Crap Ke Headlights Remedy

[peterd]

The headlights on my ke35 where so appalling that I wasn't too keen to use the car at night.

I remembered that altezzaclub posted a wiring diagram a while back with how to rewire them using a relay to stop the power getting sucked up by the cabling.

 

I came across a ready made version of altezzaclub's diagram on eBay for the huge sum of $12, which I installed today. It took about 10 minutes to install and the result is brilliant. The brightness is easily double what it was. I needed to change the power wire to a longer one to reach the battery but apart from that, the installation was straightforward. Hopefully the cheap Chinese relays in the kit are safe.

 

Tomorrow I'll swap the sealed beam globes for a Narva h4 conversion and see if I get another big improvement.

 

This is the harness that I purchased.

 

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/H4-H4-Headlight-Black-Booster-Wire-Harness-40A-DC-Wiring-Relay-Conversion-LSRG-/380970296201

 

There's no instructions but its pretty obvious. 2 blue wires to earth and the red wire to the +ve terminal on the battery.

[altezzaclub]

Nice!

 

I wish I'd known about it when I did mine!

[parrot]

Get some H4 osram night breaker globes cheap from Germany and you will poo your pants.

[B.L.Z.BUB]

If you can't wait for delivery from China there's a guy in Melbourne that sells them too, plus 4 globe ones to suit quad lights and they're under $30 delivered.

 

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=261258481201&alt=web

 

I was gonna make and sell these kits but just can't compete with the China ones. Just make sure the plugs are ceramic.

[parrot]

If you are only running 55/60W globes, surely ceramic plugs are overkill?

[B.L.Z.BUB]

Most of them come with ceramic anyway and ones with ceramic plugs cost no more. May as well get something that won't slowly go brittle over time.

 

[peterd]

The kit did come with ceramic sockets, one of which was poorly connected. I swapped the sealed beams today for a Narva h4 conversion kit and while in was doing it, a wire popped out of the connector. I guess you get what you pay for.

The improvement in the brightness when I changed the wiring was dramatic but the coverage was splotchy (with the sealed beams)

With the new wiring and the h4 conversion, the headlights are just as good as a modern car.

[benhachi]

I switched to semi-sealed beams with Phillips white/blue bulbs and noticed a massive difference alone, This will be next on my list, can't wait !

[Mechanical Sympathy]

That looks incredibly easy. I've ordered one.

[B.L.Z.BUB]

I'm considering ripping my hids out to run another relay kit. I hate hids.

 

[CorollaNut68]

I wonder if you could do the same for the tail lights.

I put a 30 amp relay and a small power block under the dash to run the radio, amp, sub , driving lights etc so I don't have to hook to the overworked little fuse box. The relay only kicks on when the ignition is on so I don't save channels on the radio but I also don't have a trickle draining my battery all the time. Still want to do an alternator upgrade one of these days.

[Banjo]

Hi Mark,

Yep, you can do the tail lights & everything at the back end of the car. I've done it, and the car rewire & larger 85A alternator was the best thing I've done electrically for my KE30.

 

Details of the rear end rewire are in the following thread.

 

http://www.rollaclub...ire#entry682538

 

Cheers Banjo

[CorollaNut68]

:)

Edited September 10, 2015 by CorollaNut68

[CorollaNut68]

Thanks Banjo, however after thinking about it as I read the diagrams it may not be a good idea to make brighter hotter bulbs inside my 50 year old plastic lens covers. The headlights will be fine, glass covers and all, but I don't want to possibly melt anything.

(I'm also laughing because there's a Nissan ad at the bottom of the page right now)

[B.L.Z.BUB]

Peugeot ad for me.