I'd of thought it'd be a fed reg so automakers had something to go by.

 

not that i have heard or seen. then you think there would be a limit to how low a vehicle could sit.

 

mschi772, I know you say to put the headlights on relays in the original post but I'm wondering if this is only applicable to HID and halogen H4 upgrades or leaving the stock sealed beams in? I recently purchased a pair of truck-lites and so far am very happy with them. Is there any benefit to upgrading to a relay harness for use with the low draw LEDs have? I've seen some mixed answers and figured I'd ask. Thanks in advance.

 

The lights themselves may not benefit as much from a relay harness, but you stock wiring and switch will still benefit plenty as well as still keeping you a little safer in terms of fire risk.

 

Too confusing, I'm just going to buy some Pilot housings and fill them with lightning bugs every week,lol.

 

Agreed. The main shortcoming of the stock harness is voltage drop due to length and resistance from a number of connection points, and an inability to handle much amperage due to small wire gauge.

The LEDs usually have a forward voltage of 5 volts. The driver (the various electronic circuitry encased in each light) that is pushing the LEDs likely is set up with an ability to accept anything from 9 volts to 14-18 volts, and then use circuitry to regulate the voltage and amperage going to the actual LED(s). I don't have any specs handy on the Trucklights or JW Speaker units to know how the voltage and current regulation is handled.

At any rate, because the LEDs are more forgiving of source voltages less than 12 volts, and probably only pull 1/5 to 1/3 the current of traditional sealed beams, they don't stress the stock circuitry.

But it is good advice to run dedicated circuits with relays on something like this. If nothing else you'll know you have all new wiring, and in a pinch if your headlight switch goes out, it's easy to rig up a trigger for the relays to get the headlights going again.

On another note, I'm looking for some good variable PWM controls for use with the LED light pods on the sides of my roof rack. They are there mainly for use when camping as area lighting, and it would be nice if I could adjust the brightness as needed, rather than just having on or off. I bought some units from Amazon, but they turned out to be crap. Eighty percent of the sweep caused little change in brightness, and the last 20% had a rapid fall-off and was too touchy for my tastes. If anyone has any suggestions...

 

Thanks for the replies. It's cheap enough (and easy enough) I might as well do it. I've already upgraded the rest of the electrical and wouldn't want my jeep to think I was half assing anything. She might get vindictive... haha

 

Good write-up, lots of good info brought together here. This should be a sticky.

 

But no one ever reads stickies

 

Well, if it can't or shouldn't be a sticky, we need to do something to make sure people read this. WAY too much great info here that the majority of guys either don't know about at all, or are confused by.

Personally, I'm storing the URL of this thread in my Favorites, and going forward, anytime someone starts asking about headlight upgrades, I'm gladly going to drop this link in my response.

 

It does seem that way at times but, I always wonder if the questions that have been answered (at least) a million times would be more prevalent without them. Either way, this saved me a ton of time searching and reading by putting all the important stuff in one place. Thanks!

 

Thanks mschi772 for the effort you put forward to provide all this information in one place and for taking the time to respond to replies. All of the discussion had merit and the snarky parts were entertaining. This definitely gets a bookmark.

 

Link to DIY relay harness fixed to take you to the correct page. http://jeep-xj.info/HowtoHeadlightLoom.htm

 

Been seeing people needing this information again lately. Bump.

 

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.