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I just got done ripping out all the old headlight wiring and adding relays. Boy what a difference it made!
You dont have to live with the candles that are run through the switch with #16 or #18 wire. I would like to say it was a fast easy job, but as you all know, what starts as an hour job takes three.
I started with 2 Hella brand 5 pin dual 87 (not 87 and 87A) automotive relays.
#12 wire to each relay, both fused with 20amp inline blade fuses.
$14 wire for everything else.
Replaced stock 6014 sealed beam with H6024 halogen.
Tidy everything up in split wire loom.
Non engine running voltage to headlights Before: 10.4 vdc After: 12.3 vdc
The 6014 is 60/50 watts high/low beam.
The H6024 halogen is 65/35 watts high/low beam
Figures at 5.4 amps per bulb on high beam for the halogen and less than 3 amps per bulb on low beam. I think this is a worthwhile upgrade to brighten your night.Mike N Scarlett 2012-06-03 12:53:04 Let there be light!
May I hear an Amen?
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
Mike, just increasing the voltage from 10.4 to 12.3vdc to your old headlights would have increased the power (watts) by 140%. (Power=voltage squared/resistance) Your old headlights were only putting out the equivalent of 48 watt bulbs at the reduced voltage, so with your new bulbs and also higher voltage, you now have about 151% more light. That much easier to avoid the deer (if you have deer in Arizona).
It made a world of difference Roy. Im in Ar. Not Az. Arkansas. Not only do we have Deer and Bear , there has been a Sasquatch sighting or two and I am pretty sure Elvis was seen cruising the local Sonic drive in.
My father who was a postmaster for 30 years would not have been proud of me making such a mistake.
Good on ya, Mike.
The relays in mine, without new bulbs, made them much better.
Unfortunately blew a fuse last night on the way home from dinner. I think my headlight switch is shorting on something under the dash.
I am not sure I needed the H6024s Ed. The sealed beams I had were in my car when I bought it almost 8 years ago. I had ordered 6014s from Speedway motors and they sent the H6024s. either they made a mistake or were out of the 6014s. Gave about $7.00 each plus shipping. I also ordered and installed the braided stainless headlight conduit to clean up the stuff that was on the car. I really like the new conduit.
So Mike. Are you saving you wires a relay to each headlight? Wouldn’t one relay be enough? I’d like to see a wiring drawing or diagram on how you set it up. But glad you have brighter lights. Its nopt mentioned in my assembly manual but I plan on adding the relay for the headlights and fog lights.
Allen Caron
VW based 53MGTD - "MoneyPenny"
"If one thing matters, everything matters" - from the book The ShackAllen you run two relays. One for low beam and one for high beam.Fuse both relays individual. The below diagram shows two 4 pin automotive relays. I used 5 pin dual 87 Not (87 and 87A) this allowed me to run the voltage to the lights with independent legs rather than splice the two headlight wires together and saving very little wire.. The dual 87 were Hella brand and cost around $7.00 each on amazon.com. You could use 5 pin 87/87A relays for about 1/2 the hella price, not use the 87A and splice the headlight wires together or use 4 pin and splice like in the diagram below. They make some neat wired sockets for these relays to plug into, but I chose not to use them because of the light wire gauge that was attached to them. I ran the wires in some inexpensive split wire loom to dress everything up. I may have over killed on the wire gauge 12 and 14, but I only wanted to this job once. I plan to rework all the wiring a little at a time even though I am not having problems because the job the car builder did looks like a spider and an octopus mating. It will all look neat when I am done run in the split wire loom and tucked away.
Mike N Scarlett2012-06-03 12:55:30
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