

| Subject: | Re: Headlight relay upgrade?_wire sizes |
| From: | TJ Hannink |
| Date: | Sun, 4 Jan 2004 09:55:38 -0800 |
The easiest way to find out the resistance of components in the low-beam headlight curcuit is to measure the voltage drop at various places in the circuit. I originally found that I had .7 volt difference between the fuse block supply voltage and the headlamp terminal when of the headlights were on. 0.6 volts of that drop were in the headlight switch itself. After I installed a headlight relay, I had 0.1 voltage drop between the fuse block and the headlamp terminal. I saw less than 0.1 vdc difference between the fuse block and the main battery so adding more capacity between those two points or running battery voltage directly to the headlight relay didn't make much sense. I don't see any value in installing larger wires to the headlamps. Currently, from the headlight switch to the headlamp, each low beam has its own 14 ga. wire, its own fuse on the fuse panel and its own contact inside the dimmer switch. The only reason I see for increasing the size of the wiring is if you are using much higher wattage low-beam lamps (+120 watt) and are constantly blowing the stock 10-amp fuses. You would be better served adding additional wire between the battery/alternator and the fuse blocks, but again, check with a voltmeter first to see how much of a gain you will actually see. I didn't test mine with the heater blower on, but I very rarely use the heater blower. Good luck, ===== TJ Hannink Goldibox - 1987 Vanagon Camper, Wolfsburg Edition Winter Park, Florida http://home.earthlink.net/~tjhannink/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wolfsburg_campers http://photos.yahoo.com/tjhannink [Vanagon] Album __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard http://antispam.yahoo.com/whatsnewfree
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