The ultimate headlight upgrade H4 (not LED or HID)

This is the 2nd Gen thread. But you definitely want them at 3 & 9, any other orientation and your light will not be symmetrical and the projector light shield will block an entire emitter set.

 

Thanks

 

Yep should have done this years ago! Installed everything in an hour with my son and the light output is a significantly better over stock. Not by a little but by a lot. I almost thought I was driving around with my high beams on until I pulled the lever back. I feel bad for the poor bastard that ever gets to experience that.

I found this thread a year ago when I was about to go on a long road trip and didn't have time at that moment to do the install. I ordered GE Megalight Ultra H4 +130% and didn't notice much of a difference in the low beams. Might have been/seamed slightly brighter. The high beam was a different story. It was painfully annoying and didn't reach out any further than the low beam. Today with both the Harness and Osram 100/90w bulbs it was noticeable. Having the Fog Lights on is kinda pointless where before they made a difference.

Thanks CrashnBurn80 for putting in all the leg work. For 140 dollars it was well worth the upgrade!

 

I am confused and figured I would ask instead of sifting through 140+ pages... Will the Headlight Services Ground Switched harness fit 2nd Gen WITH factory fogs? I see that it does not support factory fogs but was unsure if that meant it cannot be used with the factory fog harness or that is just does not replace the factory fog harness. Maybe I am thinking about it too simply and the factory fogs and headlights use common wiring? Just want to know what I have to get to use the Osram H4 90/100w lamps with my current factory foglight equipped vehicle. If it makes any difference, I plan to replace the fogs with the Flosser H11's, too. Thank

Follow up: is there a way to switch thread viewing to more than 20 posts per page? I am used to the older Vbulletin crap and can't find any option to change it in settings.

 

For your truck you would want the conventional (power switched) harness. It is completely independent of the fogs.

For a fog upgrade, rather than the Flossers (which require the separate Rallylights H11 harness) I’d recommend a replacement SAE LED fog assembly. When I first did the Flosser halogen fog mod, there were very limited SAE LED fogs on the market, and all were high color temp LEDs which are terrible for poor weather performance. They also had the problem of running too cool and icing over in snow conditions, the combination made them a non-starter for real poor weather conditions, so I came up with the high power Flosser halogen mod as an alternative. Since then LED fogs have improved tremendously. Check out the thread below, if looking for the highest output option look at the new Diode Dynamic SS3 Pros linked at the very top, which are available in selective yellow for better poor weather performance.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-led-sae-j583-fog-pod-fog-light-review.554813/

 

you run into an issue with the harnesses where the headlights are stuck on brights and whenever i turn the low on the fog lights shut off? this is a headlight services harness. ive found LEDs cause the same issue in my 05 tundra.

 

On a 15? No. I run the Headlight Services conventional harness without issue. I also ran a ground switched harness on my 1st gen without issue.

 

2005 tundra. the fix for LED headlights is a resistor. its a funky issue.

it is a ground switched system like the 1st gen tacos. too

 

Thanks for the quick reply!

I considered the LED options you posted on the first page and I liked the KC H4 lights because they maintain the stock look and require no adapters but I am in Michigan and expect to use these in cold/icy weather. That, along with the price is why I decided to go with non LED, at least for now.

So I am still unclear on what differences there are with the oem fog vs no fog harness and what I would need to run a higher wattage bulb. Is the oem harness not up to the task for the higher wattage? Is it just the relay or the wiring also too small? I have access to resources to build my own harness so if necessary, I would probably just do that.

 

Running the higher wattage (e.g., Flosser) bulbs requires an upgraded wiring harness to handle the increased power draw and minimize voltage drops. The OEM harness is not up to the task - the wiring is too small and may overheat (or cause a fire) if used to power higher wattage bulbs.

 

The big problem with the OEM fog light wiring is that the system is not designed for significantly wattage (thus amp draw) than what comes with the truck. (It all comes down to reducing manufacturing costs and building extra capacity into any system costs extra money.) It's the same problem with the headlight wiring when you go to higher wattage bulbs (such as in the Ultimate Headlight Upgrade) and that problem is neatly solved with the heavy duty wiring harness. So in answer to your question, no, the OEM fog light harness is not up to the task with higher wattage bulbs.

Recent aftermarket SAE compliant replacement LED fog lights that flat out-perform higher wattage bulbs in the stock housings have made going to higher wattage bulbs - with the requirement for a heavy duty harness - some what pointless. Yes, you could build your own harness and run higher wattage bulbs if you want. I'm just not sure you're going to get the same quality (and quantity) of light out of that solution given current LED offerings. And please note, when I say "current LED offerings," I am not referring to "drop in" LED bulbs in your OEM fog light housings. They still suck.

 

Ok, think I've finally got it. Since the ideal headlight solution is still not an LED I've got the heavy duty harness and osram h4 90/100 bulbs coming. After checking the cost of connectors and relays I won't same as much $ as I had hoped if I build my own.

To anyone who has done this, can the headlight solutions harness be routed in the same location and use the same retention devices as the factory harness?

Think I'll lend up with the KC h4 fogs. Afraid of them icing over in winter, though.

 

It won't take the same wiring path, you want to minimize distance which means going directly across the top of the core support as I showed in the original thread. It plugs into the OEM locations with OEM style H4 connectors, though the headlight plugs are ceramic.

If you are concerned about fogs icing, the Diode Dynamics SS3 selective yellow Sports will stand a better chance, and the Pro will definitely not have a problem.

 

I just happen to have a set of KC G4 clear fogs that I could let go of for a very decent price. PM me if interested.

 

Just installed the harness this afternoon and waiting on the bulbs to arrive. I'll put the new housings on when the bulbs get here.
Be cool if they were brighter already.
I'll be checking tonight!

 

Your stock wattage bulbs will be a little brighter with the harness alone, but the big improvement will be with the new bulbs.

 

Roger that on the wiring. I always prefer to keep things as close to factory as possible when it comes to stuff like wire/hose routing since there is often a reason why they route it the way they did but it's not a deal breaker.

Those diode dynamics pods might be nice lights but I'd prefer to maintain the stock look and fitment and to avoid using adapter

 

What is different about the drl vehicles that don't allow the same harness to be suitable?

NM, I reread the first post from op and saw that it just disables DRL, not that it doesn't work for some hardware or compatibility reason.

 

I've had my KC's almost two seasons now. No complaints of icing over & i gets some cold here.