Help with ALRADCO HID Low and High Beam light install with relays

[2QUIK6]

OK, I have the Low and High Bean ALRADCO HID light kit along with the 2 relays.
I have some simulated HIDS from years ago in there now and no longer have the factory harness so I need to figure out which wires to connect there also.
There seems to be some wires that have no place and quit frankly, don't see how they could be utilized with or without the relays.

Let's start with the LOW BEAMS, here is a pic with all of the questionable wires labeled, and the harness for the HID all plugged together the way they would appear to be installed, please check if I have them connected to the Ballasts correctly, doesn't seem to be another way.

From the pic:
'+' of the relay is going directly to the battery
'-' G 2 wires going to ground/chasis.

'1' is the 2 prong plug that I assume would go on the factory light plug. Looks like there should be 1-black wire, 1-green wire, and 2 tan wires would have been on that plug....which should go to the red and black wires on this plug labeled '1' in the pic above???

'2' - is a 2 wire weather pack connector and a red and black spade connector on the other end, these appear to have no use??? Maybe if I didn't have the relays they would plug into the weather pack from the Ballast, but the 2 spade connectors on the other end have no where to go and are on the wrong side of the bulb grommet to go into the factory harness.

'3' - same as '2' above on the other side, no where to be used???

HIGH BEAMS have a similar layout and same wires with no use as '2' and '3', just need to know what color wires, the factory green and black to which ones on the HID, red or black???

This kits looks like it will connect to the facotry wires on the driver side for both HIGH and LOW, does the passenger side factory wires just not get used and should be tucked away???

So, 5 questions above where I have '???' and please verify what I have connected together in the pic is correct.

Thanks in advance.

 

[DavzGN]

2 & 3 aren't used they are replaced by the relay kits. Green goes to red on high beam tan to red on low beams. Black to black on both. I just taped over my unused plugs and tucked them in with the other wires

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[2QUIK6]

Awesome, thank you so much for the response! I think that just answered all of the questions! Now maybe I'll find some time to install them!

 

[larry33kc]

Good info

 

[rev. 3:11]

I used wire loom to clean-up wiring & then shot the big ballasts w/ black spray paint (I have hi & lo beams installed, but I've never needed the high!)

D

 

[2QUIK6]

Good idea rev!

 

[2QUIK6]

Well, for the low beams I've discovered that if what DaveZ said above that the tan wire goes to red, and black to black, then the "plug-n-play" relay plug that plugs to the factory harness is incorrectly wired.
I pulled off the lights I had, and it actually does have the factory plug still on them that was under a huge rubber boot on the back of the light.
If the relay plug that has the empty top wire is plugged in to the factory harness, then the red mates up to black, and the black mates up to the factory green....see pic below!



Even if the relay harness is flipped it will not match up since nothing is in the top slot.
Guess I will plug it all up without mounting anything since others seem to have worked...I'll post this on the other post as well.

 

[larry33kc]

Boy I'm lost with these things. Can't get mine to work.

 

[2QUIK6]

I used a tiny screwdriver to remove the spade connectors from the relay harness and oriented them for the low beams so that factory tan matches the red wire in relay harness, and black to black. The high beams matched the relay harness plug just fine, so either my factory harnesses had the wires switched around or the relays are not wired correctly for low beams. It would no way work the way the relay was sent to me.
I plugged everything up and they now seem to work fine but have not permanently mounted anything yet, waiting for a diode so i can wire all 4 to be on when high beams are on because the highs do take 10 secs or so to be full on.

So larry, do you have the relays also and high and low beams? Does your parts match my pics in original post? Make sure the red wire on the HIDs or the 2 spade relay plug matches the tan factory low beam, and green matches the red on high beams.

 

[larry33kc]

Yes I have both kits hi and LO beams. Also have the relay kits too.

I will have to look at the wires later and see what's up there.

 

[DavzGN]

I have a pair of diodes if anyone needs them. I got a relay kit with a bad connection and Scott replaced it with one that keep the low beams on full time so I don't need them.

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[2QUIK6]

I have a pair of diodes if anyone needs them. I got a relay kit with a bad connection and Scott replaced it with one that keep the low beams on full time so I don't need them.

I have already ordered one from RadioShack, just need 1 diode to jump the relay for the low beams, so if you have 2 you can maybe help out 2 other folks.

 

[larry33kc]

Haven't had a chance to look yet but I forgotten that I did rotate the plug and it still didn't work.
That's the same isn't it?

 

[2QUIK6]

Haven't had a chance to look yet but I forgotten that I did rotate the plug and it still didn't work.
That's the same isn't it?

No, for the low beams, one mine that would match up the red on the realy with the green on the factory harness, but black and black would match.
With that configuration, your low beams would come on when you turn on the high beams in the car. I'm saying "on mine" because I am not certain that my factory harness wires were not relocated in the harness for the simulated HIDs that I had before...was so long ago I remember having to do something to them as they did not plug right into the factory harness as is.

