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Old 04-10-2015, 10:29 PM
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Originally Posted by Red Tractors
Sorry if this has been asked before, but does anyone know if an OMIX 17237.02 relay will work in the headlight relay circuit?

The headlight switch in my '96 is starting to act up, I'm staying with stock lights, but I'm not opposed to a little extra safety.
The very first post in this very thread has all the answers to your question. You are wanting to put in an H4 headlight relay harness. Not expensive and totally worth it.
Old 04-11-2015, 11:40 AM
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Thanks,

The second link in the first post had exactly what I needed. I'm going to build my own rather than buy an aftermarket version.
Old 07-27-2015, 03:30 PM
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Bump because lots of people have been posting questions without finding and reading this.
Old 08-07-2015, 10:44 AM
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Awesome info here! Thank you for compiling this!
Old 10-23-2015, 05:11 PM
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I've been seeing a lot of people asking a lot of questions easily answered by this thread lately. I've also been seeing some bad advice about lighting being dispensed.


Two things people need to have tattooed onto their bodies somewhere:
  • ALWAYS buy a relay harness
  • If you're going to do HID, do it right or don't do it at all; stop putting garbage HID kits into housings not meant for HID's.
Old 02-22-2017, 11:42 AM
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Originally Posted by mschi772
I suggest you buy a quality set of H4 halogen housings and H4 halogen bulbs.
GREAT Article!
Which kind are H4 Halogens?: Reflection, Projection or Fresnel?
Old 02-22-2017, 04:47 PM
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Originally Posted by ted939
GREAT Article!
Which kind are H4 Halogens?: Reflection, Projection or Fresnel?
H4 refers to the type of bulb/socket. The optics are determined by the housing.

Last edited by mschi772; 02-22-2017 at 04:53 PM.
Old 02-22-2017, 11:16 PM
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Originally Posted by mschi772
H4 refers to the type of bulb/socket. The optics are determined by the housing.
So, when you recommended Autopal, Hella, IPF and Cibie as housings (in your original post), are those reflected, projection or fresnel that you're recommending? Which type of optic do you think best?
Old 02-23-2017, 06:31 PM
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Originally Posted by ted939
So, when you recommended Autopal, Hella, IPF and Cibie as housings (in your original post), are those reflected, projection or fresnel that you're recommending? Which type of optic do you think best?
For what it is worth, those products all use fluting (fresnel lens), but it shouldn't really matter to you. You want whatever product has be best focus/distribution. Does it matter if that product is achieving that via fluting, reflection, or projection?

If, in theory, one of them was "the best" method but no one in the industry actually used that method or didn't use it correctly, you'd be buying a product that uses one of the other methods anyway.

My educated guess is that projection has the potential to be the best optic, but in the 200mm (6x7) halogen headlight world, the best products all seem to use fresnel lenses. I don't know of a single quality 200mm halogen projection housing.

Last edited by mschi772; 02-23-2017 at 07:02 PM.
Old 02-23-2017, 07:26 PM
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Yep, I am aware they are all fresnels (I work with fresnel light in film/video for last 20+ years), but just figured that was some auto industry term for a specific lens.

Yep, I know that whatever has best focus/distro is best, but I figured with your amazing research/compilation, you may have concluded which is best.

Now that we've established that we both know all these lenses to be fresnel, I'm confused by your last statement that you surmise projection lenses to be the best BUT that the best products seem to use fresnel, as if fresnel is not a projection lens. Can you clarify?
Old 02-24-2017, 09:49 AM
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This is what I am referring to when I refer to a projector. More commonly associated with HID, but there are some that are made for halogen bulbs. I'm not aware of any good ones for halogen--doesn't mean they don't exist; I just haven't looked very hard because I feel that if you're making the technological and financial jump to projection retrofitting, sticking with halogen would be silly and you may as well use HID or LED.






Fresnel/fluted.



Reflector.





Frankly, in the reality we live in, I feel the best choices for us are:
  • H4
    • Autopal
    • IPF
    • Hella
    • Cibie
  • HID
    • Morimoto projector retrofit (they're all great, but FX-R is best if you can do it)
    • If you want to be really crafty, retrofit Honda S2000 projectors (only recommended for advanced modders/fabricators)
    • If you want to be ultra crafty, retrofit modded Lexus RX330 or SC430 projectors (only recommended for the MOST advanced modders/fabricators)
  • LED
    • Truck-lite
    • JW Speaker

Last edited by mschi772; 02-24-2017 at 10:12 AM.
Old 02-24-2017, 11:15 AM
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So, those H4s (Autopal, IPF, Hella & Cibie) and LEDs (Truck-lite and JW Speaker) all come in projector, reflector and fresnel/fluting models?
Old 02-24-2017, 11:17 AM
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Originally Posted by ted939
So, those H4s (Autopal, IPF, Hella & Cibie) and LEDs (Truck-lite and JW Speaker) all come in projector, reflector and fresnel/fluting models?
No.

Autopal come in fluted and reflected; I don't know if the reflected version is as good or not. IPF, Hella, and Cibie are all fluted. TL is reflected. JW is projected.

Last edited by mschi772; 02-24-2017 at 11:22 AM.
Old 02-24-2017, 11:20 AM
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Perfect - thanks!!
Old 02-27-2017, 10:07 AM
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I've been really happy with my Trucklite's. I ran the Autopal's with harness for years and those were a huge improvement over stock, but no comparison to the Trucklites. When I was looking to buy the TL's I couldn't find any really good night pictures, so here are a few pictures of mine that are better than what I've came across online.

Low's:



High's:



Cutoff:




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