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heavy duty headlight switch

Detroit Dan

Detroit Dan

New Member
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Location
Epping NH
Anyone know if there is an available headlight switch that is more heavy duty than OEM? I have a 97 and am currently getting ready to replace yet another bad switch. What happens is the one little tiny wire going into the back of it gets hot, melts away some insulation and loosens up where it goes into the back of the plug. Someone told me they thought there was an HD replacement available, but I couldn't find it at the parts store or online. Parts counter guy suggested I put in a relay, but I'm not sure how, I've never had any luck with relays. I'm kind of an idiot when it comes to wiring. I have a soldering iron and wire strippers and a fire extinguisher, but I really need someone to hold my hand and walk me through things like that ;>

My problem is I have a dually that came stock with 5 clearance lights on the cab, 7 clearance lights on the dually fenders and tailgate, in addition to which I have added a lightbar that contains a full set of taillights and marker lights, which is essentially like having a trailer hooked up. When I do have a trailer hooked up that's another pair of taillights and a few more marker lights. This overloads my headlight switch and leads to premature failure. Oh, and I also have the all4onhigh headlight mod with Sylvania Ultras.

So, if there's no easy fix for the switch with a HD replacement, could somebody make it simple for me as to where and how to put a relay in?

Also, I just ordered an HID harness and light conversion kit for the lowbeams (at Nicks suggestion), so maybe that will help a little, I'll probably do the same to the high beams later. Even with all 4 headlights HID with new harnesses, I think I am probably asking too much of a stock switch just based on the number of running lights I have. I did try LED bulbs but the couple sets I tried were unimpressive, and I don't want to spend more money right now in that direction, the really good ones are too expensive.

Thanks for your input.
 
I have a double relay on mine both high and low beams are on relays. My dimmer switch hardly even clicks now and I run high powered bulbs. Pretty easy to add simply splice into the wires going to the headlights on the drivers side.
 
Agreed. Add a heavy duty wiring harness, so they draw power from the battery instead of through the switch.
 
I think your best bet would be running the relay off from the headlight switch, instead of replacing it. Those wires going to the switch will still be the same size whether they are coming off a switch or a relay. Use a relay, or relays, to break the load up a bit.
 
OK, so when I get the new HID kit I just ordered, I'll add in a relay (or two?) on the headlights to ease that load. I think I get the idea behind the relay: the power coming from the switch turns on the relay, sending battery power to the lights, right? I'm thinking I should do something for the taillight circuit too, since like I said I've got a ton of marker and taillights.

Sparky, love the sig!
 
Agreed. Add a heavy duty wiring harness, so they draw power from the battery instead of through the switch.
Click to expand...

Thats exactly what I would do. Also, HID's are lower wattage so you wont be running nearly as much juice as you do now. Dan, do you still have that link I sent you for the harness?
 
Add a Relay.

After you do that, you'll notice the Lights will be Brighter as well.

Use a 40a Relay, not a 30a.
 
That's what the HD wiring harness has, is a pair of relays, that draw off of the battery, instead of through the switch.
 
Well, to update, I added HID low beams last week, they are retarded bright but I keep having one or the other go out. Almost seems like I can't fully power the ballast all the time. Last night just driving down the road, stepping on the brakes and lighting up all my brake lights caused one to go out. Need to get the grill back off and recheck everything, but i think it's a power issue.
So, about 20 minutes with just low beams (one of them most of the time) and my bad headlight switch burned up finally, almost caught a wire on fire. I just barely made it to AutoZone, rolled in with no lights except one DRL. Switched the headlight switch for a new one, and unplugged my lightbar that has marker and taillights in it. The harness that plugs into the back of the switch now has two cooked wires, a black one that was already melting, and now a white one as well.
I bought a 40a relay because they only had one. If I can figure out how to wire them up, I want to do one for the headlights, maybe one for high and lows? Since I have all-4-on-hi mod? I will probably also need one for brake lights and one for park light circuits.
Is there another way, other than cobbling in 4 or 5 relays? Also, can I do this near the back of the switch where the wires terminate?
Lastly, my realy didn't come with any diagram or instructions, how do I know which wires go to what post? There are four posts on the one I got.
Thanks.
 
The two big ones will be the load. The two little ones (probably 85 and 86) will be the coil, or what turns the relay on.
 
I used a double relay. Nice having it all in one unit only had to run one power wire to it. IIRC it was from Dick Cepek.
 
So, I cut the wire I want to power, put one on one side and the other on the other side of the relay, then 12 volt from junction block to one post, and what's left, ground?
 
Detroit Dan said:
So, I cut the wire I want to power, put one on one side and the other on the other side of the relay, then 12 volt from junction block to one post, and what's left, ground?
Click to expand...

What do you wanna put on a Relay?

If it's the HID's, all you gotta do is get an HID Harness. You just Bolt the + & - onto the Battery and everything else Plugs In. Don't need to Cut anything.
 
I was going to put a relay on the wire (s) on the back of the headlight switch, whichever ones are pulling too much juice and wrecking the headlight switches.

