4-beam Headlight Relay

falcon598 · February 27, 2011

So my cousin has a 04 Duramax and he has HIDs like mine, and i was moaning about switching brights to dims and the HIDs having to "warm up". he mentioned installing a diode in order to keep the dims on while i have the high beams on as well. SOO i went on a google adventure and found this website, and a post mentioning this, unfortunately it was from '04, and miraculously, someone asked if setting a diode would work on his '96 1500, the answer then, was unknown soo, my question here is, does anyone know if this is possible today? sorry to bring up a topic that im sure has been brought up a quadrillion times but im a bit lazy to search through multiple multiple pages in search.

Garrett

grose67 · February 27, 2011

Not without rewireing the headlights and adding relays.

falcon598 · February 27, 2011

so is there any way to do that since a diode wont work?

beave84 · February 27, 2011

So my cousin has a 04 Duramax and he has HIDs like mine, and i was moaning about switching brights to dims and the HIDs having to "warm up". he mentioned installing a diode in order to keep the dims on while i have the high beams on as well. SOO i went on a google adventure and found this website, and a post mentioning this, unfortunately it was from '04, and miraculously, someone asked if setting a diode would work on his '96 1500, the answer then, was unknown soo, my question here is, does anyone know if this is possible today? sorry to bring up a topic that im sure has been brought up a quadrillion times but im a bit lazy to search through multiple multiple pages in search.

Garrett

Here is the kit from summit. Its made By Painless Wiring and is very easy to install. For $30 its the safest bet. http://www.summitracing.com/search/?keywor...30802&dds=1 Hope this helps.

falcon598 · February 27, 2011

Perfect! thanks both of you for the help, i was kinda hoping to escape spending money, but you cant beat 30 bucks for somethin like that, even though the 1 dollar diode woulda been a nice route lol oh well, cant complain thanks again

Garrett

beave84 · February 27, 2011

Perfect! thanks both of you for the help, i was kinda hoping to escape spending money, but you cant beat 30 bucks for somethin like that, even though the 1 dollar diode woulda been a nice route lol oh well, cant complain thanks again

Garrett

The diode way you are talking about is just taking power from the high beam to power the low beam too. The diode just prevents voltage from returnig back to the switch. This way is dangerous beacuse you are using the wire from the high beam to power all the lights and the increase in amprage can make the wire hot enough to burn, its like holding back on your turn signal lever. The relay draws power through a new wire in the kit from your battery or altneator to power the lights through the relay.

falcon598 · February 27, 2011

The diode way you are talking about is just taking power from the high beam to power the low beam too. The diode just prevents voltage from returnig back to the switch. This way is dangerous beacuse you are using the wire from the high beam to power all the lights and the increase in amprage can make the wire hot enough to burn, its like holding back on your turn signal lever. The relay draws power through a new wire in the kit from your battery or altneator to power the lights through the relay.

Makes sense and yea it would be alot more sensible to go with the relay kit from summit, sounds alot safer, and more efficient. looks to me like im in the right place to figure some of this stuff out!

Garrett

beave84 · February 27, 2011

Not without rewireing the headlights and adding relays.

That Is a beautiful truck, here in PA we dont see many 98's that clean.

grose67 · February 27, 2011

Not without rewireing the headlights and adding relays.

That Is a beautiful truck, here in PA we dont see many 98's that clean.

Thanks for noticeing. Itry my best to keep it looking good. Not too many fans of the older models on here.

[email protected] · February 27, 2011

I'm just not a fan of the engines the pre-99 ones used. But I know how you feel.

tyhuck · February 27, 2011

Great looking truck.

I love the pre-99 body styles. My favorites were the 96-98 because they had the body styles I like, and they had the Vortec 350 option. The LS engines are great engines, but the SBC made torque at a lower RPM which made them great for tugging on heavy stuff.

nickvrebel · March 2, 2011

Perfect! thanks both of you for the help, i was kinda hoping to escape spending money, but you cant beat 30 bucks for somethin like that, even though the 1 dollar diode woulda been a nice route lol oh well, cant complain thanks again

Garrett

The diode way you are talking about is just taking power from the high beam to power the low beam too. The diode just prevents voltage from returnig back to the switch. This way is dangerous beacuse you are using the wire from the high beam to power all the lights and the increase in amprage can make the wire hot enough to burn, its like holding back on your turn signal lever. The relay draws power through a new wire in the kit from your battery or altneator to power the lights through the relay.

100% wrong. if done properly the diode carries only a few millivolts, which is exactly what it is designed to do. A diode can be used on any vehicle with dual headlight setups. When properly done you are only jumping the relay turn on lead from high to low beam with the diode blocking power flow the other way. You are NOT passing the full power to turn on the lights, only the millivolts required to trip the relay, which the relay then passes the power exactly as designed.

[email protected] · March 2, 2011

*milliamps*

beave84 · March 2, 2011

Perfect! thanks both of you for the help, i was kinda hoping to escape spending money, but you cant beat 30 bucks for somethin like that, even though the 1 dollar diode woulda been a nice route lol oh well, cant complain thanks again

Garrett

The diode way you are talking about is just taking power from the high beam to power the low beam too. The diode just prevents voltage from returnig back to the switch. This way is dangerous beacuse you are using the wire from the high beam to power all the lights and the increase in amprage can make the wire hot enough to burn, its like holding back on your turn signal lever. The relay draws power through a new wire in the kit from your battery or altneator to power the lights through the relay.

100% wrong. if done properly the diode carries only a few millivolts, which is exactly what it is designed to do. A diode can be used on any vehicle with dual headlight setups. When properly done you are only jumping the relay turn on lead from high to low beam with the diode blocking power flow the other way. You are NOT passing the full power to turn on the lights, only the millivolts required to trip the relay, which the relay then passes the power exactly as designed.

no that is exactly correct for the manner of connecting i was talking about.I was thinkink of jumping the high+ to the low+ and using the diode to prevent the high+ from back feeding through the swithch. Dont know where your degree is from but I received my masters in electrical engineering from Pitt. The way you are doing it is fine we just had two different ideas on how it was being done. I appoligize for not reading into it more but all that was posted was diode trick, and Ive seen it done in the manner i was thinking.