ZUKIWORLD Online | Suzuki 4x4 Editorial and Forum
ZUKIWORLD Discussion Forum => Suzuki 4x4 Forum => Topic started by: arkangel on March 28, 2006, 05:04:56 AM
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Hi all :),
I'm new in this forum and need some help with electrical things in my sidekick (Vitara in Venezuela)
I'm trying to do the wiring to replace the stock H4 bulbs and install high output ones.
The problem for me is that suzuki (as other japanese manufacturers) use negative (-) activation for headlights and I know how to do this in a toyota but I'm really lost here with my sidekick ???
I know I need 4 relays to do polarity reversal but I need the detailed wiring to do things easily ;D
Any help would be really appreciated!!
For those who want to know more about Zukis in Venezuela I can explain a little bit if requested.
Best Regards and sorry for my bad english,
Luis Nassiff
Caracas, Venezuela
1998 Suzuki-(Chevrolet) Sidekick-(Vitara)
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What bad english ? looks fine to me ;D
OK on to the question, why would you need
to reverse the polarity? why not hook up the
new bulbs the same as the old ones ? seems
like it would be easy enough to do it that way.
Wild
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I recently installed a pair of 90/100w Flosser's H4 bulbs and they didn't performed as I expected because they need more "juice" from battery, so relays must be installed to provide a stronger path fro current to flow from battery to the bulbs.
In the other hand, Japanese do things a little bit different from what american cars designers do, they use a permanent (+) at the bulbs and activate low or hi beam with negative (-) signals.
I was trying to find out who the zuk's headlamp wiring works to be able to hook the relays to the stock system and make possible to "the power" get to the hi wattage bulbs ;D
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You are correct about the way the lights
are wired.
I bet if you disconnect the battery, and used a
multi meter on Ohms you could figure out which
wire grounds the system, should be easy to do.
Then mark and use those wires to activate the
relays, I hope the lights work better after all this work
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When I did my spots I used a multimeter to determine which wires went low when the high or low beams were switched on. The one that doesn't go low is the headlight supply.
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Ok, I'll try that. But, what happens if the low and Hi beam cables go to positive when I switch everything off?
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It looks like these guys have you headed in the right direction.
So how about some pics of your rig? ;D
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Ok, I'll try that. But, what happens if the low and Hi beam cables go to positive when I switch everything off?
You are supposed to take the battery cables off,
you should not use a multi-meter on Ohms (resistance
and Continuity) when voltage is there, it's a good way
to blow the meter, or at least blow a fuse in it.
I listed this in the directions above, read carefully
before you do this
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You need to connect the old lamp wires to the coil side of the relay and forget about the polarity. It does not matter. Then run new high guage wires to the new lights through the switched side of the relay to the battery. Put an inline fuse at the battery on the positive side.
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Ok, I'll try that. But, what happens if the low and Hi beam cables go to positive when I switch everything off?
One side of the relay coil should be wired to the wire that goes to ground when the light is switched on. The other side of the relay coil should be wired to the positive feed from the battery (via an inline fuse). Hi and low beam cables will go to positive when its switched off, both sides of the coil are then positive so there is no voltage (potential) difference across the coil and it is OFF.
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One side of the relay coil should be wired to the wire that goes to ground when the light is switched on. The other side of the relay coil should be wired to the positive feed from the battery (via an inline fuse). Hi and low beam cables will go to positive when its switched off, both sides of the coil are then positive so there is no voltage (potential) difference across the coil and it is OFF
This is the idea I had but wasn't sure how to deal with the fact that both (low and hi beams) go POSITIVE when the lights are OFF.
I saw the light at the end of the tunnel ;D
Guys, thanks. I'll be doing my homework soon (need to buy relays, sockets, bulbs, etc etc etc...)
If somenone have any other comment please let me know!
BR,
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You need to use two relays. One for the high beams and one for the low beams.
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Ok, that's the way I did in my old Toyota FJ60, but I noticed that only one (1) relay for Low and one (1) for hi wasn't enough due to the fact that each relay handles 30 amps max and the 90/100 bulbs mean around 20 amps both in low and near 20 amps in Hi, so maybe is preferable to use four relays? :-\
In my old truck, once the low beam relay died and I lost both lights, I don't wanna be trough the same.... ;D
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100 Watts on 12V is around 9 Amps if I did
the math right
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You're right, it's 8.33 Amps each bulb. So in Low i need 16.66 amps. That's more than 50% of the current limit of the relay (30 Amps). Maybe it can handle that, maybe I don't need two relays for each beam. But I wouldn't like to be changing a relay in the outback during a trip. So that's points me to the fact that is preferable to have dual relays so each one would handle 8.33 Amps. (that's going to extend the life of 'em). The same thing applies to hi beam....
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Well, you could carry spares just in case.
The load side of a relay is not connected
to the activation side of the relay, depending
on the failure makes a difference as to if the
relays need more Amp carrying capacity.
Poor quality relays are going to be more prone
to failure, if you are electrical enough, you could
take the bad relay and figure out why it failed.
In my case, it was a matter of dirt, didn't drown the
relay, just dust buildup, blew the dirt out and it was
fine, but this is a horn relay, not one that would see
hours of on time
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A 30A relay should be able to withsatnd that kind of load without any problems. Relays don't like vibration, its worth rubber mounting it in some way. Oh and making sure its either sealed or kept dry.
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Ok, I'll try to install the relays in a location that can avoid dirt or water (those are the 2 more common elements here in Venezuela) and will try to avoid vibrations by using some sort of dampening material between the relays and the inner face of the front fender.
I'm using BOSCH German made relays, :D They're really good relays!!
Thanks for the advises guys!