Hi-Beam and Lo-Beam

So I've gotten the first part of the wiring done on the CJ, and I have 2 seperate switches for the headlights, 1 for the high beams and 1 for the low beams. I know the bulbs have two filaments, but it is using both high-beams and lo-beams at once going to lower the life expectancy of the bulb? Maybe generate more heat... I'm not sure, I just know that I like having both illumination below and out far without having to add additional white driving lights to the bumper (I have plans for 2 6inch yellow fogs..)

Any advice or experience in this would be greatly appreciated

 

fwiw if i'm remembering correctly the h4 conversions aren't street legal either. they didn't have the little dimples on the covers that make them dot approved when i was looking at them. it might be different for the round lights or have been changed since though.

also, the low/high setup is a "mod" some of the poeple on ju use. i don't really know what happens, but i'd assume it shortens the life, and might accidently heat up enough to crack the lens (ala 80 watt bulb in stock cherokee fog lamps...).

other than that... go for it. the h4's made a vast improvment on my cherokee, and the silver stars or cool blue beams helped out the cj a whole bunch. also, see if you can put a relay in there so you can draw power directly from the battery on a thicker wire. that'll help things out a little bit as well.

 

Great advice, thank you. I haven't actually burnt out any lights yet.... keyword being yet, so we'll see if I can do it or not. I was just wondering if that was why most/all vehicles don't just turn on both filaments and if anyone had tried it.

My nissan has yellow foglights, which I find are easier to use in snowy situations. My last car had white foglights which certainly lit up more of the road, but they were not as clear on snow or ice. I'll test it out this winter though and see.

 

In BC, most lights that are under 55 watts and are not spotlights seem to be legal. My town is in the middle of a valley, and the police are very lax on things like lights unless you're using them into people's eyes. Thankfully same thing with fender flares, as we're supposed to have all the tire covered

 

only illegal if you get caught. silver stars not bright enough for ya? go for HID
(high intensity discharge)

http://www.hidexpress.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=41

 

I have HID's on my 240. BIG improvement.

Has anyone else tried wiring the lights up like me and had any adverse effects?

 

You wont have any heat build up issues. More common will be Alternator Issues. You've effectively doubled the amperage draw. Shouldnt be a big issue unless your allready running some poer hungry devices, or you are running EVERYTHING. (IE: Nighttime, snowing; so you have wipers, heater, radio, lights, etc etc etc). The post about adding relays tho, I agree 100%. I've had my headlights wired Hot/Hot for almost 6 months, no problems. That includes a good 6 hour drive when I moved. Felt the lights at a couple rest stops along the way, no noticible difference from stock. I DO have a 100amp alternator outta a GM tho, since my 304 had like a 30 amp POS on it. (odd side note, 20 mins and a grinder and the alternator bolts right in. Lots less $$ then a stock configured aftermarket) Oh, I also put in new stock headlamps same time as I wired it. The others had holes and would fill with water. Still made light tho.

Your mileage may vary
-Karl

 

yeah, i was just nit-picking on the h4's. no one will ever catch you just by looking at the light coming out and 90/110 watts is a huge improvement over the stockers. the pattern still blows my mind though. i really want to know how you can design a lens to make the light cut off completely at on heigth on one side and a 45 degree angle on the other. i don't know if the round lenses have the same pattern, but the square ipf's are just weird.

 

depending on how you wired this up and what gauge wire you used, you may be drawing too much current through a wire. That wire will slowly cook and char.

Now, if both switches / circuits are wired independently, all the way back to the battery you are OK, but if you have one wire feeding both switches at any point in the system you may be overloading the wire.

Also, and it depends on how you wired up the switches, and if they are toggle or standard light switches, may have wired around the circuit breaker that is standard on all light switches.

That breaker shuts off when there is too much current draw.

If there is no breaker and there is a current overload, something gives, and it will be the highest gauge wire in the system that goes up in smoke.

 

electrical items don't work well after ya let the smoke out.

 

If you do it (not sure I would) wire them and fuse them seperatly with relays.
I have to ask why really you want this setup though?
Slap some 130w KCs on it and be done with it.

 

That's exactly how I wired them. The reason why I tried to set it up this way is I do allot of driving out in the middle of no-where and having as much light on the road as possible is important. I don't have underground parking until I move in a few months, so the less that can be easily stolen off the vehicle/make the jeep a bigger target for theft, the better. Friend of mine has had two sets of lights stolen off his landcruiser....

 

I understand the theft issue. Had my YJ broken into with close to 1K worth of damage.
Worst part? It was at work behind the Sheriffs Office.

 

I have heard of wiring separate hi/lo beam switches for each light to put light where you want it off road.
Never heard of wiring both filaments hot at the same time. I would definitely add the relays if I was doing this and carefully evaluate the chosen wiring schematic to prevent an overload (as previously mentioned).

My theory is if a vehicle has a place to mount a light, with wiring already there, it makes sense to put the best light possible in there before resorting to adding more lights somewhere else. You have to mount a switch, run wiring, mount the lights, aim them, etc etc......I have seen some cheaper lights that ground at the case....my experience shows you need to run a dedicated ground back to a good ground at the battery/block/grounding strap for best long term reliability.

With that said, I run Hella aux low beams on our -7, as well as a Hella dual bulb work/flood light for a backup light. For four wheeling at night a good backup light is more important in my opinion, unless you are doing baja type racing or something.

 

I found that on my Jeep the fog lights sit to high to be of much use in fog.
We dont get much snow here. So I now have an all weather type light that seems to be the best of both driving and fog. Kind of a light blue lens.
Almost this color -> :?