trio

I just did a headlight & wiring upgrade on my 1998 Jeep Cherokee to Hella H4 bulbs, 5000k color, 80/85watts. Vast improvement over the stock junk!

I went with these items:
http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=1247 (HL28200)
This wiring kit is plug and play! Also, high quality workmanship!
The H4 sockets needed to be "snugged" so that it would grab onto light pins tighter.
http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=744 (H6054J)

We had an odd issue with the high beams staying on all of the time.
The tech guy at Susquehanna Motorsports (a.k.a. rallylights) solved the issue by adding a #17189 bulb in the old unused headlight socket. It is wired just to come on with high beams. This added just enough resistance so that the relays would work properly.

Fantastic light output! Far exceeds OEM!
I could post pics if someone were interested.

Burgy

Yeah, post pics. I'm getting ready to do this myself.

trio

O.K. I'll take some pics and post them here soon. I didn't take any before pics though. Anyone within 60 miles of Norristown, PA with stock lights want to meet for some side by side pics?

$300XJ

I'll be doing something like this but with HIDs

bsljacques

Just for information...I found this harness (which I used in my right up in the XJ section of the forum).....for cheaper than I paid!

http://www.eautoworks.com/product-eA...com-189849.htm

trio

The original ground for the car was where the relays are now mounted. I replaced the worn out lead clamps with the brass marine style clamps that have posts on them. The cables have copper connectors that are crimped as tight as I could squeeze them. Then the cables were soldered to the copper connectors to make them secure. The kit's red wire is simply added to the post for the headlight relay.



This is the added light bulb to the original unused socket to force the relays to work. This might not be needed in all cases. When I installed the wiring kit, the high beams stayed on continuous. When you order these items from rallylights.com, you need to ask for this additional item. It is not included in the kit. The cost should be minimal.

More pics can be seen here.

On the second page is a video explaining the drawbacks of using the E-code style lighting.

I plan on getting Hella Micro DE fog lights to fill in where the headlights low beam doesn't light. I currently don't have any fog lights.

The kit is really plug and play. I can install it or pull it out in under 30mins.

CRoading

Nice work on the headlight upgrade! I'll be looking forward on doing the same on mine anytime soon.

jackson86xj

That is the route I went, and boy the difference is amazing!

At first, I was afraid in heavy rain as the stock headlights had no output and it was almost like driving with the headlights off.

I bought a kit locally with the h4 conversion lenses, and slim digital ballast h4 hid bulbs. i went with 6000k to keep them white, and the difference was literally night and day.

The nice part about going HID as well is that you do not have to worry about upgrading the wiring harness, because they only need 12V to power up, and use considerably less power to keep them running. It was plug and play.

Andrew

trio

Thanks!

BTW, the pics that you will find in my album were taken with the same camera settings (1/8 @ f2.0). I did this to prevent the light from altering the cameras settings, keeping exposure consistent for good comparisons.

I didn't have a similar Jeep with stock lights handy for comparison yet. I do have a friend that I might call on to do this soon.

There is a sharp cutoff that does not light up the road in all conditions. I few of the pics and the video on page two of the album shows this condition.

I'm reporting this as so that there is full disclosure of the results. Even though light output is much greater than stock, there are situations where these lights have a weakness. I feel that a good fog or driving light could easily correct this condition. Does anyone have any suggestions? I was thinking of Hella Micro DE Fog lights.

Silly Willy

No offense but this has already been done and the harness in the fallowing thread is a bit better, and easier than the one you used.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f51/hd-headlight-harness-write-up-11306/

and the housings

http://www.quadratec.com/products/97017_600.htm

And much cheaper.

sorry for the Hijack.

trio

No offense taken! I don't care about the hijack either. I know I wasn't the first, but having different products reviewed can offer more choices rather than all going with the same just because it was already done. Cheaper and better? Oh well, I'm still happy with the results so far. Much better than stock! These guys are also somewhat local to me. Same day service and tech support.

trio

I'm not going to debate the quality of the items. After reading the provided link, it is almost the exact same installation steps.

The kit I used only needs one ground connection. Has actual fuses instead of a fusable link.

The "extra" item that I needed was due to the relays not tripping correctly. My jeep has several electrical issues, so it might be unique to my own car. I posted about this because I know that there might be someone who might have a similar situation and can see the fix that I had used.

trio

Got a link to what you used? This is interesting. Didn't know of hid h4 bulbs before.

I'm familiar with Ford Panther cars; Crown Vics, Grand Marquis, and Town Cars. As for the wiring upgrade, I would do it anyways since with these Panther cars, the higher current running through the oem circuit eventually kills the relays in the dash. I don't know if Jeep uses a similar setup, but I'd felt better doing the wiring upgrade also.

trio

Now I have a strange issue. For a couple of days, both low beams come on for a short time, then shuts off on their own. Highs work fine. Now the lows don't come on at all. Swapped the relays thinking that one might have an issue. Same condition.

Any suggestions?

Silly Willy

Possible the lows on the bulbs have just gone out. Though they are still new I would at least try and replace one and see if thats a fix.