Date: Sun, 17 Nov 2013 11:25:56 -0500
Reply-To: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: High beams not working-lighting upgrades!
In-Reply-To: <84F3A4C7-8C6B-485D-9EE5-74C0447E665E@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Actually it is not that difficult to improve the wiring to more of the
alternator output available for lighting. Start with the harness from the
alternator to the battery cable at the starter. If you were wiring a house
or building a 100 amp circuit would probably be #2 or larger. As a test turn
on everything for .5 hour so and then check that wire to see how hot it is.
The insulation will actually soften. Rev the engine and measure the voltage
drop. You will be surprised. So upgrade this with a #4. Now up front for all
the 87+ Vanagons with AC there are two wires going from the battery terminal
to the fuse box area. One goes to the box and the other is the feed for the
super high speed radiator fan. Since this fan speed is rarely used this can
be a tap or better yet parallel the two together. Now you have a good feed
source for your headlight relays or eve the stock headlight switch. The
ultimate would also be to upgrade the wiring all the way to the lights.
You could also just run another wire from the alternator to the front. I ran
2. One goes to the fuse box and the other to charge the auxiliary battery.
Dennis
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Frank Condelli
Sent: Sunday, November 17, 2013 5:46 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: High beams not working-lighting upgrades!
The relays are not installed to make it possible to add high watt
bulbs, that's just a side attraction. The main reason for adding the relays
is that the headlamp circuit has too many resistance gouging devices in the
path to the headlights. Just go measure the voltage at your headlights
without the relays, you will find it's about 9.5v not 12 as it should be.
AND, since some of these resistance gouging items are switches with small
contact points surrounded by plastic which melts when the contact points are
overheated the switch fails. Headlamp switch and ignition switch are the
ones that normally fail. So..the real reason for installing the headlight
relays is to save those two switches from melting and to get more voltage to
the headlights. With my relay kit you will get 11.5v at the headlights. To
get the full 12v you need to redo all the OEM wiring with larger gauge wire,
not really worth the trouble unless you like doing that sort of thing for
the extra 1/2v.
On Nov 16, 2013, at 8:32 PM, Automatic digest processor
<LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> wrote:
> With all above said, I think relays are a good idea though, especially
> if you're constantly running high wattage units on a sustained basis.
> I've just never had the need for it.
Cheers,
Frank Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
'87 VW Westy, '00 Kawasaki 250 Sherpa, "98 Ducati 750 Monster & Lionel
Trains (Collection for sale) Frank Condelli & Associates - Vanagon/Vanagon
Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley BusFusion a VW Camper camping event,
Almonte, ON, June 05 ~ 08, 2014
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