Finishing my headlamp change

Hi Jeff,

Remember I did this a looooooong time ago and my memory on this is very fuzzy... But I think I used one of the male harness connectors to fit in the original female stock connectors. Then, I had clean wires (thin, high-gauge) going to the relays. It's OK that these are light gauge because they're activation wires ONLY. In this way, you don't have to cut or modify any of the stock wiring, you actually reuse the old high/low beam wires (that used to carry all that current for so far, including through the fusebox) and now use them to carry relay activation current only (what, less than than 0.5 amps right). So you only use one of the stock female harness plugs, and put the male up to that. Wrap up and tuck the other one out of the way.

I could be mistaken but I believe I actually ran my own 10-gauge wire with heavy duty female spade connectors directly to the appropiate prongs on the headlight bulbs themselves.

--Mike

 

What is the primary concern w/r/t moisture?

The plastic three-blade plugs on the existing harnesses aren't exactly vacuum sealed. The female spade connectors I have in mind are fully shielded. You can get them at Radio Shack, the yellow ones are the ones that will accept 10-gauge wiring, you'll need a crimper and then some heat-shrink tubing to finish the job cleanly.

I just did some headlight work on my brother-in-law's volvo, they have an ideal setup where the back of the headlights and bulb access themselves are nicely sealed with twist off plastic covers about 4" in diameter. We don't get that on the 328, although the headlight backs are nicely protected in their little bucket-nook and I don't foresee water splashing around back there.

Can you think of a better alternative for getting power to the headlights? I'm all ears if you can. I would say this is a non-issue however.

 

Correction - I mentioned above I made my own connectors to the actual headlamp.

In fact, my kit came with a nifty spring-loaded, three-female connection assembly that made the wiring very clean.

See attached picture.

Jeff, yours may be different because you're dealing with two bulbs per headlamp, not one. A single, dual-filament bulb has three connectors but not your bulbs so this black plastic connector/harness that I'm talking about no longer makes sense in that situation.

--Mike
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Hey Mike and Jeff,

I just ordered my lights from Dan. Should have them in a couple of weeks.

Thanks for all the info you guys gave me.


Chris

 

Which ones did you order Chris?

 

This is what i got:

2 Headlamps Cibie 7" E-code (European ECE Spec)

4 Osram 85/80w ultra high efficacy bulbs ( 2 extra spares)

1 Relay installation kit

4 Brake light lamps 40% brighter

2 Reversing (backup) lamps 100% brighter

4 Directional rear lamps

4 Directional front lamps

The Cibies were on back order

 

Nice choice with the Cibies, Chris. The relay kit will protect your wiring harness with the 85/80w H4s you ordered. Wait to you see the result!

 

Quite a few of us have done this now so post if you have any questions!

 

Go to .......Wiring Products .com They've never failed me..ever..bottomless site..leads to more sites..incredibely inexpensive..knowledgeable..nice..fast..I've rewired much of my 1980 400i and have bought many things from them...aircraft quality..let me know how you all make out..these "Ferrari suppliers" drive me stupid when they shroud 12 volts in mystery and secrecey.....12v is 12v on any continent..thanks... Jacques....over.....

 

Well boys,

I got the package today and everything is in there.

Now the fun part of trying to figure out what everything is. LOL!

Jeff, Mike is there splicing of stock wires? Am i actually putting in "new wire" from light switch to lights?
The original wires to the headlights, am i using the same ones? Or do i cut the original, the headlight ones, and put other connectors to the new Cibies?

And i guess this is the manual i will be using?

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/relays/relays.html

 

Read this thread:
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=133828


Some of my answers were in PMs, but basically you do not rewire anything from the headlight switch or fusebox. What WERE the original factory connections to the headlamps that supplied all the current are now simply ACTIVIATION wires for the relays (very low current draw).

One of the connectors (say, the passenger headlight connector) gets tied up. The other plugs in to a male three-pronged plug you should have in your relay kit (this is from memory). These wires go to the relay as activation wires - one for low beam, one for high beam. Each relay gets a ground wire as well as a power wire from battery. You run your own thick gauge wire from the relays to the "pig tail" harness that I took a photograph of in this thread. Each relay has two outputs - one relay for high beams, one for low beams. The ouputs are activated simultaneously. You run one high beam relay output wire to the left pigtail, the other high beam relay output wire to the other light's high beam pigtail connection, and the same for low beam. Somewhere in there you have inline fuses. You mount the relays on a black bar just underneath and to the back of the driver's side headlight bucket. You need to remove old headlights and have the front bonnet up so you have room to work. Fuses go on the power leads from the battery to each relay. You will be splicing the fuses into the wires (I think I may have ended up using my own blade fuse holders, get at Radio Shack). You'll need some wire crimpers (and strippers) for this - get some nice Craftsman Professional stripper and crimper tool from Sears.

Hope this helps get you started.

--Mike

 

Thanks Mike.

I read this a few times while i was looking at the parts. Starting to understand some things.

Here is a picture of the items i got. Can you tell me what some of the things are?
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Leftmost arrow: These are relay holders. You plug the relay into here. Then, you attach spade-like connectors to your various wires (small activation wires, 10-gauge power leads, ground leads) and bring those connectors up through the relay holders.

Middle arrow: These are "pigtail" connectors. See picture earlier in this thread. These attach to the back of your H4 bulbs once you have installed the bulbs in the lamp housings. Thick high beam power, lower beam power, and ground wires (10 gauge) get put into here. Strip the wires by 1/3 to 1/2in first, of course. Those connectors should be spring-loaded such that you push down the button, insert wire, release button and there is spring force holding the wires in.

Right arrow: Hard to say for sure, but appears to be heavy-duty inline blade-type fuse holders, complete with approx 10 gauge wiring ready for you to splice (use butt connectors + optional solder for best results + heat shrink tubing) into your power leads coming off the battery and to the relays.

Lots and lots of little bits!

Keep askin', more answers as needed.

 

Mike, you rock!

The "heavy duty wire" i pop the cover and it had 2 female connectors.

Things are slowly coming together. Thanks

Hey, I'm only a Pizza guy, so this is "New Territory" for me.

 

Hey Jeff/Mike,

How many relays am i using? I got 3 in the package. I understand the 2, but the 3rd loses me.

???

Chris
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Susquehanna MotorSports aka rallylights.com is a better source of connectors than Daniel Stern and Waytek aka waytekwire.com a better source of relays. Customer support from Daniel Stern is zip...I have yet to have an email answered and there is no phone or other contact method.

http://www.rallylights.com/hella/Connectors.asp shows $5 AMP quality sockets with DIY connectors which will take up to 10 ga wire. Standard source headlight connectors all have pigtails generally 14 ga wire.

You can reuse the original AMP headlight connectors, releasing the the connector by inserting a flat blade tool the size of the small slot on the front of the socket then pulling the connector out the back. You will need to un-crimp the wire from the connector and resolder your new wire...but for $10 (pair) I prefer to keep the 1 foot long harness in tack and start with a new connector.

 

Well boys, finished my head lamp upgrade. Took me all Sunday but it's done!

Thanks to Mike and Jeff for the help.

The relays, I ended up putting them where that "pull cord" is. You know, the one that's fixed to the body. It had 2 screw so it looked good to me.

Picture 1 relays
Picture 2 the results
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In the words of Borat: "Great Success!"

Well done, Chris!

Looks great. Wait till you crank on the high beams as you come home into your neighborhood at night and see the sky light up in front of you!