Nick, I don't think the HIDs I got are grounded, they are sealed units which plug into the factory harness at the bulb. So the existing headlight plug goes to a pigtail leading into the ballast, the pigtail coming out of the ballast goes to the back of the bulb. Two weather pack connectors, no ground wires or anything. Don't really see why there would be, it's just inline in the harness which must have a power and ground.
My tech friend is telling me know he has a s-blazer in his shop now with HIDs that overworked a relay on the ground circuit and ruined the whole wiring harness. So I'm tempted to pull the HIDs back out and return them. It's getting discouraging. I can't have lights that keep going off like that. And I'm not in love with them enough to spend another $50 on HD harnesses. I think the problem has to be overloaded wiring from the switch that has too much load from headlights on one circuit, too many markers on parking light circuit, and too many brakelights on another circuit.
I'm getting tired of always dealing with this, why can't I just have multiple lights and bright headlights? Is that too much to ask?
 
Detroit Dan said:
I was going to put a relay on the wire (s) on the back of the headlight switch, whichever ones are pulling too much juice and wrecking the headlight switches.

Nick, I don't think the HIDs I got are grounded, they are sealed units which plug into the factory harness at the bulb. So the existing headlight plug goes to a pigtail leading into the ballast, the pigtail coming out of the ballast goes to the back of the bulb. Two weather pack connectors, no ground wires or anything. Don't really see why there would be, it's just inline in the harness which must have a power and ground.
My tech friend is telling me know he has a s-blazer in his shop now with HIDs that overworked a relay on the ground circuit and ruined the whole wiring harness. So I'm tempted to pull the HIDs back out and return them. It's getting discouraging. I can't have lights that keep going off like that. And I'm not in love with them enough to spend another $50 on HD harnesses. I think the problem has to be overloaded wiring from the switch that has too much load from headlights on one circuit, too many markers on parking light circuit, and too many brakelights on another circuit.
I'm getting tired of always dealing with this, why can't I just have multiple lights and bright headlights? Is that too much to ask?
Click to expand...

YGPM.

...it'll also help to Replace all the Running Lights with LED's.
 
Detroit Dan said:
I was going to put a relay on the wire (s) on the back of the headlight switch, whichever ones are pulling too much juice and wrecking the headlight switches.

Nick, I don't think the HIDs I got are grounded, they are sealed units which plug into the factory harness at the bulb. So the existing headlight plug goes to a pigtail leading into the ballast, the pigtail coming out of the ballast goes to the back of the bulb. Two weather pack connectors, no ground wires or anything. Don't really see why there would be, it's just inline in the harness which must have a power and ground.
My tech friend is telling me know he has a s-blazer in his shop now with HIDs that overworked a relay on the ground circuit and ruined the whole wiring harness. So I'm tempted to pull the HIDs back out and return them. It's getting discouraging. I can't have lights that keep going off like that. And I'm not in love with them enough to spend another $50 on HD harnesses. I think the problem has to be overloaded wiring from the switch that has too much load from headlights on one circuit, too many markers on parking light circuit, and too many brakelights on another circuit.
I'm getting tired of always dealing with this, why can't I just have multiple lights and bright headlights? Is that too much to ask?
Click to expand...
You can make your own harness. You don't need to buy one. If it were me, instead of two big relays I would get four smaller ones and switch each one separate. Actually, it's only low beams so you only need two. If you have them on separate relays and a relay goes bad, you still have the other.
 
Mad Maxx said:
YGPM.

...it'll also help to Replace all the Running Lights with LED's.
Click to expand...

I've tried that twice with no luck. First I bought a bunch of clear 194s, but they looked awful through the colored lenses. So then I bought amber and red 194s, in addition to amber and red turn signal and taillights. The turn signals were lousy, not bright at all, and the 194s weren't that great either. I bought the (194) single bulb inverted dome kind because they are supposed to be bright, but if I were to do it again I'd go for 4 or 6 bulb 194s, the inverted dome just doesn't do it for me. And I tried buying turn signals that have a lot of leds and several faced out toward the reflector, but they don't light up well either. I even bought an electronic flasher. The thing is, the leds I bought just don't compare to the brightness of the incandescants. I know eveyrone will say I bought cheap ones and need to buy super-expensive ones, but at this point I think I've already wasted nearly $100 on leds I'm not using.
I would love to see my truck at night though, all lit up with bright leds...
 
Detroit Dan said:
I've tried that twice with no luck. First I bought a bunch of clear 194s, but they looked awful through the colored lenses. So then I bought amber and red 194s, in addition to amber and red turn signal and taillights. The turn signals were lousy, not bright at all, and the 194s weren't that great either. I bought the (194) single bulb inverted dome kind because they are supposed to be bright, but if I were to do it again I'd go for 4 or 6 bulb 194s, the inverted dome just doesn't do it for me. And I tried buying turn signals that have a lot of leds and several faced out toward the reflector, but they don't light up well either. I even bought an electronic flasher. The thing is, the leds I bought just don't compare to the brightness of the incandescants. I know eveyrone will say I bought cheap ones and need to buy super-expensive ones, but at this point I think I've already wasted nearly $100 on leds I'm not using.
I would love to see my truck at night though, all lit up with bright leds...
Click to expand...

Yea, I can show you where I get all my LED's from, but like you Said, they're $$$.

But they truely are atleast 5x Brighter than a Halogen, and have the same amount of Coverage, so they'll Fill Out the Housing with Color.
 
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