The ultimate headlight upgrade H4 (not LED or HID)

It’s interesting that this happened so near mine. I was about to jump on here and see if anyone had issues with the harness. I went to drive my truck last night, and headlights wouldn’t come on at all, low or high beams. Diagnosed it today, and there’s power coming from the truck, getting to the relays, but no power making it to the headlight plugs at all. The Rallylights harness also has this resistor or diode box on the input plug from the truck. With the light switch on the thing would get so hot I couldn’t hold it very quickly. I’m not sure if that was the problem, but it’s obviously a harness problem. Pulled the harness, looking for another solution. Sucks to pay $120 or so for a product that only lasts a few years max. I had a problem with one of the ceramic plugs breaking/melting at the light as well.

 

Research shows it is a resistor. I’m going to assume the resistor fried. Resistors have to be mounted to a metal surface for a heat sink to avoid overheating. Rallylights has it tied to the harness itself.

I wonder why they put a resistor after the truck plug input side?

 

I don't recall mine, my son's, or a friend's harnesses having any component like the one pictured. Neither have we had any problems with our ceramic plugs in the years since installing.

Are you conventional- or ground-switched? When and from where did you buy your harness?

 

You have a ground switched harness. A resister like that is supposed to get hot, they are only used on the ground switched harness by Rallylights. Pull a relay and use a multimeter to determine if you are getting voltage in the terminals. If so you just need to replace the relay with the ones I linked. If not it sounds like the resister. Does your vehicle have headlight DRLs?

The Headlight Services harness is higher quality and lower cost, it also does not use a resister and has better ceramic plugs:
http://www.headlightservices.com/4runner3.html

 

I ordered mine through Rallylights after finding this thread. I’ve had it 2-3 years. It’s ground switched. I have a 1st gen with H4 bulbs.

 

No DRLs. That harness looks better made. It looks like that resistor is built in to fully illuminate the high beam indicator bulb according to your link there.

 

And they mention they don’t include it to eliminate risk. If your resister is bad you could just bypass it, and your high beam indicator will just be a bit dimmer.

 

I’ve got a broken plug too. I emailed Rallylights about just to see what they say. I’ll decide what to do after I hear from them.

 

If anyone is looking to purchase bulbs from https://www.powerbulbs.com/, they're running a "25% off everything" special with code GT25. Worldwide shipping is FREE. (As an example, a pair of OSRAM Super Bright Premium High Wattage Headlight Bulb 9003 (HB2/H4) costs less than $25.)

Happy shopping!

 

In addition to what @crashnburn80 has already stated, let me add one more thought. I can't tell you how many times I've seen pictures of various lights and somebody says they "look brighter." The problem is, looking brighter and putting more usable light where its needed are generally two different things. For instance, lots of aftermarket LED headlight replacement bulbs look brighter. (The internet is full of these.) The truth is, there is indeed more light - aimed at your eyes and not onto the ground where it's needed. So they indeed look brighter. But it's mostly just glare and it doesn't do anybody any good. More light and more usable light are not always the same thing.

The only way I'll buy a claim of "brighter" lights is where it's backed up with the kind of instrumented, unbiased, scientific testing that @crashnburn80 does. You'll rarely see that from manufacturers.

 

Quick update, Headlightservices harness installed burning https://www.powerbulbs.com/us/product/osram-super-bright-premium-h4 and I am very happy. As crash mentioned, way more light but no flashers because it’s still a halogen bulb in a halogen lens. Burning This along with Crash’s fog lamp mod with 2K * paint cap mod. We have some weather here in Gloucester tomorrow afternoon/evening, even if I’m home already from work I’ll go for a rip around the point to reaffirm my satisfaction.
A photo of the point;

 

So I pulled the trigger on these ..

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Figuring it would be smart to have an all season bulb for inclement weather (although living in So Cal, we barely see rain but these past few days have been stormy) And having regular bulbs for the spring / summer. If I had a garage, Id be doing the same rotation with tires. But anyways, Hope I get my all seasons before the next rain day and see how they perform. Needless to say, I need a case to hold the spares in my truck, Any suggestions?

For those of you who are on the fence on the harness, get it! I do not regret the upgrade and @crashnburn80 has the best info on lighting, hands down. My next upgrade will probably be organizing the wiring under the hood. Right now it looks like a mess according to my OCD. Then fog lights upgrade and rear backup lights research (provided by @crashnburn80).

 

Both those bulbs are All Seasons, one is the high power 85/80w and the other Super is the mid-power 75/68w listed as a stock 60/55w bulb. Both good bulbs and big improvements over stock.

For the OCD way to carry spares (note that is an H4 and H7, not twin H4s):
https://www.amazon.co.uk/UNIVERSAL-...HHRN4HMHH2C&psc=1&refRID=1FP7ZVSW8HHRN4HMHH2C

Osram and others also make special spare bulb carrying boxes for H4s for use in the motorcycle market, since having your only headlight go out would be pretty bad. Someone has to sell these individually but they come in Osram blister packs for motorcycles:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Osram-6419...0YMH4BNVRNY&psc=1&refRID=4W0JZ9QXN0YMH4BNVRNY

As for the fogs, I hope to share some cool fog updates this evening in the fog thread.

 

Headlight went out on my girl's Rav4. Stopped by an auto parts store for some bulbs. I was possibly considering Silverstar Ultra bulbs, but at $50+ each, you'd think the quality might be better. Settled for the Silverstar basics for now.



The stock bulbs are Philips.

 

9012s

Any blue coating reduces output, so less coating is better. If you wanted the best 9012s, check out these Volsa +30s:
https://store.candlepower.com/bvohi93subrl.html

 

Still got the receipt? You're going to be disappointed. Regular Silverstars have a very short life. Ultras are only a little better. And as for the promised dramatic increase in light output? Not so much.

 

I like that little bulb case! My spare bulbs are not anywhere near that organized right now.

 

Wasn't a lot to choose from at the store. If they carried Philips or Nokya, I would have bought those instead.

 

I have a quick question for you guys so I have a 2017 TRD off-road with the LED strips can you swap out those headlights for an SR5 model that have the amber running lights like the second generation Tacoma’s

 

Did the SR5s of the same year not have the LED strip? If so then yes it should be possible, you just need to find whatever wiring component is different and add/subtract it as well. This is probably easiest to research by looking at threads for adding the LED DRL to trucks that didn’t have it, and then doing the reverse process of whatever is required to add it. I’ve seen threads with guys that have the 2016 trucks that didn’t have the LED DRL add it.

Best part is you could probably make money off a headlight swap, might want to see if a local member with a similarly new truck is willing to do a trade. If I had a 3rd Gen, I’d be doing the same thing.