Proper headlight upgrade

I'm going to put this on hold until after our trip. I definitely don't want to lose my headlights or hi beams if something goes wrong down the road. I think, disabling the DRL, and using the conventionally switched harness will work, but I don't have time before the trip to tear apart the dash. I'll chime in when I do it.

 

That is correct. If you disable factory DRL logic (cut the green-white wire going to DRL Master Relay) you can use "conventional switching " harness for high power bulbs. But, all depends on how the harness is wired.

The difference between conventional switching and "disabled DRL" is that in disabled DRL the bulb's common is connected with the ground only when headlights are on. When headlights are off and all conditions for DRL on are met then one fillament is powered and common is open. In Conventional switching the common is always connected to ground regardless if lights are on or off. Do you see the difference? Ii Lights Off:
Conventional: common=ground, low=open, high=open
Disabled DRL: common=open, low=open, high=+12V

In Lights On both are the same.

If harness is taking a shortcut bypassing common and connects relays common to ground saving some copper it will screw up the DRL logic an put your High beam on when lights ahould be off. If harnes does not have that short an relays are wired all the way up to connectors you will be OK.

 

Thanks Rysium. Yes, I see why it should work, but I want to be certain before I snip wires. From the experiences on here, and different threads on the net, I'm 80% sure it will work, but I hate doing any wiring in tight places when I'm in a rush. I'll save it for when we get back.
I'm tempted to try the bulbs without the harness, but that's jus silly. Thanks again.

 

yes typo.

meant to say that when headlights are turned to the ON position I get less than 1V readings.

however, with the truck running and the headlights turned OFF I get 14V reading, but then when i turn the lights ON the 14V reading goes away and i get less than 1V readings again.

my headlights do not seem to be on during daytime running operations. at night when i start my truck it is total darkness until I turn the headlight switch ON so im assuming no DTRL?

thanks for the response

 

Just look under the hood into fuse box in your 2004. If you have DRL you should have 5 fuses here. If not, there will be only two fuses.

 

Ok thanks for this.

double checked the fuses and I DO have DTRL..!?

why do i get under 1V when the lights are turned on?

can i still use the conventionally switched harness?

the PO had a viper alarm system installed on the truck and i'm wondering if that is affecting my voltage readings?

wanted to install this setup today but now that i determined that i have DTRL and the standard harness not sure if it is going to work.

dont want to fry $100 harness.

any help appreciated

 

Are we talking about the voltage between vehicle ground and the common connector in bulb?
If so you have both incandescent bulbs in sockets the reading will be as follow:

1. When headlights and DRL are off you might get either:
12V (for example headlights switch off with engine running but still with parking break set)
or 0V (or less than 1V as you say) when engine is off, headlights switch is off.
or anything between if "DRL Resistor" shoots some voltage back.
I don't know for sure which one it will be as I don't know the logic inside DRL Main Relay.


2. When DRL are on (headlights switch off engine running and parking break release ) you will have around 2-3V. That is the voltage drop on the DRL resistor.

3. Headlights are on (engine running, headlights switch on) you will have 0V. Common is grounded by DRL Relay.

Only if you disable DRL. Otherwise when DRL are functioning your relays in the new harness can start buzzing or may turn on your high beam. Also the harness must not be "the cheap version". What I mean by that is both wires for relays (hot and ground) must be connected to the car's headlight plug. "The cheap version" might take shortcut and connect ground side of the relay straight to vehicle ground. "Cheap version" will turn on your high beam when DRL are functioning (even you lights switch is off)

No clue about that.

 

ok thanks again for the inputs.

checked under my dash and I can see a box with a daytime running lights label and a wire harness plugged into it. after looking at the other forum that shows how to diable the DTRL by cutting the white/green wire that is part of this harness.

apparently the previous owner already had the white/green wire cut (i dont know why they would do this) diabling the DTRL. this is why nothing lit up when i started my truck.

2 questions:

1. is cutting the white/green wire that goes into the DTRL box the only thing that needs to be done to diable the DTRL for this mod to work properly on my truck or do i also need to remove the fuses?

2. is the harness discussed on this mod the "cheap version" or is it good. do you have a link to this "cheap version" of the wire harness?

thanks again for the input

 

You don't (and shouldn't) remove any fuses to disable DRL. The green wire cut is enough.

From what I see on the picture the USA made conventional switched harness should be OK but it has to be confirmed by someone who actually has that harness in hand. The key is that all three wires coming from the male H4 (thin black, green and white) are going to relays only. Relay coils are not connected in any way with wires going to the battery.



If I see right the the wires from the black plug (male H4) are connected as such:
Black to both relays coil one side
White to one relay coil other side
Green to other relay coil other side

This is how it should be and all will work.

 

I'm back from vacation and I'm going to be working on this issue again. I have been talking with Tom or Thomas at Susquehanna, but I didn't want to cut any wires before I left for Colorado. My truck, 03 with DRL, gets the clicking/buzzing of relays when the conventional harness is attached. I have a ton of chores to do around the house, before I mess with the harnesses again, but I will report back what I find out. Stay tuned

 

Has anyone tried the truck lite or similar led headlights in their 96/97? I'm wondering if they're worth the money

 

I'd love to try them especially 27490C3 (Euro RH driving version) but please, for 1/10 value of the whole truck? The lamp's technical data looks good on the paper but I doubt the 3-year warranty includes a rock in the glass damage. For 50 bucks a piece I'd buy a set, but not for 550 dollars.

 

Just did this on my 04.

Don't have before and after pics. But it's easily 2X more light output w/ 85/80 osrams. And unbeknownst to me PO had installed 100/80 bulbs on the stock wiring so the upgraded harness doubled the output with even higher wattage bulbs.

