The ultimate headlight upgrade H4 (not LED or HID)

Good, I didn't see it on the side of the new box. That was a concern and if the new higher wattage bulb didn't for some reason I was going to take a flier on the Chinese bulbs since they were.

Are you aware of a quality wiring harness available on eBay or at least something close to the quality of the one you prefer in the OP of this thread? I ask because there's something I want to check out involving buying the bulbs as well as a harness on eBay. If it works out I'll share the details. I just don't want to skimp and get some cheaply made harness that could cause me problems down the road.

For instance, here's one from a US seller that's $40 shipped that uses ceramic harnesses for the H4 bulb side but doesn't state what gauge wiring is used (looks like 14ga maybe from the pics?) and it doesn't use Bosch relays which concerns me as well. Seems this is common among all the eBay offerings for H4 harnesses that I've found on eBay.

 

I think typically the ebay harnesses are geared toward price vs quality. I'm not aware of any specifically. You could always contact the seller and ask for specifics. That harness you linked to is odd in that you must ground each headlamp individually, I've not seen one like that. The rallylights harness and the other one I linked earlier are 12 gauge wiring, which is overkill but delivers maximum performance.

Things to looks for would be:
-Wire gauge (Ideally 12 gauge)
-Relay brand (Bosch, Hella or similar quality brand is desired)
-Fuse rating (stock is 10amp/each, Rallylights is 15amp/each)

If you were really set to cut costs, the TRS H4 harness uses quality relays but is 14 gauge and is significantly cheaper than Rallylights. Not "ultimate" but upgrade over stock. I'd go that route over an eBay no-name 14 gauge harness. If a relay fails because it was an inferior part, you lose your headlights, which is not ideal to say the least.

 

The reason I asked was because there was a $15 off of $75 @ eBay but that has since expired so it's not a big deal now. I'll probably just order the bulbs via eBay and then search for a reasonably priced harness with reasonable shipping fees and order that up. I was trying to get fancy and order both from eBay to utilize that $15 off but there really weren't any harnesses that I could find that seemed to meet the minimum requirements I was looking for. I was hoping that maybe you knew of something I wasn't aware of you could point me towards but it seems what I've seen is about all that eBay has to offer. I guess I'll check other sources to find something that uses components that do meet my minimum requirements w/o breaking the bank.

ETA: You say you linked to other harnesses and I read this whole thread before I started posting and I didn't see another link other than the one to RallyLights that was $92 plus absurd shipping. Did you post to one that was similar components for less money that I missed? Prefer 12ga if possible and prefer Bosch (Hella also acceptable) relays so let me know what you found.

ETA: D'oh! Never mind. I see that you posted it in post #438 recently that was a direct reply to me.

Thanks!

 

can't find link Crash? and ebay link just goes to ebay


Sorry but afraid to order. too many things that could be wrong


Can you get me link once free. no rush kid. can be whenever. I'm not a light pro like you

 

Provided a few posts up:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/OSRAM-H4-BI...00-90W-2PCS-62204SPB-/111692984549?rmvSB=true

Mine just arrived today, I have them sitting on my desk.

 

sorry blind!!! got it now. Ordering as i type. thanks

 

I got a reply from a couple of the lesser expensive ones and one said it has 18ga wire and the other said 16ga on the harness and 12ga on the power wire.

 

I think stock is 18 gauge, so that is hardly an upgrade. I wouldn't bother unless the entire harness is 14 or less. The TRS harness is 14 gauge for $30, why bother with something smaller at that price point?

The harness is only as great as the weakest link, for maximum performance you will want the largest gauge possible throughout the entire harness, which is why I recomended the harnesses built entirely in 12 gauge.

 

It may be coincidence, but I'm just wondering if upgrading my lights and harness could be related to a failing alternator.
After I did the upgrade around february my alternator went out. Didn't think much about it as it had 120000 plus on it with not an easy life. Had it replaced with the less expensive option at the dealer. Now my battery light just came on after six months and about 20k. Been doing a lot of night driving recently. I realize it might not be related, but it has me wondering. Anybody with any ideas?

 

You can always look into the big three upgrade. This is mostly for people with upgraded sound systems in their vehicle but it can't hurt either way. The only problem you may run into is trying to get a better wire to the alternator since our alternators are on the bottom of the engine.
@Hartford

https://youtu.be/gnmXKjm3tZE

 

The upgraded harness and bulbs draw an extra 50w at max. The amount is negligible for the alternator, assuming your truck is otherwise near stock electrically. In short, no it is not related.