What you need to have, no matter if mine were relocated or not in the harness, is the red on the relay should plug into the tan wire on the factory harness for the low beams.
The high beam relay should have the red match to the green on the factory harness.

I received my diode and capacitor today, not sure I need the capacitor until I wire up the diode and see how the lights function. In that overly complex writeup (because that write up has you building the relays also) on how to keep the lows on when the high beams are on, they used a capacitor indicating the lights would flicker without it. Since we already have the relays, I think there is an easier way, just have to keep a 12v charge on the lows when they are cut off and power is switched to the highs. If the diode is slow to allow current to flow that may be the case, so the capacitor in line would not allow the charge to drop on the low beams while the switch is made to the high beams....will just have to experiment with this and see.....may be the weekend before I can.

 

[larry33kc]

Here's mine. Hmmmm

 

[2QUIK6]

Larry, that looks to be the passenger side since there is the double greens. But either way, that looks like you have the correct orientation, tan to red and black to black for the low beams.
It would appear that my factory harness plugs have had the wires removed and re-inserted with a different orientation, which I suspected may be the case for the simulated bulbs I had, I vaugly remember having to do something to make them work so that I didn't hack up the factory harness and that must have been it.

If yours are not working, first get a voltmeter, and unplug everything so you are working with the factory harness plugs only.
Turn on the lights in normal operation just low beams....you should have 12v if you test the tan wire and ground to the black wire.
Then flip on the high beams, you should see 0-.3v on the tan wire, and 12v on the green wire... This should be true no matter which side of the car you test.
If all checks out there, make sure your relays are connected to a good 12v always on source, I connected mine to the post on the back of the alternator, then make sure the grounds are good, I removed a hex head bolt on each side that was bolted into the fender or used on that already had a ground wire bolted to it, there are several to choose from.

Unplug the HID bulbs and check for voltage there also. You can also check the 2-wire weather plug that goes from the relay to each ballast for voltage to determine if its the relay or the ballasts, or the bulbs that are faulty.

 

[larry33kc]

Got it figured out. I will let you know when I talk to Pete first.

 

[2QUIK6]

Hey Larry, since you have all 4, take a look at your lenses, it appears I have all 4 the same and are labeled RHT and have a pattern to one side that would throw the light differently. I see there is a chart on the auto pal website that shows a RHT and LHT, seems like these should have the pattern on the opposite side for the other side of the car, flipping them over will not work.

And btw, only a diode is required to make all 4 be on in high beam mode, no capacitor needed. I installed another spade connector in the relay harness that would plug into the factory green wire, then jumped a diode from that spade to the red wire on the relay connector, works fine and no flicker when switching to hi beam.

 

[larry33kc]

I will check them, I do think I remember seeing the same part #on all the boxes. Can you pm me the details of the diode setup? That would be awesome since I live in the country and deer is a real issue.
Another thing how did you go about the wire harness and the boxes? How did you mount or hid it all?

 

[2QUIK6]

I talked to Peter today at Alradco, all 4 lenses are supposed to be the same, the label RHT means Right Hand Traffic and the lenses direct the light down on the side that would be facing on-coming traffic.

For the install, I mounted both ballasts on the driver side up on the fender, and then put the relays down in the lower part where the charcoal cansister sits normally, my canister has been moved over against the fender in order to make room for a cold air intake duct.
Here's a pic showing the relays and the 2 ballasts on driver side, canister and intake is removed:


For the passenger side, I installed both ballasts behind the battery right in front of the large frame bushing/mount that is in that area....was pretty limited to where you can put it and have the relay wire make it to it, which also depands on where you put the driver side ballasts...the relay wire should have been about 1.5 feet longer.
Hard to see them in the pic, its a little crowded back there as I have an alky pump back in that area too on the other side of the bumper support:


Then for the diode, I used this diode from Radio Shack, http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062577.
You will need to orient the diode so that the grey solid stripe side of the diode connects to the Tan factory wire, or Red relay wire for the low beams. Connect the other end of the diode to the green wire.
In order to do this without cutting my factory harness, I bought a connector pack that contained a male spade terminal and installed it in the realy harness in the empty 3rd spot so that it plugs into the green wire terminal in the factory harness. For the connection to the tan wire, I stripped back the insulation on the red wire of the low beam relay and soldered the diode to it, then attached a wire to the other end of the diode and soldered the other end of the wire to the terminal I installed in the relay harness that connects to the green factory wire. When you plug the relay harness to the factory harness, you will have to hold the wire side of the added terminal so it pushes into the harness because there is no locking tab to keep it in place like the ones already in the relay harness.
Don't have a pic of the connection as I already wrapped it all up with electrical tape.
Here is a pic of the diode and the misc terminal connectors I bought at Pep Boys to get the spade terminal: