Headlights

[tricky lugnuts]

    My headlights are doing weird things, figured I'd see if anybody had any pointers.

They work, but... (Be forewarned I am electronically retarded )

When car (71 SE with operational hideaways) is running at idle at night, headlights are somewhat dim -- but that's not my complaint. When I give it gas, i.e. drive off, they get a lot brighter, like a bright, white light compared to more of an orange light at idle. (of course, they also flicker with the flashers at idle).

It does this, and then sometimes it will go away while I am driving down the road. Seems like the lights for the aftermarket add-on gauges I installed (years ago) get brighter too. I can watch their brightness vary -- though usually it seems like they are too bright. Probably that is an unusual complaint. But it often seems like they are going to get brighter, and brighter, and brighter, until finally they will have no choice but to explode or something...

Could this be voltage regulator related? I think I recall something like this happening before -- if my poor long term memory serves me right, the problem disappeared with a new voltage regulator.

I already know I need to go around and clean up connections/grounds, etc. But when going down the road the headlights turn into a bright, white light (as if I had my brights on) and then sometimes that will flicker slightly and go back to what I remember them looking like normally, so it seems something is going on..... And I don't have any other complaints, it's not burning anything out on a regular basis or something like that.

Anyone else ever have this issue? Thanks for any possible feedback. Wouldn't it be great to put all new wiring and connections in your Charger?

[JimShine]

I loved this mod so much we did it to 4 cars.

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,168.0.html

[NHCharger]

My headlights still dim down a bit at idle but the flickering is gone and with the new halogens i can actually see when I'm driving at night.

[tricky lugnuts]

Read the post --

Interesting concept.

The upgrade works good? I like good, bright, consistent headlights, but I don't want to have those bluish 'headlights of death' I see on the road and barely survive sometimes. And as it is, if it's really dark, my high beams really do a good job of lighting my view.

I am primarily concerned about the - 'inconsistency' - of my low beams. And how bright they DO get sometimes for apparently no reason.

They are rather dim at idle, but consistently so. (And at idle they flicker a bit with the turn signal on, or even the brake light being triggered, it's true.)

They do quickly brighten up as the car moves from idle however, i.e. with the throttle, much like the ALT gauge in my dash does. If I lightly power brake, I can watch the ALT gauge go up with the throttle and also watch the headlights brighten, and then dim and go down when I let off. Which means, from personal experience it seems like they get brighter with more power.

But why would they fluctuate while I'm driving steadily down the road at 35 mph or above? Shouldn't they be steady? They brighten when I accelerate, which makes some sense to me, since they must be getting an increased amount of power, but why would they brighten and dim when I'm going steadily down the road? The dimming is not dramatic really, though I can notice it. It's like the headlights get brighter and brighter off idle, keep getting brighter at a steady speed, and periodically, instantly drop a level in intensity to start climbing again and do it over and over and over. They don't brighten and dim like that for no reason at idle. It seems to be just the low beams. And it's only when the car is moving. If I let it idle nothing will ever start to brighten or dim -- unless I turn on my turn signal or something like that and it's in gear.

Sounds like I could try the upgrade for whatever radio shack is selling 30 amp relays and fuses for. I just am somewhat 'leery' of upgrading something that might have underlying problems.

For the upgrad it seems like: Use one 30 amp relay relay and fuse for the high beams and one 30 amp relay and fuse for lows. Power each relay with hot off the alternator. Splice each relay into a headlight circuit -- so the headlight switch and dimmer switch still perform their functions.

Why do it? Because the modern halogen headlights (like I am running) require a lot of power -- and a live feed from the alternator, triggered through the relay, is better at supplying that.

Hmm.

What were your headlights doing before you made the upgrade? I seemed to gather that currently, all the power that goes to my headlights goes through my headlight switch and dimmer switch, which is a 'bad idea' given the amount of power that these new halogen headlights require?

Is it, think melted switch if all 30 amps went to the headlight switch? i.e. why would power from the alternator need to go through the connector bulkhead, into the dash, and through the headlight switch, just to power the headlights?

They said it's simple enough a caveman could do it, and I see that -- I just don't know if my headlight's current symptoms call for that first.

[JimShine]

These cars all pretty much did the same as yours. At idle the lights would dim and pulsate. The light would become a very amberish/brown color. When you gave it gas and increased the RPM's, the lights would get whiter brighter with very little to no pulsating. Now the lights are really bright (same bulbs) and are rock steady (I haven't noticed any dimming at all) I would say they are a little brighter than their brightest on the old circuit.

The switch in my '69 would get so hot so often that the bezel is warped in that area. Now it stays cool. I have no idea why they ran so many amps through the dash. They did it with the alternator gauge as well.

Yeah, you can get the parts at radio shack, or even the parts store. Look for the generic relays as those can be found for about $4 each. There are often 3 or 4 same relays in a store packaged for different purposes and priced differently.

[tricky lugnuts]

I'll give it a shot -- hopefully this weekend.

Thanks