A failing alternator will often take out a battery. I would get your system tested to be sure, most auto parts stores will do it for free. What was the "less expensive option" you used?

Another upgrade option to look at would be to use the higher output OEM version that came as part of the tow package. That should be plug and play.

All that said, if it was replaced at the dealer, it may still be under warranty depending on how they account for mileage.

 

Put in a brand new battery after they replaced the alternator. The cheaper option was a reman instead of brand new factory unit.

Thank you both for the replies.

 

So I got everything together and installed this yesterday.
C&B80 seems to think that I am the first to do the install with the combined harness from Rally Lights, and once I got over an initial bit of over-thinking (and got some help from C&B80!) it was very straightforward.
My issue to start was trying to figure out where I was supposed to plug the harness into. Luckily C&B80 was checking his PMs here and replied that all I had to do was plug it into the lead going to the left headlight. I was initially thinking that I was going to have to plug it into something in the fuse box, where that original lead is wired into.
DOH!
Once that issue was out of the way it was simply routing wires and zip tying everything so all of the wires were secure and out of the way.
I ended up going with the Vosla 60/55w +100 H4 from http://store.candlepower.com/64205.html for a little more bulb life, and used the FLOSSER H11 90W for the Fogs, bought off of Ebay from someone who had them for sale out in California.

The combined harness was great. The leads for the fog lamp on the left side were a bit long, probably had at least an extra 12" - 18" to work with under there, but the rest of the measurements were spot on. Very little slack to take up on the rest of the wires.
I was done well before dark last night, so I didn't take it out for a spin once the sun went down, but as soon as I do get some nighttime driving in I will be sure to report back with the results, but as far as the install goes, this was pretty straightforward.
(Besides my initial hiccup, the only issue I ran into was the damn spring clip on the right headlamp fell off while taking the bulb out, and it took me 20 minutes easy fat finger that damn spring back in there the way it is supposed to be. I was about to lose my mind on that one!)
Thanks to Crash & Burn for doing the legwork on this one!
And There should now be an extra male trigger clip available to someone up at Rally Lights because I believe when I ordered and shipped mine to him, they were sold in a pair.
Thanks Again for the help Crash!
I'll report back once I get it out in the dark!
TjB

 

I'm not aware of anyone else running a combined harness for the headlight and foglight upgrade in one. Unfortunately it didn't provide much of a cost savings but may help clean up the wiring. Is the shared power lead 12 gauge, or larger?

I've had the same thing happen to me on the right headlamp clip. Maddening fighting with that stupid thing in that confined space.

Thanks for providing the extra male clip for the H11s! You might mention that in the other thread. The Volsa's sound like a promising replacement to the outgoing 70w bulbs. I'd still recommend the 85w for superior output but completely understand those that want longer lasting bulbs.

 

Thanks,
I'll post that up in the Fog light thread...
And I'm betting that I am going to see enough of a difference even with the slightly lower power.
And without looking at it I am going to say that the shared power leads were at least 12 gauge. The whole thing was very beefy, and very well put together.
I'll take some pics in the next few days, but it is pretty standard stuff...

 

I took it out last night after shutting the computer down for the night, and all I can say is WOW!
What an amazing difference.
The low beams on the headlights now seem brighter than what the high beams were before, but the cutoff on top is still below where I assume they will bother oncoming drivers, and the Fog lights light up so much more of the sides of the road that there will be precious little of Virginia's ridiculous deer population that will catch me off guard.
What a difference. Outstanding Mod!
Thanks C&B80!

 

Great! I'll update the original post with the Volsa's since the 70w Hypers are no longer available.

 

This is where I bought the Voslas,
http://store.candlepower.com/64205.html
where they made a convincing argument that there was very little difference, if any at all, between the new Voslas and the discontinued Osram 70/65w.
I obviously never used the latter, but the Voslas, combined with the new harness are a substantial upgrade over the original lights.

 

Any update on the new 100/80w bulbs?

 

As I said a dozen pages ago, I've run offbrand 100/80W or 100/90 halogen H4 bulbs in my BMW Motorcycle for years. they run hot, but the BMW has a glass lens, and plenty of airflow around the reflector bucket, and a ceramic socket, plus my bike has a home made harness with 40A relays and heavy gauge wiring, so I've had no problems... they are DAMN bright, almost too bright for suburban traffic, but on rural roads, man you can see far. I always carry a spare, as they only seem to last about 10000 miles. you can get these from most any decent indie autoparts store, for 'OFFROAD USE ONLY', ask at the counter. Brands have been things like Narva.