Guest Anonymous Posted December 28, 2002 Share Posted December 28, 2002 I thought that purchasing new headlights would change this but the new ones are just as dim, what could be the problem? i checked the fuses and replaced them with 20's and i think the wiring is fine although old, i am in the process of replacing the alternator, is there anything else i should look at? the lights are 12v 100/90W thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fl327 Posted December 28, 2002 Share Posted December 28, 2002 i think the fuses for hdlights are supposed to be 10s, i put 15 or 20 in once for one of my lights and was willy the one eyed monster for three weeks before i figured it out. try a 10, and spray the fuse connectors with some electrical cleaner, then spray some on the headlight plug, see if that does anything for ya. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLKMGK Posted December 28, 2002 Share Posted December 28, 2002 Don't bump wattage - it'll fry the headlight switch. Trust me on this, you need to switch to relays on the headlight wiring harness. The difference will be night and day. Been there, done that. You'll be shocked at the difference. If you search here you'll find more than one post on this.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted December 29, 2002 Share Posted December 29, 2002 Originally posted by BLKMGK:Don't bump wattage - it'll fry the headlight switch. Trust me on this, you need to switch to relays on the headlight wiring harness. The difference will be night and day. Been there, done that. You'll be shocked at the difference. If you search here you'll find more than one post on this.... are you saying that 100/90w is too high and will fry my headlight switch? i bought these directly from a vendor that sells these to Z owners and he told me there have been no complaints from them and as far as checking the volts getting to my headlights where do i check it at? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo280zEd Posted December 29, 2002 Share Posted December 29, 2002 i just spent two days running new wires to my lights 12 10 and 8 gauge wires, also replaced fusible links w/ regular 4block fuse holder. Lights are 100 percent better. Also on my 280, on the highbeam switch... the lead wire got so hot.. it started melting the solder and was touching the ground wire... had to seperate those 2. Hope that helps. Ed (preparing for HID's) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted December 29, 2002 Share Posted December 29, 2002 Originally posted by Nismo280zEd:i just spent two days running new wires to my lights 12 10 and 8 gauge wires, also replaced fusible links w/ regular 4block fuse holder. Lights are 100 percent better. Also on my 280, on the highbeam switch... the lead wire got so hot.. it started melting the solder and was touching the ground wire... had to seperate those 2. Hope that helps. Ed (preparing for HID's) i was thinking of doing this, can you tell me how hard it was to re-wire everything and also tell me what gauge wires you used for each device? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modern Motorsports Ltd Posted December 29, 2002 Share Posted December 29, 2002 By now, it's quite likely the various electrical connections between your battery and headlights (easily 6 or more) are somewhat corroded and your headlights, which like 12-14V's may only see 10V or even less...when playing with electrical upgrades (your intended 90/100's, and if wired right could be quite annoying to others on low setting..55/100's are far less distracting or dangerous on low/do make sure your lights are well aimed) it's a great step to install a fused relay up front and take the MAIN juice direct from a main power source (ie. NOT thru your dash) and then just use your dash/headlight typical OEM wiring as the relay (ie. low amp/low draw) wire. This removes drawing the higher amperage thru your dash which is a positive thing.......drawing higher amps thru a dash with old wiring of unknown condition can create hot spots at the points of resistance and noone wants sparkies in their Z! Right now if you have a multimeter or know anyone with one, measure the voltage your headlamp plugs up front are seeing.......if much less than 11.x V without engine running you have noticable losses...taking it practically straight from alternator(fused and relayed) removes the corrosion points and keeps your voltage up with minimal losses...use dielectric grease and heatshrink on connections to seal them and keep them in great condition for years to come! I have H4 Bosch conversion kits with which I include a heavy duty 40A relay unit, I'll add them to my web shortly here. I'll also have some LED setups shortly to reduce your typical marker/tailight bulb consumption of 2.5-2.7Amps to 90 milliamps Count up your lights that are on at night and this adds up quick to a greatly reduced load on your entire electrical system (ie. 10 bulbs alone is ~25Amps saved and Z alternators are only ~60Amps total.....so could save otherwise required alt. upgrades for many of us). Just some options. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody 82 ZXT Posted December 29, 2002 Share Posted December 29, 2002 For now you could try to clean the headlight switch contacts. They get corroded over the years espessially if you run higher than stock wattage bulbs. I did that and eventually it fired the stock wires and I had to run a reley just to make them work. I fianlly went and installed a new harness for the headlights and did basically what Nismo280zed and Ross are talking about. The new harness can take a much higher wattage bulb. Then you can run the 90/130 watt if you want. Be careful with the aiming if you run a higher wattage bulb. Try the Xenon bulbs they are the best that I've used yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modern Motorsports Ltd Posted December 29, 2002 Share Posted December 29, 2002 Here's some diagrams for wiring up a relay for headlights or most any other use: (note, it's the incoming power source on '30' that I would wire a fuse inline) EE lingo on SPDT relay Layman's great DIY page "INSTALLATION Terminal 30: 12v positve. Come off of a distribution block or straight from battery. Terminal 85: Ground, stay within 3 feet. Terminal 86: Trigger source. This could be a wire that goes "live" when you start the ignition or your radio, etc. Terminal 87: To device(s) to be turned on. How does the relay knows when to turn on you ask? Terminal 86 sense current, and it allows the power to flow to terminal 87 which is connected to your device(s). And by the basics of relays, the relay is getting it's power from terminal 30. Why do we need to ground with terminal 85? Because we are grounding the incoming trigger source. NOTE: ALWAYS use correct size fuse each device is called for. If you "upsize" a fuse (i.e. putting a 30amp where a 15amp is called for), you run the risk of fire and some pretty nasty electrical damage. endquote" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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