wiring harness by iceshark?

tnstaafl · 09-24-2004, 09:03 AM

IceShark and wiring kits:

I've been gone for a while but am finally back. Some time back, I saw lots of threads about the wiring harness modification kits IceShark built so that the headlights could be upgraded.

Anyone know if kits are still available?

Thanks,

J.R.

rb101 · 09-24-2004, 09:12 AM

there is a thread out there. But here is the web site

http://www.gururacing.net/LightUpgrade.html

IceShark · 09-25-2004, 08:44 AM

Yes, I just did a new build for people that wanted them. Drop me a line at wraydan@msn.com and I can set you up.

Besides Danno's GuruRacing site the best recent discussion was over on Rennlist started by MTM who installed the full package and took some pictures.

http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/showthread.php?t=134230&highlight=IceShark

I didn't have anything to do with the pictures so they are a legit recording of how things turned out, not a marketing scam. For me, this is just a sideline as a favor to 924/944 owners to finally see at night, not a real business. 968 guys can get most of the fixings but I don't have things set to get your unusual lenses. Not enough demand.

I see Matt's headlight thread has over 2,700 hits which is a lot considering how fast that board shoves threads to the back pages.

Anyway, let me know and I will try and help you out.

rammstein · 09-25-2004, 09:24 AM

To begin, I've been oogling these kits for awhile. I want one bad. Someday...

My question is this (and its probably stupid)- When I put on my high beams, my fogs switch from the outer bulb to the inner bulb, and the main headlights don't appear to change at all. Whats up with that? (I told you it was gonna be dumb)

IceShark · 09-25-2004, 02:54 PM

rammstein, I assume you are talking about the turbo and S2 style dual fog and driving light that actually has a driving light that will work. These are not common in North America as Bosch or Porsche never bothered to get the driving light side certified. This potential liability issue is why you can't buy the euro ones from the local Porsche dealer. And the North American wiring harness never had a factory provision for the driving lights in all the cars I've seen.

Why the fog turns off when you go to main/high beam is as follows. If you are in a fog condition having the main beam on as well as the fogs would cause so much light backscatter off the water droplets that it would ruin your vision. So the fogs shut off when you go to main beam because it is assumed you are not in fog. It is actually a lighting regulation in some countries. You can change this to keep them on by a simple power source rewire.

The driving lights could be a different issue from the previous owner. I have never seen a euro car that had the driving light wiring out of the factory in person. But I do know those were not supposed to be enabled unless main beam was lit up. You can't run those lights without bothering other drivers that are in their path. So either you have a euro spec car or the PO wired them to trigger on with the main beams. You can change this wiring to however you want it to work, also.

Now why you can't notice when you flip from dipped to main beam on the headlights could be various reasons. Poor headlights could be one but they would have to be pretty bad. But with the potential of a PO's rewiring you better consider the wiring scheme. If you look at the socket that plugs into the headlight bulb you will see the legs arragned like | _ | This is actually upside down from how it is in real life but I don't have the keystrokes to make it correct.

The left leg is a white wire and is the positive for main beam. The center horizontal is yellow and is positive for low/dipped beam. The right leg is brown and ground for both.

Put a meter on them and see what voltages are coming in. Then you will know if the problem is in the bulb/lens or upstream in the lighting wiring.

Hope this all makes sense to you.

ae1969 · 09-25-2004, 03:01 PM

IMO this is the first modification every new 944 owner should do.

The electricals on these cars are well past there prime.

Dan's kits are great. I even noticed my dash lights running brighter....and those pictures on Rennlist are no exageration. It is like night and day.

I liked them so much I bought two.

rammstein · 09-26-2004, 06:45 PM

I did some closer investigating this evening- my high beams (or mains as you've said) cause the following to happen-

1) The fog lights go out

2) The driving lights come on (the inner part of the fog assembly)

3) The headlights themselves DO get brighter. I was wrong about that.

SO- I assume this means that your kit only changes out the bulbs in the 7" rounds. But I am stilla bit miffed about the driving lights... am I supposed to have these or does this mean somebody has been tinkering with it?

IceShark · 09-26-2004, 08:01 PM

I wouldn't be miffed about a PO putting in the Euro fog/driving lights, but, yes, they are probably different than what the car was delivered to North America with. Those cost around $150 each plus whatever in wiring and switches (a pro doing it with quality materials would probably be a double in labor and supplies). You can change the way they work if you want.

My "Full Boat" headlight package changes more than the bulbs. It is new Cibie E-Code lenses, bulbs, voltage regulator, wiring harness. You can't get that sort of lighting improvement just changing out bulbs despite what you may read on E-Bay. You have to go all out, balls to the wall. And that is what I do.

rammstein · 09-27-2004, 05:47 PM

The pics really do look impressive. Hopefully sometime soon... when the $$$ start to flow

IceShark · 09-28-2004, 06:49 AM

Save those pennies and put it on your Christmas list.

The other thing you may notice is your whole car will work better. Like gauges that used to be flukey will actually start to work OK. When I designed the harness I had to do something about grounding as too much juice was being lost to resistance. So I added supplemental grounds which not only solved part of the headlights' problems but jumped up the entire car's electrical system voltage.

So when you fix the headlights right you will get unexpected benefits elsewhere.

Alex, I still remember packing your box with the pair of headlight packages and pair of battery cable kits and filling out the customs forms. That baby weighed in over 30 lbs.

toolboy62 · 09-28-2004, 08:18 AM

Dan's kit flat out rocks, you have no idea how much brighter the lights are with the new harness in there. I still haven't gotten around to installing the bulbs that came with the kit, I just put some 55/60W bulbs that I had laying around in the new reflectors and even those are so much brighter than stock it's unbelievable. I can see! The beam pattern of the lights is excellent and the increased voltage really makes a noticeable difference in the color and intensity of the light. Even on low beam I have absolutely no problem reading road signs (due to the "kickup" of the E-code beam pattern) and the really reflective ones pop out at you like you wouldn't believe.

You *could* get the same results by putting together your own wiring harness and just buying the Cibie lights, but the quality of Dan's stuff is such that at least for me it wasn't worth the effort to save a few measly bucks. It's very rare that I can look at an aftermarket "homemade" part and say "this is as good as or better than I would have made it myself" and this *definitely* falls into that category. Good stuff.

As a side benefit, the Transpo voltage regulator has kicked up the system voltage enough that even at the dash gauge I'm reading a consistent 13-13.5V where before it was barely over 12. Makes me feel a little better. At the alternator it's putting out a hair over 14V which should be just about right for a 12V battery. There is no noticeable voltage drop in the headlight harness, whereas before any mods I wasn't even getting 12V at the headlights (this is why it works so well.)

nate

IceShark · 09-28-2004, 08:56 AM

As Nate said one of the keys to headlight performance is voltage level. Most people don't realize the impact on a halogen bulb. Light output will vary at the 3.4th power to voltage changes. So lose 15% voltage and the lumen output drops 50%. The other way around, increase 15% v and you pop light output 100%.

Now you can't go crazy on voltage increases with a bulb that has a design voltage of 13.5, or so, as you will shorten the life of the filament too much. But the voltage delivered to the bulbs on stock wiring in our cars can be in the area of 10.5v pretty easy. Get it up to 14 and amazing things happen. Combine with some 90/100 watt H4 bulbs and increases in the range of 450% in light output is actually sort of common.