Headlight relay wiring on right track?

Shoepop · 06-27-2010, 01:20 PM

I'm VERY inept electrically. Will this work for high beam only, 30 amp relay and will use one for each headlight. I have looked at various posts and came away still confused

HarryD · 06-27-2010, 01:56 PM

Yes, it should work. You need to add the following:

Since each head lamp has it's own fused circuit, you will need to attach Pin 87 to the wires going to BOTH headlamps. If you look, you will find a relay with one coil and two #87 contacts just for this purpose (i.e. it will have 5 pins: 30, 85, 86, 87, and 87).

What year is your car? You need to connect pin 86 to the correct part of the fuse panel to pick up the signal from the headlamp switch.

You only need a 20 amp fuse for both lamps unless you are going over 100 Watts per bulb.

Use #12 THHN Wire (you can get at a decent hardware store) and follow the DIN Wiring conventions. For the Power from the battery (pin 30), use Red, for the circuit from the relay to the headlamp (pins 86 and 87) use White. For the ground (pin 85), use Brown.

stlrj · 02:16 PM

Yes it will, but I would suggest you use the relay for the low beams instead since 99% of your night time driving is on low. That's what my mechanic recommended when I did mine and he seems to be right.

Also, I would intercept the dimmer circuit #86 from the input of the low beam headlamp fuse(s) inside the fuse panel and use the same fuse(s) as the output on #87. That way you would keep your rewiring to a minimum and still maintain the stock over current protection on your headlight which is the way all OEM headlamp relays are wired.

Cheers,

Joe electrician (commercial)
74 911 w/ 86 3.2 transplant

Shoepop · 06-27-2010, 02:25 PM

Thanks all, Harry I was hoping you would chime in your posts were some of the ones I read but was confused because your diagrams at least the ones I read included hi/low, fogs driving lights etc. My car is a 67 with H1's 55/55 now. I live/drive in an area that is pretty remote and my night vision ain't what it used to be so needing all the help I can get.

HarryD · 06-27-2010, 02:50 PM

Just trying to help. You need only worry about the top two headlamp parts of my drawings. The rest are just long range planning on my part.

For a '67 the Pelican part needs modification (BTW my first Porsche was a '67 912 Targa).

If you go with higher wattages, replace your headlamp connector with a ceramic unit so the excess heat does not melt the plug. Daniel Stern offers a nice part for this application (made by Hella).

HarryD · 04:50 PM

This is all you really need:

If your wiring is like a 65, then you will find your high beams on Fuses 11 and 12 and you low beams on fuses 9 and 10. Otherswise the fuse box numbers I show are correct.

schumicat · 06-27-2010, 03:13 PM

You can buy a $25 J West relay kit from Pelican that puts high and low beams on relays and it is prewired for easy installation.

HarryD · 06-27-2010, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by schumicat

You can buy a $25 J West relay kit from Pelican that puts high and low beams on relays and it is prewired for easy installation.

Schumi,

The kit is for 1974+ cars. It can be modified to an early car but the instructions ar eno lnger valid.

Trackrash · Trackrash's Garage

Quote:

I live/drive in an area that is pretty remote and my night vision ain't what it used to be so needing all the help I can get.

Quote:

Yes it will, but I would suggest you use the relay for the low beams instead since 99% of your night time driving is on low. That's what my mechanic recommended when I did mine and he seems to be right.

+1

You REALLY need to address the low beams in my opinion. I found this out the hard way on my '71. The low beam wires are thinner than the high beam wires. I melted my fuse block when I went to 80w low beams.
I agree, low beam is where you need to make it brighter. I went to 80/100 watt and now I can see at night.

cmcfaul · cmcfaul's Garage

I installed one of the relay kits on my 73 911. Works flawlessly and a very clean installition. The instructions were a little off for my car but they walked me through it in about 15 minutes.

It's a two relay setup. I wired it up and attached it to the screw holding my fuse box cover. Looks profrssional.

Chris
73 911 E

ShakinJoe · 06-29-2010, 05:08 AM

I thought there are a bunch of posts on this??

JeremyD · JeremyD's Garage

a few of my favorites

Headlight Relays Redux

When installing headlight relays...

I am getting ready to do this for the 2nd time...

Shoepop · 06-29-2010, 06:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShakinJoe

I thought there are a bunch of posts on this??

You thought right give yourself a gold star. The reason for my post was to produce a diagram a 1'st grader could follow 'it sure looks like one drew it doesn't it

' and confirm it would work, mission accomplished.

80-911SC · 80-911SC's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shoepop

You thought right give yourself a gold star. The reason for my post was to produce a diagram a 1'st grader could follow 'it sure looks like one drew it doesn't it

' and confirm it would work, mission accomplished.

that first one you posted worked ????

i would think $25 and fifteen minutes was simple enough ?

I had to be complicated and use 5 relays and made the harness(2-high,2-low,1-fog)
took a whole weekend but was a good bonding experience with my car ......

spent about 100 bucks total