll connect a length of wire to R/Y (it won't be carrying more than a few hundred mA now so it won't need to be very big) and splice to circuit 218 near Autolamp#1 relay. Autolamp#1, when energized, sends power down circuit to both Autolamp#2 primary and to feed the dimmer relay which in turn powers the headlights.  Autolamp#2, when energized by Autolamp#1, sends power down circuit to circuit 14 (running lights).  The system, with the addition of 1 wire and 1 splice, is now completely slaved and will function as stock.

I see what your doing there, your looping b2 back into b3 then using the switch motion to pick autolamp relay1 and its a home run from there.
this never occured to me to be honest, doing this would mean i would delete the manual headlamp mode, not sure if im wording it correctly or not ,yet again another clever way to do something.  From the outside looking in though, wouldnt i not have a redundant light source if this auto lamp system were to fail?

Hi beam and Lo beam question

Reply #18 –
Quote from: TheFoeYouKnow;406240
Figure 2.
This is my Hi-Lo mod, whereby you cause the low beams to stay on while the High beams are activated (a must if you have or are adding Bi-Xenon HID projectors).  You can see that R/Y feeds the relay and that when the relay is energized (shown energized in the diagram as noted on the diagram) power is diverted from the low beams to the high beams.  To keep them on together, I use a 6 or so inch SINGLE STRAND from a piece of 12awg wire to bridge circuit 15 to circuit 13.  The diagram doesn't show this, but on the vehicle the two run side by side and I remove 1/2 inch of insulation from both and then I tightly wrap the strand around both and then solder and tape.  Low beams will now remain on when the relay energizes.  I did this because I retrofit projectors and I didn't want to use the junk relay kit that you get with the kit. If you have a TC, your fogs will stay on also. I would fix this by adding a 5 pin interrupt relay, but since I don't have a TC I never have.
thats were i spend a lot of time yesterday and was attempting to take my low beam slave relay low beam output directly out to headlamp dimmer relay red/blk and and my hi beam slave relay directly out to the LG/BK.  The reason for this is i noticed that flash to pass produced just a tad more brightness than my high beams which prompted me to discover your dual relay 1 fuse mod wasnt working.
I never considered looping the hi/lo at this relay relay though.  in my previous statement, depending on the state of this headlamp dimmer relay, i was backfeeding the RY ckt, was causing odd behavior of the auto lamps while in manual mode.  didnt feel right so i back off of this area all together.
i do like this though, i may add it.

doing this jumper probably means that flash to pass wont have its full effect unless your in low beam,, right? thats what i see

Hi beam and Lo beam question

Reply #19 –
Quote from: softtouch;406235


If you have already made the headlight switch mods, link me to a diagram where I can study it.


here you go
http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?35095-Relay-bank-mod-COMPLETE-for-IGN-switch-Headlamp-and-Marker-lamps

Hi beam and Lo beam question

Reply #20 –
The beauty of the mod in figure 1 is that you're not activating the Autolamps, you're just activating it's relays. When you turn off the manual switch, and allow the Autolamps system to work, the trigger wire you added is open in the switch, so there are no backfeeds.  It would be seamless to, say, have the Autolamps set to ON in bright light conditions where the system would stay dark, but the manual switch set to ON also (the lights would be ON), but when it got dark, you would shut off the manual switch while the lights would remain ON at the command of the Autolamps system.  Operation would remain transparent.  These relays hardly ever fail, and I've never heard of the amplifier module going bad on ANY Ford, ever.  It seems so simple a mod that it should have been this way from the beginning.

Hi beam and Lo beam question

Reply #22 –
you mean this?
notice my red/yel wire says it goes to the m/f sw while yours says it goes to headlamps,, thoughts?
other than my colors are backwards ,,lol, but is this the gist of it?

i dont understand how this pulls the headlamp heat off the switch main light switch?????????????  it appears to still be there after it runs its circle.

