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LED headlights

I got mine from eBay, and I also got these instructions from a helpful person!
 

Attachments

  • Headlight Relay Kit installation instructions.pdf
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Agreed, but sometimes people get things that don't direct-match. For instance, I'll likely put in four hi-lo bulbs, instead of two hi-lo and two hi-only. The ones I change, will require adaptors.

Zip ties are an amazing contraption, too - you can make your connection, then wrap one of them around it to hold it tight.
 
72sunroof said:
The lack of resistance makes the relay thinks the lights are on and the doors open when the ignition is turned on. Drove me nuts fkr about an hour till I remembered that leds have no resistance.
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The relay is not activated by any resistance need, just need the headlight switch signal as trigger to open doors. Relay ( so does the motor) will work even without headlights installed with plugs hanging around. Is a plain and basic relay without any light sensing need. Juts like horn relay, which even without horns you could heard the click of horn relay working and power leaving the relay, just going nowhere.

You can even disconect the motor, and relay will still work. IN FACT with headlights off the relay still feeds the motor to close doors and keeps hot that wire while ign system is in RUN.

If you got some troubles is not because that.
 
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Nacho-RT74 said:
The relay is not activated by any resistance need, just need the headlight switch signal as trigger to open doors. Relay ( so does the motor) will work even without headlights installed with plugs hanging around. Is a plain and basic relay without any light sensing need. Juts like horn relay, which even without horns you could heard the click of horn relay working and power leaving the relay, just going nowhere.

You can even disconect the motor, and relay will still work. IN FACT with headlights off the relay still feeds the motor to close doors and keeps hot that wire while ign system is in RUN.

If you got some troubles is not because that.
Click to expand...

No, I can confirm everything 72sunroof says. I have a '71 Charger with concealed headlamp doors and switched to LED headlights. Door would stay open with highs off, headlight switch off, and ignition on (and there would still be a little bit of light). Doors would close properly if I swapped the old halogens back in. It's the resistance. You need to add some parallel with the non-highs wiring.
 
FALSE FALSE FALSE... you got another problem or something incorrectly wired. As mentioned the relay for the hidden headlight system will work even without lights installed. The hideaways relay just need the trigger from ign switch green wire. The hideaways relay works even with any of high and low beams activated the same because the trigger for it is before the floor dimmer switch.

Jus like a horn relay, it will put power out even without horns installed. There is not any sensing needed on any of both systems.
 
Natcho is correct. I had to make up the relay and circuit breaker for my 72 since there was not one in the car when I got it. No special sensing circuits, just a simple relay.
 
Nacho-RT74 said:
FALSE FALSE FALSE... you got another problem or something incorrectly wired. As mentioned the relay for the hidden headlight system will work even without lights installed. The hideaways relay just need the trigger from ign switch green wire. The hideaways relay works even with any of high and low beams activated the same because the trigger for it is before the floor dimmer switch.

Jus like a horn relay, it will put power out even without horns installed. There is not any sensing needed on any of both systems.
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I just went out to my car, unplugged all headlights, and the concealed doors stay in the open position, just like with connected LEDs without resistance. I guess I have a car that's magically "incorrectly wired" just like a bunch of others, huh? Must have been that one drunk dude in the Chrysler plant that did them all in just the same wrong way.
 
Now your going to make me go out and see if my 72 doors stay open with the headlights unplugged. And I made the relay.
 
Paul_G said:
Now your going to make me go out and see if my 72 doors stay open with the headlights unplugged. And I made the relay.
Click to expand...

According to the third link above the original factory relay may just be behaving differently than everyone thinks, or at least a significant percentage of original factory relays. There really isn't another explanation.
 
Paul_G said:
Now your going to make me go out and see if my 72 doors stay open with the headlights unplugged. And I made the relay.
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Try it... with confidence! It will work. The Relay has its own life independently from what is sourcing. Just opens/close the path as soon the internal solenoid is triggered or not and just need positive and negative signals arriving to work.

