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SuperNova69
17th-May-2006, 06:54 PM
A loooooooooong time ago, I got an H4 conversion kit from Classic Industries. The kit included new lamp housings, new bulbs, and a wiring harness with relays and thicker wires. It went in pretty easily, and then the relay for the high beams went out. I've finally decided to just get rid of the harness and get my high beams back (since these relays are impossible to find) and shortly after putting the stock connectors back on the bulbs, it started to smell funny and there was a bit of smoke!! :eek:

So I'm trying to "convert" the new wire harness to better relays that are more readily available. I took the relays apart and they really don't look that good. The one that's still good is looking just as bad as the one that doesn't work. So can anyone walk me through this? There's no numbers on the tabs like you'd expect, but by taking it apart I think I've figured out what does what. There are four tabs total. The first one has a thin wire soldered to it, which then goes into a huge bundle of the same wire, and then it comes back out and is soldered to another tab. Then there's one tab with a small circular pad on it, and the last tab has another circular pad on it just above the other circular pad. I know this is probably hard to explain, so I've taken a few pictures.

http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=5/13617442857.jpg&s=f5

http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=5/13617451779.jpg&s=f5

http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=5/13617461350.jpg&s=f5

http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=5/13617465224.jpg&s=f5

If that isn't clear or you need better pictures, just let me know. Hopefully it all makes sense, though. :p

Thanks,
Matt
66dave
17th-May-2006, 07:57 PM
I will take a shot at it. the tabs with the thin wires are the coil. you apply 12 volts to one tab and ground the other tab. this will pull the coil in and pull the two round tabs together which act as your switch. the thin wire should get it's voltage from your light switch in the car. the other two (round tabs)
one should have 12 volts fused from the battery or horn relay and the other round tab should go to the headlights. the relay you have looks to me like it has gotten wet.
NovatoriusRex
17th-May-2006, 09:00 PM
Maybe my tech writeup of my home-made headlight relay install will help ya.

Here's a link to it:

http://www.67chevyii.com/tech/headlights/relayinstall.htm
SuperNova69
18th-May-2006, 12:05 AM
Thanks a bunch guys, I'll try to get started with the experiments tonight. And yeah, my thermostat housing decided to take a crap on me and I got coolant everywhere. It's one of those cheap Autozone chrome ones, so I guess I shouldn't expect it to last forever. :rolleyes: Still, how it got in the relays is beyond me. :confused:

Matt
SuperNova69
19th-May-2006, 02:11 AM
Hey Novatorious, where'd you get the relays? You said you got the pigtails at NAPA. About how much was all that together? I've got about $40 to my name ( :eek: ), so I might have to put this off for a while. :(

Matt
NovatoriusRex
19th-May-2006, 02:37 AM
Hey Novatorious, where'd you get the relays? You said you got the pigtails at NAPA. About how much was all that together? I've got about $40 to my name ( :eek: ), so I might have to put this off for a while. :(

Matt

I bought the Bosch 30 amp relays at a local stereo store for $5 each. There may be cheaper sources of them available; they're pretty standard. The pigtails were a bit more, I think about $8/ea.

The Napa pigtails were worth it for me because I didn't want to mess with soldering up & shrink wrapping 4 wires on each of the four relays I used in my engine compartment. Only 2 were for the headlights though. :D
63AKDN
19th-May-2006, 06:58 AM
You can get a handful of relays from your local wreckers for a few bucks. That's all I used. It was very time consuming though as I removed the wires from the female connectors. Using a dental pick I pried the large crimps outward enough to bend the wires back and forth to break them at the small crimp (I guess you have to have one apart to know what I'm talking about). Then slide the new wire through the connector and solder it.
SuperNova69
19th-May-2006, 03:11 PM
Good idea, 63AKDN. Thanks for the help guys. :)

Matt