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High Quality H4 Headlight and Relay Harness Upgrade- Best H4 Lighting Available!


importwarrior
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This was Created by the theastronaut

 

I bought an '87 TSi and the stock headlights were terrible! I've done this mod on a couple other cars and the difference is incredible. Pre-made harnesses are available but this who knows what quality they are and if they'll fit without lengthening wires or having extra wires stuffed everywhere. This way the harness is an exact fit and can be hidden from sight.

 

The headlights are Cibie H4 E-code, 200mm. They fit in the stock headlight buckets with zero modifications and use the same plug style as the factory headlights. Just the lights alone are a MAJOR improvement over sealed beams.

 

I used clear Hella 80/100 watt H4 bulbs. Great quality bulbs at a good price. No funky blue coating that diminishes the amount of light output.

 

 

 

List of parts used for harness:

 

12g wire, 1 roll of red and one roll of black.

 

 

14g wire. Used for grounding and powering the relays.

 

 

Heat shrink tubing.

 

 

Equipment for crimping/soldering the connectors.

 

 

Ring connectors for 12g wiring- ring sized to fit battery terminals. Four needed.

 

 

Electrical tape to tightly wrap the harness once you have everything in place.

 

 

Split wiring loom to protect the harness- especially in the headlight door area. You'll probably need two different diameter of tubing.

 

 

Relay kit including relay socket and fuse holder. 2 needed (one high beam and one low beam). These are DUAL 87 relays so you can run two headlights off each relay.

 

http://www.ebay.com/...d868812&vxp=mtr

 

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/Mzg5WDUwMA==/z/E-wAAOxyiOxR0bLQ/$(KGrHqJ,!qwFG6+HOg2cBR0bLQmkt!~~60_12.JPG

 

 

 

 

Ceramic H4 sockets. These are melt proof- needed with higher wattage bulbs.

 

http://www.ebay.com/...S-/141257141885

 

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/Mzc1WDUwMA==/z/ywcAAOxyjNlR0cvX/$(KGrHqJHJFUFHLmP6NHIBR0cv(M9Pw~~60_12.JPG

 

 

 

 

Male H4 socket kits. Two needed. These will plug into the existing headlight wiring.

 

http://www.ebay.com/...d1e38d5&vxp=mtr

 

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/$(KGrHqF,!i8E2LC6V3m8BNlzOfJSsg~~_1.JPG

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't have an overall diagram so I'll explain what to do. I'll work on making a diagram and post it later. (edit- diagram added) The relays will come with a layout of the prongs; refer to that diagram when wiring the relays. I'll post a layout of the H4 sockets as well. Using unwired sockets lets you run your wire straight into the socket with zero splicing.

 

http://i557.photobucket.com/albums/ss14/theastronaut/RelayHarnessDiagram.png

 

 

 

I went ahead and mounted my relays in the car first. This way you know how long each wire needs to be. You'll pretty much be building the harness in the car, test fitting each section for length and pulling it out to crimp/solder each connection. Then pull the harness out to wrap it once it's finished. Make sure you build it so that the harness can be removed!!

 

 

Basic layout:

 

Each relay needs to be grounded. I use the ground side of the factory headlight sockets. So one 14g wire from the ground post of the relay to the ground side of the MALE H4 socket.

 

Mark one relay "high" and the other "low".

 

Pick one of the factory headlight sockets to power the low beam relay. Run a wire from the MALE H4 socket to the appropriate low beam relay socket.

 

Use the other factory headlight socket to power the high beam relay.

 

Use the ring connector, inline fuse holder, and 12g wire to run power to the relay straight from the positive battery terminal to each of the relay sockets. Use a separate wire for each relay.

 

From the relay, use the red 12g wire to go from each of the 87 terminals of the low beam relay out to the two ceramic H4 connectors.

 

Repeat for the high beam relay/ceramic sockets.

 

Run a 12g ground wire from each ceramic H4 connector back to the negative battery post.

 

 

 

 

H4 socket layout:

 

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/Images/H4_Pinout.jpg

 

 

 

 

Headlights used:

 

Cibie 200mm E-code H4's. I found mine on ebay but they're hard to find there. Daniel Stern Lighting stocks them, and he has them with built in city lights as an option. There are plenty of cheaper H4 lights available but none that match the light output of these. Research Cibie lights if you're not familiar with the brand. Hella's would be my second choice but their light output is nowhere near as nice. Plus Hella's high beam is aimed too high compared to the low beams.

 

Don't use cheap ebay H4's!! The light output is terrible!!

 

http://www.danielste...s/products.html

 

http://i557.photobucket.com/albums/ss14/theastronaut/Facebook/September%2019%202011/10492356_10154270961530468_7190825131850132059_n.jpg

 

http://i557.photobucket.com/albums/ss14/theastronaut/Facebook/September%2019%202011/10348392_10154287702630468_3933194693578013396_n.jpg

 

 

 

And some action shots. Extremely sharp cut-off on low beams for reduced glare even with higher wattage bulbs. There's no back glare in rain or fog so you won't need fog lights.

 

http://i557.photobucket.com/albums/ss14/theastronaut/Mobile%20Uploads/image-2.jpg

 

http://i557.photobucket.com/albums/ss14/theastronaut/Mobile%20Uploads/image-3.jpg

 

 

http://i557.photobucket.com/albums/ss14/theastronaut/Mobile%20Uploads/image-4.jpg

 

http://i557.photobucket.com/albums/ss14/theastronaut/Mobile%20Uploads/image-5.jpg

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I have used this on my old 79 F150

 

http://www.wildhorse...adlight_Harness

 

I had to extend the wires to reach the head lights because this was designed

for 77 and earlier broncos but it worked great.

getting power directly from the battery straight to the head lights by relay.

the output of the lights was a big difference.

also with the diode you can turn on high beams and both the high and low beams

stay on. if you don't want that simply unplug the diode.

 

The Diode is hard to see, it is underneath the red wires by relays light blue.

 

simply plug in the harness to your stock headlight plug and run the harness, mount the relays, done.

 

http://cdn.wildhorses4x4.com/images/uploads/7125_1821_popup.jpg

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