R32: Headlight Switch And Dash Globe Replacement

[benm]

Thats pretty much it, thanks.

Their is a DIY Tutorial with pics on the CyberStork website showing exactly what you have done above in this thread.

http://www.cyberstork.com/cgi-bin/howto.cg...g&imgtp=skyline

[Cubes]

With regards to the light switch.

Nissan for what ever reason, decided to have the lights sucking all power through the light switch. To prevent the contact lugs melting in the future you really must rewire the headlights using a relay.

Relays if you google are very easy to hook up.

Rewiring the headlights using a relay gives you a slight boost in light output as the lights are 'seeing' a greater voltage.

Its obvious really, if a light switch is getting hot enough to melt plastic lugs there IS resistance reducing the amount of power getting to the headlights.

While rewiring its also easy to switch over to the H3 bulbs should you be unfortunate to have headlights that run the H3C bulbs.

Here's a little article on how to convert from H3C bulbs.

http://www.nissansilvia.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=10675

[arep3]

For those interested, here are a few pics of what I ended up with. The solder joins seem fine but I'm stuffed to work out why only three of six are illuminating. I can only guess that they aren't meeting the contact on the PCB. Weird thing is, when you take one out, they all go out, implying they are in series, however the LEDs work so if they are in series and there is power going through the circuit to light up some, why aren't they all illuminating? Grrrr.

This one should highlight the (quick and nasty) filing of the head and sides of the LED

Fit seemed good.

And the resistor overhang at the back doesn't interfere with anything

if u got probs with only some of them lighting up, try turning them around the other way. (swap the pos+ with neg-) from lookin at the pic of urs, some resistors are on 1 side and 1 the other way. they all need to face the same way. the top 1s need to face the opposite of the bottom. thats what i had anyways they must all complete a circuit cos if 1 isnt facing they right way, they all go out. like a christmas tree!

yes its in a 32 gtr. i got all of the lights the same strength and colour all at the same time from jaycar. they cost sweet fa so i grabbed them all in 1 hit. didnt get them tested though cos they were flat out... i wasnt expecting to get 2 different shades either......

mine look EXACTLY the same as urs. resistors sticking straight backwards from the led. i have already sanded the suckas to try to spead out the light but didnt flatten the top off. ill give that a go.

im gonna get a stronger led monday to replace 1 of the darker 1s and to see if i can get the light more even up that end. ill have to let ya know what happens!

[cowie165]

Thanks very much mate! Now I have something to muck around with tonight! Here's hoping!

Cubes have you installed relays yourself dude? I googled for a while and the closest thing I came up with was a 1973 240Z relay install. I've done a bit of electronics but a tutorial is soooo much easier to read than trying to sort out wiring diagrams

[Cubes]

I've been lazy.

I've got the gear to do it just haven't got around to it.

The wiring is really easy as its only a couple of wires.

I've used relays in the past to run a direct feed to my fuel pump. The voltage to the fuel pump went from 11.3v under load to 13.8v under load.

[arep3]

good luck tonight cowie165! let me know how it goes.

after ive sorted out the leds in the climate control, ill have a go at my dash and surrounds. im waiting on my white 320 km nismo dash from japan before i think about the led replacement. see how standard globes look 1st. might change the surrounds of the dash to leds but. they dont even light up at all. does anyone know what size they are? changed to led? do u know what mcd strength would be best for it? the 1000mcd in the climate control seam dull apart from that bright bastard down the bottom.... im goin back to jaycar for stronger suckas monday!

i just thought about changing the indicators in the back with a circuit board full of leds! ive gone MAD!

anybody attempted this before?

sorry for getting off track here..

[cowie165]

lol@too many LEDs Check out Ronin09's Xenon thread - I think he was also replacing parkers with an LED-packed PCB.

I have replaced the standard dash globes with 5W bulbs. Works very nicely however the dash plastic (clear part I mean) becomes rather warm to the touch after 10-15mins.

The bulbs around the dash (wipers/headlights/power windows/FM/AM) are the same grain-of-wheat 12V bulb. If you take a look at post #13, in the second picture, they are the lights in the grey tube. Just the same as the climate control ones but they sit in a grey silicone sleeve.

[cowie165]

Checked polarity of the LEDs. Two words for you arep3: Giddyup Horsey!

Thanks mate, all squared and 6/6. If you ever come along to a NSW cruise, beers are on me. I've been off work for a week (crook) and the LED job has been pissing me off every single day. Cheers! I took a pic but it was on a handycam. The damned thing completely underexposed the shot and turned out useless. Regardless, I'm very happy with the 1000mcd LEDs.

As far as your other job goes, I remember Jaycar has 3mm 3000mcd but everything up from there is a 5mm bulb.

[arep3]

Checked polarity of the LEDs. Two words for you arep3: Giddyup Horsey!

Thanks mate, all squared and 6/6. If you ever come along to a NSW cruise, beers are on me. I've been off work for a week (crook) and the LED job has been pissing me off every single day. Cheers! I took a pic but it was on a handycam. The damned thing completely underexposed the shot and turned out useless. Regardless, I'm very happy with the 1000mcd LEDs.

As far as your other job goes, I remember Jaycar has 3mm 3000mcd but everything up from there is a 5mm bulb.

i might go for a cruise with the boys up to qland in summer so ill have a few beers! too many leds poped into my head for now so im not gonna bother with it. jaycar sell replacement indicator bulbs that r made outta leds anyways. easy swap if mine ever blow.

im gonna grab a 3000mcd tomorrow so ill let u all know what the deal is

[cowie165]

Rewiring the headlights using a relay gives you a slight boost in light output as the lights are 'seeing' a greater voltage.