Hi beam and Lo beam question

Reply #23 –
You don't need to tie the parking lights at the switch to anything.  Just the headlamps to the autolamps.  The autolamp relays will turn the park lamps on for you. You trigger relay 1, relay 1 triggers the headlamps AND relay 2, relay 2 powers up the parking lamps. circuit 15 to circuit 218. Leave circuit 14's terminal at the headlamp switch completely empty.  You're moving the "heat" from the switch, which normally carries as much as 20A, to the autolamp relays.  The headlamp switch will now only be carrying a few hundred mA, or only what it takes to energize the autolamp1 relay.  Autolamp1 will do the rest for you.  After that, the switch only powers the instrument panel backlighting, which you can't avoid, and the Autolamp1 relay primary coil.

Hi beam and Lo beam question

Reply #24 –
I like Foe's no extra relays needed solution to the headlight modification.

I looked at your drawing mods and don't see anything that would cause the 12v on the yellow wire from the MF switch to turn on the hi-beams.

You should trouble shoot the problem. Maybe the PO made some changes you are not aware of.

Hi beam and Lo beam question

Reply #25 –
As to your concerns about the R/BK wire from the MF switch ending at C234. Looks like they use the same cable harness in the steering column for both non-auto and auto feature. But a different harnesses under the dash on the down stream side of C234.
Since the lo-beam part of the MF switch is not used with auto feature, in ends at the connector.

The yellow wire from the MF does not connect to the LG/BK wire at C234 as shown on page 77. It connects to another yellow wire going to the dimmer relay.
The LG/BK wire at C234 connects to the dimmer relay hi-beam output.

Hi beam and Lo beam question

Reply #26 –
foe~got it, will try this today, my system is unplug / replug back in to original spots.
as a side note, i noticed that my instrumentation cluster is much brighter while in auto lamp mod rather than while in manaual mode when operating my slave relays.  This is the same situation if the slave relays were not in place.  due to length of wires or for whatever reason, running lamps in auto lamp mode has yielded better interior lighting quality , path of least resistance and all. 

softtouch~ am warming up the garage now, will see if the yellow wire transitions to lg/bk at c234.  this is the only way i could have highs.
C234 is hard to get to, gotta lay on my back under the steering column, reach in through the hole where the lamp switches are then reach over the fuse panel then pull the connector apart, and you dont get to watch any of this happen while your doing it ether because your staring right at the fuses.

I do like this option as well now, i see how this would put me on a singel headlamp system though, no redunduncy,, its  a matter of choice though and this might be the better option.

Hi beam and Lo beam question

Reply #27 –
before i go out and do this, sometimes i have to saintiy check things like with my work where lives are at steak,, not that this is the situation but yet........ here is the question......

Why didnt ford do this exact same thing on the original design?
is it risk management in that "if the relays were to fail" you will not have lamps?
  its not like they are bonded directly to hi and low beams and that leads me to a nother thought....
if auto lamp relay 1 were a 5pin , then if power were lost to the coil or coil opened, when the main light switch were turned on, you could have a conductor wired to low beams to get you home????  this conductor would go from pin 87A of autolamp relay 1 to low beams.
This is based on a large assumption that the contacts remained in place to deliver said power out to low beams.
this leads to another queston or thought, what part of relays generally fail?  i have noticed that relay coils with diodes have coils that fail to work correctly but my gut says since the contacts carry the current, they would fail more often than the trigger coil.

thoughts?

this may add the factory "fail safe" back in.

Hi beam and Lo beam question

Reply #28 –
I converted over to your mod FOE,
it does not work correctly.

when i turn the key forward with no lamps selected, interior all is well.
when i select middle pos of the headlamp switch, i get no exterior marker lamps , i also do not hear a relay engergize.

when i select headlamps, all exterior lamps and headlamps come on.

if i leave the auto lamp switch on so that the headlamps shut off automatically, this does not work, they stay on.

gonna get some food then hit it again,,,

what is the issue ?  i wired it just like you said and also updated my previous drawing.  did you answer my question about my red/yellow wire is labeled differently than your 88 bird, mine goes to my multifuction switch but yours goes to you headlamps..?? per your 88evtm

see below pics, this does not include anythign having to do with runnign low/high together.  i have not wired that section in. only the switch bypass wire as you instructed.

Hi beam and Lo beam question

Reply #29 –
Also my auto lamp auto exit elimination is not working. I expected this after seeing the auto lamps are acting up. Anyone out there