ISX Posted September 4, 2010 Share Posted September 4, 2010 Today I went ahead and did this mod ( http://www.midwestdieselconnection.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1812 ) since I traced it all out and didn't see any risk to it. Well since the lights are hooked up in parallel, they see the same voltage. I was curious as to how much they pulled the voltage down, if any and was quite surprised. The headlights have 3 wires going to them and they contain 2 elements in each one. One for dim and one for brights. The 3 wires are for ground, dim, and brights. So I took the connector off of one headlight and started the truck and measured between the ground and dim terminals, then from the ground to bright terminals. I then measured the bright and dim terminals but used the engine block for a ground (good ground). Both elements were on on the one headlight that I didn't unhook (because I modded it to make both elements turn on when the brights are on) and I got my measurements off the other side that I disconnected the light from. As you can see, the wiring is way too small. The ground is also not the greatest. Thing is, that was just one headlight. I know it was both elements so it might as well be considered 2 headlights. The wires are still way too small, that is almost a 1 volt drop with the brights on. When I turned the brights off so it was just the dim element of one headlight, I was still 0.7 V under battery voltage. I am going to think up something creative to fix it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiveOak Posted September 5, 2010 Share Posted September 5, 2010 Would a heavy duty headlight wire harness like this help? http://www.lmctruck.com/ICATALOG/DE/full.aspx?Page=46 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ISX Posted September 5, 2010 Author Share Posted September 5, 2010 I was searching yesterday and I came to that exact page. Basically the same thing everyone else does only in a kit. That's about the only way to make it work, throw in relays. I just wonder how much brighter they would be. I'll have to get some before and after of my headlights on whenever I decide to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiveOak Posted September 5, 2010 Share Posted September 5, 2010 I have the APC version of this headlight harness. I bought it before they stopped making them. This harness made a very noticable improvement just with the harness alone with the OEM headlight bulbs. With higher wattage bulbs, I think it would be much more improvement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ISX Posted September 5, 2010 Author Share Posted September 5, 2010 So now we got proof that better wiring works! Someone on here posted a really good guide on polishing up the headlight lens. I think the lens thing, the wiring, and doing that mod with the dims and brights would yield some big results. I was feeling the headlight though and it gets pretty hot with both elements on, not sure if it is getting too hot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98whitelightnin Posted September 6, 2010 Share Posted September 6, 2010 I think if I just polished the lenses they would work 10x better. I was watching trucks and the guys polished one with tooth paste and it looked alot better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ISX Posted September 6, 2010 Author Share Posted September 6, 2010 I was using aluminum/mag cleaner today and got to wondering if I could use it for something like that. It turns black when used on aluminum so I think it has a little abrasiveness to it. Was also wondering if it would polish up injectors. I didn't take a pic of his bumper but the end result was the same as the wheels and the bumper had rust spots all over it that I couldn't get off, but the mag cleaner took it off after a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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