Just like horns relay... you will unplug the horns and the relay will click the same. Or even the starter relay without starter motor

The feed for the headlight motor it comes from RUN circuit. The headlight signal ( before the floor dimmer switch ) just triggers in or out the feed for the close or the open circuit To the motor, but the Ign switch needs to be on RUN position for both.

Cars with the courtesy headlights delay could work diff thought, remaining door open as soon headlights goes off if you activated the function. But I haven't checked that circuit yet.
 
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Read the thread KernDog just started at the electrical board. He is having similar problen described by you and is not on Led lights.

As mentioned once again, you ( and some others ) could be getting a problem which is not related to the leds or incandescent/halogens setup, but something appart of that. And is not related with hideaways setup either because hideaways system gets its own life, appart of the kind of lights being used.
 
Adding resistors from the purple wire (low-beam path) to ground (two 12-ohm heat-sink resistors in series, get a little warm but that's it) solved the issue. I would note that resistance is already present on the high-beam path because of the circuit through the dash high-beam indicator, which is an ordinary incandescent bulb (5 ohms unlit as I measured)... if I ever replaced the dash lights with LEDs I might have an issue on that circuit as well. I'm done discussing the issue, everything works now. Future readers can either try or not try this solution as suits them.
 
Cool, but still doesn't make sense for me at least. Headlights and relays are not like blinkers where the flashers need loads to operate.

And I will tell you why doesn't make sense: Upgrading the headlights with relays with incandescent or even halogens there is no load anymore on the light switch or floor dimmer switch circuit, since the loads are running throught the 30 and 87 terminals on relays. The trigger signal for headlights which is the same than the hideaways relay is taking is just activating a solenoid without any significative load to feed lights but just a magnet coil. That's preciselly the deal with the headlights relays.

So, with the loads running throught the headlight relays and not anymore through the light switch circuit hideaways still will work ( has been made many times, and I made it myself on a Charger 70 in Venezuela ). The situation should be the same than using leds... with or without relays for them.

just my two cents.
 
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My 72 will open and close the headlight doors all day long with all four headlights unplugged. Tested it today.
 
I just made this quick video to explain the wiring diagram for the headlight doors on my 72. Keep in mind the door motor relies on ground to function, same thing for the headlight switch. Also, the "ingition on", which provides "battery power" for the headlight door circuit breaker and relay, goes away when you turn the ignition off. If the headlight doors are open when ignition is turned off they stay open till the ignition is turned back on. That is so you can clean the headlights without having the headlights and ignition on.

 
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Paul_G said:
My 72 will open and close the headlight doors all day long with all four headlights unplugged. Tested it today.
Click to expand...

This prooves as I repeatedly mentioned no load or sensing is required for the hideaways motor to work.

And yes, the hideaways motor relay is sourced from Ign circuit to be able to service them with doors open and key off without keep the lights on to keep doors open.

Linked to Ign1 ( RUN ) circuit, but could be sourced from ACC circuit too if the hideaways system is being added, not factory.
 
BTW, check the last update on Kern Dog's thread. The problem it had was a leaking voltage into the hideaways relay. He never advertised the problem with stock system because the load stock headlight require to light on is bigger than the internal leak was able to feed. The problem floated on as he upgraded the headlights with relays. Relays are able to work with minimal voltage and load so being activated, the load turning on the lights was able to return to the hideaways relay throught the relays upgrade and stock wiring, floor dimmer switch and keep activated the light circuit into the stock system, included the motor relay.

In your case, with leds installed could be pretty much the same load required to turn on the lights than a relay upgrade for regular headlights and feed back the hideaways relay, so then there is a reason why adding a resistor will work like a regular headlight, limiting the voltage and load to keep hot enough the trigger circuit for the hideaways.

Just thinking out loud.

Time to check your hideaways relay conditions :thumbsup:
 
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