["G"-sus!]

*Disclaimer! Not responsible for damages! I am no expert...I only claim to know a little about a lot. This method worked for me. There may be a better method, if you have one, do a write up! Apparently, this mod only is good if you are running a relay to HID lows, like in my case. So do not do this if you are not running a relay to the battery.


Materials needed:

1. Four equal lengths of wire (about 5")
2. 3A diode (two of them)
3. heat shrink tubing (or electrical tape)
4. Soldering Iron and sponge or wet towel
5. Solder
6. Four crimp tubes (or preferred splice method)
7. Crimp tool
8. Clique DIY beer...I went with Full Moon, b/c its seasonal and I was out of Yakima Twilight.

The bare basics:
Basically, you are making a 3A diode jumper wire that runs from your high beam wire to your low beam wire. It's as simple as that, JUST MAKE SURE THE LINE ON THE DIODE IS CLOSER TO YOUR LOW BEAM!

Diodes allow current to flow in ONE direction, so basically when your high beams get power, power to you lows gets shut off via your stock relays...What this does is connects your high beam power with your low beam power wire. Running the jumper without the diode would turn your highs on when your lows are on. The diode restricts the current from flowing high to low, but allows the low to high flow.

Diode info:

Radioshack
PN 276-1143
3 Amps

Jumper wiring:
I basically made a candy cane hook with pliers on each end of the diode wire, twisted a wire onto each end and soldered it in place. Then fit the heat shrink tube over it...In my instance (as you'll see in the third pic), I did NOT heat shrink it, so I can make sure I ran the polarity the proper way (as mentioned above).

Candy canes

Wire solder then repeat.

Wired up

Now the above may confuse you a bit!

Let me explain my wiring in detail, and then I will post a pic to explain also.

I have an aftermarket HID kit, with a relay to take power form my battery. I bought a H4 (stock bulb connection) to H1 conversion harness (pictured)...It did not include a prong for my high beam (because it makes it plug and play for HID, with no high beam). So I ran a wire from the JDM + high beam connection (located on the JDM headlight) and put a 90 degree plug on it, so it'll sit in to my stock H4 high beam slot. I also ran a jumper from my JDM negative connection (again, on the JDM headlight), into my HID negative. So in the pic you'll see an extra wire coming off the high beam.

Any questions please post here and I will answer the best I can. Enjoy!

Many thanks to EricDD for sharing his knowledge!


Keywords:
JDM Duals high low beam mod quad hi/low all four lights both same time stay

 

["G"-sus!]

End results:
For the record...Low beam=5K HID awesomeness! High beam=Nokya Yellow (halogen)

Just Lows

High and low

*I still have to adjust my high beam...It's a good idea to do that BEFORE wiring this up!

 

[P11Gdub]

you're the f*cking man! i'm doing this for sure, but with Sierra Nevada instead of nasty ass Blue Moon.

 

["G"-sus!]

you're the f*cking man! i'm doing this for sure, but with Sierra Nevada instead of nasty ass Blue Moon.

I saw your plans for yellow highs while search to see if anyone has done that (b/c I wanted to)...Let me tell you that it compliments/contrasts great with the blueish lows. It gives you the best of both worlds!

As for the Full Moon (Blue Moon's winter ale), it's okay. It was all we had left over from a get together. Victory Yakima Twilight is my shit as of late, that and Magic Hat Winter Howl. If you like Sierra, you should try Victory's Hop Devil or Prima Pils!

 

[malady]

sweet

and its extra easy for me to follow because i have a relay harness too
thanks

 

[j-tek]

cool upgrade.

 

[Hutch]

pumped that you made a how to on this, i couldnt figure it out to save my life!

 

[trbobrk]

Since it wasn't shown and I know eveyone is going to try to copy this I thought I'd mention this;

The relay is a required item to make this mod work. You can not just add a diode between high and low wires.

 

["G"-sus!]

The relay is a required item to make this mod work. You can not just add a diode between high and low wires.

No...That is exactly all you have to do (diode btwn high/low)...Sorry for the confusion the relay (blue one) in the pic is a spare I was going to wire up but decided not to (diode is cheaper)...All relays are is a diode inside a box anyway.

ALSO, for the record. I think the diodes cost about a buck total (they come in a set of 2).

*edit* I guess you are talking about the power relay for my HID set up...So yeah, I cannot vouch for this working by simply jumping hi/low...So maybe someone should verify that.

 

[Snickers]

if you are running more than 65w of power through a 3A diode to power your high beams, you may eventually fry the diode. relays are not diodes in a box...

 

["G"-sus!]

if you are running more than 65w of power through a 3A diode to power your high beams, you may eventually fry the diode. relays are not diodes in a box...

True...They are the same in principal though. My lows are pulling power from the battery via the HID relay. So maybe that is needed???

 

[Snickers]

If you were to run another relay so that you are only crossing the "switched signal power" then you should be ok. Meaning if you took the power out from the low relay and put that wire to the switched side of the high relay.. then you should be ok.

Good idea though... I thought about doing something similar on my P10 Duals

 

[trbobrk]

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. I don't want to flame you and poop on your thread...but you are wrong.

Using a diode to supply the low beam relay's coil is what makes this mod work.

Relays are not a diode in a box. It is a electomagnetic switch.
Some relays have diodes in them, But that is becasue when the field on the coil collapses it sends a spike of voltage that could blow up a IC or Transistor, except there are no ICs controling your headlamps so you don't really need it.
A 3A diode is good for about 3A. In the 12 volt world, that would be about 36 watts.
Your HID probably only uses 35watts and you think great, I got a watt to spare. But no, even though it would work, the diode would probably get warm after a while. Most electronic stuff like this running at or near the limit might be operating at 25C or more above ambient. You might want to do some math before touching something like that. Running a 60 watt bulb through a 3A diode would get more hot, like when you turn it on the first time there would be a little poof of smoke coming out of the diode. BTW, you can't put the smoke back in once you let it out.
Also just running diodes aren't a good idea, even it you got big ones, becasue they there is a forward voltage drop, usually about 1.2v if your using a standard fairchild semiconductor or even the half price off brand chinese copys. This doesn't matter much on HID, since they have a ballast to tranform and crank up the voltage anyway. Regular lightbulbs, light output is related to voltage, and it isn't linear.
Also diodes cost like 5 cents. They were a $1 because you bought it at radio shack and they have to pay a kid that doesn't know anything minimum wage to sit in a store with no customers.

 

["G"-sus!]

If you were to run another relay so that you are only crossing the "switched signal power" then you should be ok. Meaning if you took the power out from the low relay and put that wire to the switched side of the high relay.. then you should be ok.

Thats pretty much what I am doing...The highs are powered off my stock high signal and the relay is spliced in AFTER the power is supplied which then goes to my relay, then the battery, then to the HID ballasts.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. I don't want to flame you and poop on your thread...but you are wrong.

Using a diode to supply the low beam relay's coil is what makes this mod work.

Sooo...I'm not wrong irate:

Unless you are talking about me saying a relay is a diode in a box. But I corrected myself. I meant in theory of restricting current to flow one way.

I didn't just throw a relay in there. I consulted a couple ppl whose opinions I trust (and one of them was not the dude at the shack). I explained my whole system layout and plans and enough ppl agreed so I went for it!

I guess my big mistake was assuming that it would work with just jumping high/low wires in a halogen setup (or non HID power relay setup)...So I edited my original post to omit that.

Also, I am not running my highs all the time, only on occasions when I need high beams. I thought it would be better then having to repower up my HID ballast every time I use my highs.

 

[iamthejae]

anyway, its about time this was posted. its something i plan on doing also.

i think the diode will eventually fail, but for $1 who cares? if it breaks nothing will be hurt, the mod just wont work. if you want to put in a relay that would work also.

this is a good mod though.

 

[trbobrk]

What you did to your car is right, because you have a relay.

 

["G"-sus!]

For the record, I just left my hi/lows on for 5-10 mins while I hung Christmas lights...The diode didn't even get warm.

 

[bgreen]

so what does this do?

 

["G"-sus!]

When you put the high beams on, the low beams turn off...With this the low beams stay on with the high beams. It's like the fog light mod, but with low beams...

 

[bgreen]

OH OKAy...so how would i do this...with p10 duals?