Been running the 100/80 bulbs unknowingly for four years. And it never melted any of my oem wiring. So that answers the question if you can run the higher wattage bulbs on oe wiring. But YMMV, as I only use my headlights 20-30 hours a year...
Although I wouldn't bother running HW bulbs w/o the upgraded harness because the voltage drop was so great I never noticed that HW bulbs were even installed in there.

I ordered the harness from:
http://www.headlightservices.com/4runner3.html

The quality of the build and components is impressive. I'm out around $150 for the harness and four 85/80 osrams( Mike price matched me on the 100/80 I originally had wanted but was out of stock).
This harness is about $35 less than the comparable Rallyelight's harness.

Best $150 I've spent in a while.






Ran these for 4 years.

 

Seems like this was a while ago @Austintaco but I was hoping that you could let me know how it all ended up working out. I would like to do this upgrade and I too have DRL's on my '03. Did the conventionally switched ground harness end up being the ticket rather than ground switched? and did cutting the green and white wire resolve the clicking/buzzing relays? Thanks.

 

So I ended up doing this upgrade the other day and I am pretty pleased with how it turned out. I got the harness from Headlight Services and 100/90w bulbs. They are definitely much brighter and much whiter after the modification, with the most visible improvement on the regular low-beams.

Before


After:
Before: High-beams


After: High-beams


My '03 with DRL's did end up being conventionally-switched rather than ground-switched. Instead of snipping the green and white wire to disable the DRL's, I pulled out the connector, phenagled a bobby pin into the other end and eventually got the pin out in one piece. A little more frustrating to do at that angle under the dash, but just in case I want to put it back to stock for some reason, I can.

 

Bumping this.

Ok read through most of this. I need to upgrade my headlights bad.

Explain my situation: 98 Tacoma, V6, 4x4 TRD. Polished/restored my headlight housings but thinking I should get whole new housings, this leads me to think there are two options - can do the ultimate upgrade, or just get whole new housings for something like projectors?

It makes sense when people say the LED bulbs don't work with halogen housings, but what about the whole package?

Those osram bulbs are discontinued, and people talk about them burning out after a year, what are the 1st gen people experiencing after some time using the ultimate upgrade conversion? What bulbs are you using when you can no longer find the osram bulbs? Pros/cons?

Anybody change the whole housing/bulb set up to something else? Projectors, or...? Pros/cons?

 

I have some Sylvanias (don't really remember, or care, which ones exactly), and they work fine. Definitely brighter, even with JUST the harness upgrade (more watts being supplied to the bulbs). I think it's still plenty of light for night driving.

My upgrade consisted of CAPA certified housings (for my 2004) and the wire harness. I opted for lower watt bulbs for longevity, vs. the OSRAM bulbs that don't last as long (hotter, brighter).

You can definitely do projectors, but that's generally pretty expensive. Even if you DIY a retrofit, you'll likely still spend a good deal more than the upgrade in this thread.

Personally, if you want bright lights for off-roading, get lightbars for the roof (LED or HID): far better light than even the best HID retrofits in the stock locations (higher mounted lights create less shadows). Best to have a variety of lights, actually (ditch lights, roof lights, party LEDs with flashing colors and patterns, etc...).

For on-road use, IMO, this upgrade, coupled with new CAPA housings, is perfectly sufficient, especially given the work that would need to go into retrofits

 

Ok thanks! What is the difference for the CAPA housings? I saw the TYC brand, sounded like decent reviews, for half the price, still worth it for the CAPA's? - They're like 100 bucks a piece that I've seen.

So how do I know which harness to get http://www.rallylights.com/hl282s-upgrade-headlamp-harness-for-switched-ground-vehicles.html

I mean I saw these, or are they just crap: https://www.carid.com/1998-toyota-t...halo-projector-headlights-leds-669702353.html

I know the light bar would probably be best and all, but I'm just trying to keep the stock look on my truck (I know the projectors look different but overall not drilling/cutting/mounting anything extra). I want to try and just improve the existing lights.

I don't really know what you mean by retrofit, does that mean I'd have to modify stuff if I was going to use projectors or something?

True I don't want to spend a ton, nor spend a bunch of time but still trying to get something that's worth it.

Just cost alone considering:

ultimate upgrade - ~$100 for wiring harness, $200 for new headlight housings, $50 for new bulbs = $350

Projectors (like the one above) - ~$300

Are the projectors not as good, am I missing something?

Does the wiring harness come with explicit instructions on how to wire/set it up?

 

I’m pretty sure I have one stock and one osram in. Osram is still clearly brighter. Since they’re high wattage bulbs AND you’re giving them more power with that harness they’re gonna burn out more eaisly. Going with a wattage slightly above stock will give you a noticeable improvement and definitely last longer than the osram ones.

 

CAPA certification is the same certification process that OEM goes through. So they are effectively the same fit/finish quality as OEM.

Go with the housings from Rockauto.com

My CAPA housings from Rockauto were ~$40 a piece...

Yeah, the harness is pretty much plug and play. You unplug the stock wires form the light housings, and plug the new harness into it, then into the bulbs, then attach the other end of the new harness to ground and the (+) battery terminal.

The hardest part is physically mounting the relays somewhere. Mine ended up on the fender well next to the battery.

The harness uses larger gauge wires, and connects directly to the battery instead of routing through the factory wire harness. This allows a higher wattage to reach the bulbs, making them brighter. If you use the high wattage bulbs, the larger wires also handle the higher load without overheating the wires.

So even if you don't get new bulbs, or new housings, the wire harness alone actually gives you slightly brighter lights, because there's an increase in available watts to the bulbs.