Ron240zxt Posted November 29, 2001 Share Posted November 29, 2001 Ok got two for you A: what can i do to make the gauges in the car light up brighter? B: How can i make my Headlights see in the dark past 10 feet...So tired of dull lights... Thanks Ron240zxt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLKMGK Posted November 29, 2001 Share Posted November 29, 2001 Heh, use the search Luke! http://www.hybridz.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=search We've been over the headlight thing a few times. Relays are your answer and the search will reveal much my son. I'll bet you've got WAY less than system voltage at the bulb right now! The dashlights I'm not sure has ever come up. I'd start by checking the bulbs - if they're old they're probably filthy! The rheostat that controls dimming is probably a bit hosed too. If you can get it out from under the dash try bypassing it and see if the lights brighten much. IF they do then it's a big part of the problem. Some tuner cleaner sprayed inside it if you can might fix that. Otherwise I'd be checking fuse box connections to see if any have corroded - they'll heat up and melt if they do Something has to be supplying low voltage to the lights - start simple and work your way up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twentyfourouncer Posted December 1, 2001 Share Posted December 1, 2001 You could also try a set of H4 lights. There is a person advertising them on zcar.com right now. I bought a set of the Autopal Ecodes and the difference is amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twentyfourouncer Posted December 1, 2001 Share Posted December 1, 2001 You could also try a set of H4 lights. There is a person advertising them on zcar.com right now. I bought a set of the Autopal Ecodes and the difference is amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimzdat Posted December 1, 2001 Share Posted December 1, 2001 Just a note on the H4 lights--I have a set of Hellas that were in my 76 before the teardown--you will find some sites selling extra bulbs in some high wattages--don't bother with it--I tried running the 80w lo/130w hi bulbs in mine, and they work great--awesome visibility, and you can fry the retinas of anyone who dares flash their lights at you--the problem is they have a very short lifespan (due to the heat level the filament experiences, the vibration of the car beats the heck out of em) I replaced my bulbs 3 times in 6 months, finally just went with the 55w lo/100w hi, they lasted another 6 months (then I took the car apart, so I don't know how much longer they may have lasted) But I'll re-iterate what BLKMGK had to say--USE RELAYS--they will be the best improvement you can make to your lights. Aside from the search function hree, check out the wiring diagrams at www.rallylights.com he puts it pretty simple for you Good Luck, Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLKMGK Posted December 1, 2001 Share Posted December 1, 2001 To reiterate what Jimzdat said and I pointed out earlier - USE RELAYS! Okay, I'll rant a little The lights are dim because they are not getting enough voltage. If you don't believe me measure the voltage at the lights and then at the battery, if they're dim chances are that the voltage will measure at least one to two volts lower at the bulbs. So, where did the voltage go? The resistance in the wires, the terminals at the fuze box, and the resistance in the switch. Ever seen an electric oven? How's that work? Well, a piece of wire with high resistance has a great deal of current passed through it and it gets RED hot . Hrm, sorta' sounds like your wiring harness with a set of high wattage bulbs doesn't it? High Watts means high amperage draw which means anything with high resistance will heat up - just like an electric overn! I had a BRAND NEW multifunction switch in my car when I bought it. The previous owner also had Hella H4s installed. First time I used the lights I melted part of the column cover and fried the contacts on the switch. When I opened up the column I found out why the previous owner replaced the multifunction stalk - he'd fried the previous one too judging from the remains of melted insulation! I cleaned the switch up, tried it again, and promptly damaged it again. This time I noticed that the fuses in the fuse box were HOT too! I had just seen a relay install article in a car mag dealing with older Chevelles that dealt with this exact problem. As a result I bought a headlight relay kit, rewired my lights, and wrote a tech article for this which is posted here. I since found that there's a small error in the article but for the most part it's accurate. The most accurate part of the article is the AMAZING difference in light I now get from my Hellas! Talk about night and day differences, it's way noticeable on my car. So, if you want to do the typical "more power" guy thing be my guest but be prepared for a meltdown. It might not occur right away, and it might be fine for awhile, but the Z lighting setup forces the current to travel through a LARGE part of the harness and the switch. Eventually something WILL fail - most likely in the dead of night in the middle of nowhere on a long trip. If you're lucky it will just shutdown your lights but it will most likely take something else with it ranging from your multifunction switchcolumn cover to your fusebox to your entire car. Don't anyone say they weren't warned, you'll see I've pounded the life out of this drum more than once if you do a little search. I'm trying to help you keep from trashing your car.... P.S. If a fuse blows do you just stick a bigger one in? I once saw a guy that did just that - he smoked half the harness in his Mustang. We found a screw through the back of the harness from a stereo install that was intermittantly blowing the fuse. He worked his way up to a HUGE fuse and we had to replace a pretty big chunk of melted wires afterwards.... Oh, and yeah I was once guilty of doing this myself but I didn't fry anything thank goodness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimzdat Posted December 1, 2001 Share Posted December 1, 2001 So, do we get bonus points for using the word "reiterate" more than once in this thread? Or do we have to throw in a "conundrum" or two to get the bonus? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RXO510 Posted December 1, 2001 Share Posted December 1, 2001 Hey BLKMGK! Taking your advice and doing the headlight relay conversion. Still the regular sealed beam, but were planning on getting some Hellas or Autopals in the very near future. I got my 12G inline fuse holders, fuses, and HD 30A relays. I saw in the posts that there are 40A relays. Where did you guys find the 40A relays? Home depot again? Or are the 30A relays good enough. We're going to go with the 55w low beam and 100w hi beam lights. Please let us know. Thanks. Don't feel like frying the fuse box anymore. J&G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimzdat Posted December 1, 2001 Share Posted December 1, 2001 Hey RXO, I used 30A relays with my lites (both 80/130 & 55/100) They should be able to handle the current load without a hitch. 40A relays are harder to find, which can be a bad thing if you have one burn out in the middle of nowhere--I know around here, I can get 30A relays anywhere they sell fog/driving lites (Autozone, Walmart, etc.) Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLKMGK Posted December 1, 2001 Share Posted December 1, 2001 My relays are Hellas and you can find a source for them if you do a search here on HybridZ. Awhile back I wanted to buy a couple more for my electric fan and a fellow member found a site for me and posted it. In the end I didn't buy them as I got a custom harness for the fan from a friend and it had relays. Honestly, I'm not sure that 40amp relays are required. My fuse is far lower than 40amps so in theory it would blow before the relay fried. I DO think the Hellas are good quality relays though and that you shoudl buy both their relays and their relay holdersmoounts. The holders are pretty well weather sealed which is good! I do realize that burning one out would be "bad" in that you can't find them just anywhere but if you do this right you'll have two of the same type with holders. If you blow the low beam relay in the middle of nowhere you simply swap over the highbeam unit Had I used the same relays for my fan I'd have had even more "spares". I think Pete did this sort of thing with his car - many common parts just in case... Do be aware that the harness I used was either wrong for the Z or that I miswired something when mine was first done and that article written. The lights worked but any vibration clicked on the high beams, it was pretty weird. Seems the relays were getting like 7volts - just enough to almost click the relay and vibration was enough to trip it! Moving one wire fixed that... Datsun switches GROUND not hot for the headlights - keep that in mind. I ended up using a service manual to get the wiring figured out on mine and an hour or two with a voltmeter scratching my head. IF you've got a 240Z I can try to help you figure out which wire goes where either using my manual or my car if the colors are the same. In my case th erelays got juice all the time and the ground from the multiswitch was what triggered them. Probably garbage unless you understand electricity so ping me here if that makes no sense to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
260DET Posted December 1, 2001 Share Posted December 1, 2001 Yes, USE RELAYS I used a fused relay and therefore was able to take power for the lights directly from the starter motor terminal, using a very heavy cable, about 30 amp wire? Now, the headlights are like brilliant. Don't know what bulbs are in it but they certainly work. On the dash lights, you can get slightly more powerful bulbs than stock but don't get the big glass ones. Clean the green bulb shrouds thoroughly, or remove them completely. I would guess that white faced gauges would improve the situation as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RXO510 Posted December 1, 2001 Share Posted December 1, 2001 We will take a good long look at my wiring schemataics first and draw it out on some paper. We're going to make sure we understand how the relays should be setup first on paper before we actually attempt the conversion. Thanks for all the great info. J & G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimzdat Posted December 1, 2001 Share Posted December 1, 2001 Here's the diagram I used for doing my swap: The only things I had to change is where the diagram says "To +12v through fuse from lo/hi beam"--you run just one large wire (with fuse) from battery (or starter, whichever you prefer. Where the diagram says "Ground" (down at the bottom)--you actually want this to be +12v, when you trun on the light switch. And where it says "From OE lo/hi circuits"--use the wires that go back to the dimmer switch (not sure of all the colors, since my wiring is no longer in the car) HTH, Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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