Date:         Sat, 10 Nov 2001 10:41:16 EST
Reply-To:     JordanVw@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         JordanVw@AOL.COM
Subject:      here's How to Wire Headlights with Relays for Higher Wattage Bulbs
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;

the following was courtesy of ken wilford.. i was just cleaning out my files 
and thought some of you may benefit from this.   i did this to my van and now 
i can run 80/100w H4's in there without melting the headlight switch..   big 
improvement!  
enjoy..
chris
----------------------------snip-------------------------
How to Wire Headlights with Relays for Higher Wattage Bulbs

Parts you need to do this:
2- 40 Amp Relays
4- Rolls of Different Colored 14 gauge wiring
Box of Female Spade connectors (blue)
2- Fuse Holders for 16 amp fuses
2- 16 amp fuses
2- Ring connectors for battery connection

Run two 14 gauge feed wires from your battery to the fuse panel area.  Crimp 
a spade connector to each wire.  Hook the power wires to one side of the 2 
fuse holders.  Now make another wire for each fuse holder and run this to the 
power side of the relay (pin 30 on the relay)-(I would use red wires for this 
to indicate they are power wires).  The relays that I would recommend would 
be the 40 amp relay that is used on the Vanagon.  These are part number 141 
951 253B.  Now you want to label the two relays: High Beam and Low Beam.  Now 
you go to fuse panel.  Here you will see the four fuses at places number 3, 
4, 5, 6.  Number 3 is low beam left and 4 is low beam right.  Number 5 is 
highbeam left and 6 is highbeam right.  You want to unplug the two main feed 
wires to the four fuses (lowbeam should be yellow with a black stripe and 
highbeam should be white).  Plug these power supply wires into the number 85 
pin on your two relays (be sure to plug the proper wire into the properly 
labeled relay).  Now you want to make up two ground wires for the relays as 
well.  I would use a brown wire for these as this is typical ground color for 
VWs.  Plug one end of the ground wire into the number 86 pin on the relay and 
the other end onto the ground star connector located behind the fuse panel 
and to the left.  Now you want to unplug the four connectors from the fuse 
panel that feed the lights.  These should be white for highbeam left, white 
with a black stripe for high beam right.  Splice these two together by 
cutting off the two connectors and crimping both wires into a single female 
spade connector.  Now do the same thing with the low beam wires (should be 
yellow for low beam left and yellow with a black stripe for low beam right). 
 Now plug these wires onto the relay pin number 87 on the corresponding 
relay.  You should be done.  Test your lights and then secure everything in 
the dash taking care to tape up any exposed connections with electrial tape.  

Thanks,
Ken Wilford
John 3:16
www.vanagain.com
Phone: (856)-765-1583
Fax: (856)-327-2242

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