Cubes could you please elaborate on how you would rig the relay? I understand what they are and I thought I understood how they work but I don't see how you can use one to boost the voltage to the headlights.

Interesting reading from http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/relays/relays.html

The Europeans take a slightly more realistic with their voltage ratings; they consider output at 13.2v to be "100%". The loss curve is the same, though. When operating voltage drops to 95 percent (12.54v), headlamp bulbs produce only 83 percent of their rated light output. When voltage drops to 90 percent (11.88v), bulb output is only 67 percent of what it should be. And when voltage drops to 85 percent (11.22v), bulb output is a paltry 53 percent of normal! It is much more common than you might think for factory headlamp wiring/switch setups to produce this kind of voltage drop, especially once they're no longer brand new and the connections have accumulated some corrosion and dirt.

[Cubes]

A relay is a simple switch.

When you flick the dash light switch it completes a circuit, this enables the relay that then feeds the lights with current directly from the battery.

The RB's tend to run anywhere from low 13v to high 13v depending on engine rpm, temperature and load. Well from what I've seen on various 32's and 33's.

When stone cold its up over 14v.

Nissan for what ever reason don't run the setup I mention above, they have the lights drawing their current through the light switch, within the light switch there is obviously a high resistence that causes the lugs to eventually melt.

Where there's heat there is resistence, where there's resistence there's a voltage drop.

[cowie165]

A relay is a simple switch.

When you flick the dash light switch it completes a circuit, this enables the relay that then feeds the lights with current directly from the battery.

The RB's tend to run anywhere from low 13v to high 13v depending on engine rpm, temperature and load. Well from what I've seen on various 32's and 33's.

When stone cold its up over 14v.

Nissan for what ever reason don't run the setup I mention above, they have the lights drawing their current through the light switch, within the light switch there is obviously a high resistence that causes the lugs to eventually melt.

Where there's heat there is resistence, where there's resistence there's a voltage drop.

Thanks for the fast reply. I understand that a relay is an electromagnetic switch however I don't see how using a switch will eliminate the voltage drop? Isn't the resistance within the switch fixed?

Hang on, I've just reread your post. So you're saying you should be using the headlight switch to trigger the relay to draw "current directly from the battery". And that way you've eliminated the resistance in the switch. So can I conclude that as you're drawing the current directly from the battery you will also require less current in the switch hence lower temps therefore no more melted switches?

Finally, where did you fit the relay? In the dash or under the bonnet?

Thanks!

[Cubes]

Exactly.

[japtaxi]

I had made new wirings/relay.. used almost 5 metres of 10-gauge (5.2mm2) wire from relays to headlight bulbs, some 14-gauge (2.5mm2) to connect factory headlights connectors to relays, 2 relays (one for low beams, one for high beams), 30A fuses and water proof fuse holders.

this url has just about all the info you need:

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/relays/relays.html

teh cheap dodgy wiring/relay job

even dodgier relay mounting in engine bay

[cowie165]

I had made new wirings/relay

Very nice dude. Did you wire the low beam to remain on when high beam is selected?

[japtaxi]

Very nice dude. Did you wire the low beam to remain on when high beam is selected?

I'v got H4 hi/low beam bulbs so highbeam wire goes to where H4 high beam connector is as well as the additional fog/highbeam light.

with H3C bulbs you might need a diode to do that.

[Fixxxer]

Great thread, I just modded the headlight switch by elongating the springs slightly, it seems to have done the job and the headlights now switch on (only the parkers would come on last time I drove it). If it plays up again I'll consider getting another switch assembly as suggested.

My plastic caps were not melted, just looked like they were worn down a little. It took me 1.5hrs or so, because it was my first go at it, I didn't take off the steering wheel which made it a little trickier and I couldn't get the surround totally off because I couldn't get the plug off that goes to the stereo switches right next to the windscreen wipers switch, would not budge at all, even using a screwdriver as leverage. The rest of the plugs came off relatively easy. Should only take me 30-40mins next time.

Fixxxer

[Cubes]

Great thread, I just modded the headlight switch by elongating the springs slightly, it seems to have done the job and the headlights now switch on (only the parkers would come on last time I drove it). If it plays up again I'll consider getting another switch assembly as suggested.

My plastic caps were not melted, just looked like they were worn down a little. It took me 1.5hrs or so, because it was my first go at it, I didn't take off the steering wheel which made it a little trickier and I couldn't get the surround totally off because I couldn't get the plug off that goes to the stereo switches right next to the windscreen wipers switch, would not budge at all, even using a screwdriver as leverage. The rest of the plugs came off relatively easy. Should only take me 30-40mins next time.

Fixxxer

Thats what mine looked like.. worn down but in fact they are actually melted slight causing the once pointed tip to be flat.

[sigsputnik]

really great work, cowie. found what i was looking for - the model number for the dash bulbs (T10). Ebay seem to have quite a few: http://search.ebay.com.au/t10

i'm also putting together a diy for attesa troubleshooting so i'll direct people to your thread for dash removal. keep it up mate.

[justinfox]

How's this guys. I just replace the light switch with a brand new one from Nissan and my drivers side headlight still will not come on until I switch the switch on and off about 4-5 times!!! (then it does come on and stay on).

The left (passenger) side light comes on every time but the drivers side only when I've fiddled with turning the switch on and off.

Wasn't a problem with normal globes, but is a problem now with a HID kit installed.