Date:         Mon, 29 Jul 2002 18:14:29 -0700
Reply-To:     Bill N <freeholder@STARBAND.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Bill N <freeholder@STARBAND.NET>
Subject:      Major light upgrade (long)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

For some time I have been unhappy with the light output of my stock '81 Westy headlamps.  I had
installed halogen sealed beams, which were better, but not a lot better.  In addition, my OE
grill was beginning to show its age.

In June I took advantage of Ron's great list deal ( www.busdepot.com ) and got a new SA grill
with the inner positions for additional lights.  It came with Hella driving lights, and I also
ordered the factory type switch that fits perfectly in the spot on the fight hand side of my
cluster below the defogger switch.

Since it didn't come with instructions, I whined to Ron (I was also mean to Cheri in an email.
Please accept my sincere apology.) and then started doing what I am supposed to good at
doing -- research.  What I learned is that the stock setup is barely OK for the stock lights,
so I decided to do it right.  I got a LOT of info from Daniel Stern Lighting (
www.lighting.mbz.org ) and eventually decided to install relays and much heavier wire.  Daniel
also fixed me up with three heavy duty Hella relays, terminals, mounts for the relays, fuses,
new headlamp connectors, and a pair of Cibie headlamps for the outer positions.

The first job was to mount the relay bases.  The three bases snap together to form a unit.  I
decided to mount them below the fuse panel to the left of the driver.  They are not completely
concealed, but look fine.  If you don't like them there, you could mount them pretty much
anywhere.  The next step was to decide how to get a mess of wires to them.  I was lucky.  My
van is an auto, and behind the brake pedal is a tube to the front of the van that had a rubber
plug in it.  I assume it is intended for something to do with the clutch, which I don't have.
I decided to run my wires from the area behind the grill to the relays using this tube.

Next, I knew I needed to ground a lot of stuff, so I went to my local hardware and got a
terminal strip.  It is similar to the ones where the grounds connect in most electrical boxes.
I mounted it behind the grill to the metal wall that divides the cab from the area in front of
it.  I guess it would be the firewall in a front engine car.  I also mounted the inner Hella
driving lights.  To do this, I held the lights in place while my wife held the new grill in
place, and marked the holes.  Then we drilled holes and used self tapping screws.  I also
removed the sealed beams from the outer positions.

It was time to do the wiring.  First, I ran two #10 wires (red) from the battery box to the new
relays.  I went out of the battery box through the vent tube, which is right in front of the +
terminal.  I didn't connect to the battery yet.  At the relay end, I connected one of these
wires to the low beam relay #30 terminal.  You connect to the relay bases by attaching a
terminal Daniel provided in his relay kit to the end of the wire, and then just snapping the
terminal into the base.  All connections to the relay bases were done that way.

The other #10 wire needed to serve both the high beam and driving light relays, so, about 6"
from the end, I removed about 1/2" of insulation, being careful to not injure the conductors.
I took a short piece of the same wire and stripped about an inch of insulation from the end,
which I wrapped around the other wire where I had stripped it.  Then I soldered the connection
and covered it with two coats of liquid insulation followed by electrical tape.  Since my wire
was now a Y, I connected to the #30 terminals on the high beam and driving light relays.

Next, I ran another #10 wire (black) from the battery box to my new grounding terminal strip
and connected it there.  Like before, I didn't hook up at the battery end.  Now I needed to
ground the relays, so I made up another wire by connecting 2 short pieces of #12 black wire to
a longer piece like I did with the red above, complete with solder, etc.  I used terminals to
connect the three ends to the #85 terminals on all three relays, and I routed the other end
through the firewall tube and connected it to my new ground strip.

Now I needed control wires for my relays.  I needed wires that went to the high and low beams,
so I went to the front of the van and one of the connectors that had hooked to the back of my
sealed beams.  This connector had two brown wires going to one terminal.  These are ground
wires, and I just cut them.  The other two terminals of this connector had a white and a yellow
wire connected to them.  On my van, the yellow wire was the low beams and the white was the
high beams.  You should check this on your van.

I had decided to use blue wire for the low beams, so I connected the yellow wire to a length of
blue #12, soldering and insulating as before.  I connected a length of red #12 to the white
wire, as I had decided to use red for the high and driving lights.  I routed the two wires
through the firewall to my relay location.  The blue wire I connected to the #86 terminal on
the low beam relay.  The red wire had to go two places, so I spliced in another piece of red
#12 about 2 or 3 feet long, soldering and insulating the connection.  The original end of this
red wire I connected to the #86 terminal of the high beam relay.  The other one I fished up
behind the dash and connected to the + terminal of my new switch.  I connected another piece
about the same length to the center terminal of the switch and fished it back down behind the
dash to the relays, where I connected it to the #86 terminal of the driving lights relay.  The
little terminal on the back of the switch indicator light I connected to a ground.

Now I needed to run the wires to my lights.  I used #12 for this.  I ran a blue wire from the
#87 terminal on my low beam relay to my low beam position on the new heavy duty connectory I
got from Daniel.  I had to splice into it with another piece of #12 blue as before to serve the
light on the other side.  I then ran red #12 from the #87 terminal on the high beam relay to
both high beam positions, and red #12 from the #87 terminal on the driving lights relay to both
driving lights.  I connected these wires to the non-brown wire on the driving lights.  I then
ran 4 ground wires, one from each light, to my new ground terminal strip.  I soldered and
insulated all splices.

Now I went back to the battery box.  I first disconnected my negative battery terminal.  Always
disconnect negative first so you don't accidentally short something when disconnecting the
positive.  Then I disconnected my positive battery terminal.  Clean up the terminals, nuts,
bolts, etc, with some sandpaper.  If you haven't already, take out the battery (swivel the
passenger seat so it faces backward, and then slide it all the way forward) and disconnect the
ground strap from the battery box, clean it up, remove any paint from the contact area, and
reinstall it.  Then put the battery back in.

Now I took the two red #10 wires I had run from here to the relays and installed 25 amp fuses
(and holders) on each.  I then installed a terminal on each with a hole the right size for the
battery bolt.  Then I put the positive terminal back on the battery, put these wires under the
nut, along with the one that was already there, and tightened it down.  On the negative side, I
just used a proper terminal on my new black wire.  No fuse is needed on this side.  Then I
connected up the negative terminal and my new wire to the battery.

Since my Cibie headlamps were not yet installed, I went back to the front and installed them.
They went in just like the sealed beams did.  Then, with all lights hooked up and the
connections made at the battery, I plugged the relays into the sockets.  It took some effort to
push them in.

Then, I started up the van and tested the lights.  The high and low beams work as before.  The
driving lights come on with the high beams, but only if the new switch is on.  If the new
switch is off, they stay off.  With the new wiring and relays, I gained about 1.5 volts at the
headlamps.  The headlights still go off when I turn off the key, as they did before.

The final job was to bundle all the wires, use zip ties, etc. to fasten them all down securely,
and make sure nothing was flopping around.  Then I put the new grill on.  It looks great, and
the lights are MUCH brighter.  Now I just have to aim them properly.

If anyone has an interest, I have photos of the wiring and the front of the van before and
after.

Bill in the Southwest