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building a sami headlight relay harness

t1h5ta3

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In the spirit of the DIY types ( and since an off the shelf harness wont work ) i figured id post up a DIY harness ....

the main reason off the shelf harnesses wont work is the samurai uses a constant hot, and switched grounds for headlights. this is the oposite of how its normaly done.

here is the headlight diagram taken from the 88 service man.

zukheadlightdiagram.jpg


@ the headlight
w/bl & w/r are the comon hot
red is high - go's back thru switch to ground
red/white is low - go's back thru switch to ground

here is how the typical 6024 ( 7" round headlight) is wired...
socket_wiring_diagram.jpg


and here is a typical wireing diagram for a relay harness...
headlightHArnesswithplug.JPG


so, on to the changes to adapt it to a sami....
on relay:
#86 will need to be hot. you can piggy back from term #30, or the w/bl or w/r wire from factory harness ( depends on what side you connect to).
from factory harness to relay:
red factory wire is neg high beam trigger, connects to #85 in diagram on relay 3
red/white wire is neg low beam trigger, connects to #85 in diagram on relay 1



my zuk has had awefull lighting since i got it. i tested the voltage the other day. with the factory harness disconnected from the lights so there was no draw, i only had 11.7v available. thats a 3volt drop with no load! :eek: ( 14.8v @ batt when running ) voltage droped below 9v when pluged in. no wonder i couldnt see at night! :shaking: so today i will go source relays , pigtails etc. i plan to make it plug n play so no cutting of a factory harness would be required.

i shuld be able to do some before/after beam shots etc.
 
Hey I'm working on swapping fuel injection into my Samurai from an 89 Sidekick, using the entire engine harness. I noticed that the Sidekick came with a factory foglight dash switch/relay and wiring, not sure how common this is (my Sidekick did't even have fog lights) but may be a cheap source for parts and make for a clean install.

I didn't do any voltage drop testing but noticed a significant improvement in my headlight brightness after adapting the Sami headlight wiring to the Sidekick wiring and headlight switch...:cheer:
 
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useing a halo style light with generic napa tractor lights as fogs....
2010-01-19164102.jpg


dam cell phone doesnt take the best pics for comparing lights since theres no way to lock the exposure , turn off auto adjustments etc...

before the upgrade, the headlights were a dim yellow, the tractor lights were considerably brighter....
heres an after shot durring the day..
2010-01-19164204.jpg


2010-01-19165012.jpg


now the real differance... night ( dusk ) shots....

before...
2010-01-19173545.jpg


after...
2010-01-19173600.jpg


the way i wired it without cutting made the befor/after shots easy, just had to switch plugs.. .took all of 30 seconds...

now to grab a screwdriver and head for some back roads to dial in the aim....
 
the pics realy dont do it justice.. so much whiter/brighter....

amazing the diferance 5+ volts makes @ the bulbs....

total time to make? about 2 hours including fabing a bracket for the relays to sit on.
relays are bolted to a bracket off the side of the jack mount on the passenger side. this gave quick easy access to the headlight wireing etc.
 
:cool: I need to do something about my lights...:booo: no time!!!:haha: Oh, and FYI, jack mount's on the Dr side!!!:redneck:
 
Dumb unrelated question but where did you find those headlights? I've been trying half assed to find them but google failed me...
 

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