Relay Harness for HID
- Thread starter bullguy
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Mounce
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I'm not sure if it'll really burn the wires or not but it's recommended to get one for our cars due to the dinky wiring inside of the headlights. It's worth the $15 on Ebay to me just to keep from worrying if the wires will burn out or catch on fire.
Also, for HIDs, you have to disable the DRL (daytime running lights) function because it supplies the power to the lights in a PWM signal which lowers the voltage. If you don't disable it, your HIDs will burn out very prematurely even if you have a relay harness.
Edit: actually relay harnesses are going for a whole $7-$8 each on Ebay right now. So if you got low beam and high beam it'd be $14-$16.
Also, for HIDs, you have to disable the DRL (daytime running lights) function because it supplies the power to the lights in a PWM signal which lowers the voltage. If you don't disable it, your HIDs will burn out very prematurely even if you have a relay harness.
Edit: actually relay harnesses are going for a whole $7-$8 each on Ebay right now. So if you got low beam and high beam it'd be $14-$16.
Hypnotoad
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I bought the $7 harness. The wires are pretty small. At least the wiring is still slightly bigger than the wiring that comes from the factory though. I used it anyway, but had I known, I would have spent a little more for a better one.Mounce said:
Abd you only need one harness.
Mounce
Member
In most cases if you put HIDs in your lows, you won't need highs. You could get away with some Silver Star Ultras in a matching color temperature, since they won't get used quite as much. But yeah if you insisted on putting HIDs in your high beams, then a relay harness would be recommended for them there as well.
An easier way to consider whether or not to invest in a relay harness: go look up the prices of replacement 9006 (or 9005) pigtails, and then ask yourself is the saving of a few $$$ now, worth the trouble of having to buy these later, take your headlights out of the truck, snip off the scorched/melted connectors, and solder/shrink wrap the new ones in? For most people who aren't constantly tinkering under the hood, and have things taken apart, the answer is no.
An easier way to consider whether or not to invest in a relay harness: go look up the prices of replacement 9006 (or 9005) pigtails, and then ask yourself is the saving of a few $$$ now, worth the trouble of having to buy these later, take your headlights out of the truck, snip off the scorched/melted connectors, and solder/shrink wrap the new ones in? For most people who aren't constantly tinkering under the hood, and have things taken apart, the answer is no.
Mounce
Member
True about just low beams. If you do both you're gonna need the quad-hi mod or similar or you'll be in the dark for a few seconds when switching between high and low beams.
kickass audio
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I always strongly advise on using a relay harness with HID's no matter what vehicle it is going into. The reason for this is that the HID's draw a lot of current when warming up, I clamped 35a of current on a 50w ballast for 2 seconds when warming it up with a totally cold bulb. Though it is only for a few seconds with most brands it can be even longer with some cheap crappy bulbs/ballasts so be warned. Also as already said our stock wire sucks and I would only use it like I have it setup with being a trigger wire for a relay or to engage the solenoid my bi-xenon projectors have to make the beam turn into a high beam.
My setup consists of having a relay per ballast so I have redundancy in the event on relay blows or something I have the other that is fully functional on the other side. I also carry a few spare relays and fuses for the relays should they ever go bad I can swap them on the spot and be back up and running. I also retrofitted my lights with a 64mm bi-xenon projector that will give me low/high beam all in on. I refuse to use HID's on the stock housing unless it is my fogs which rarely get used but I found that the fogs on the Envoy are really nice and do not glare at all (disclaimer: at least they do not with the brand I run so don't hold me against that if another brand does cause glare and hot spots) and they do not get hot inside to melt the mirror coating off the bowl. I also performed the DRL Delete mod to entirely bypass the DRL's so I have full output going to the relays to eliminate the problem of burning out your relays/ballasts from an AC power signal coming into them when they are intended strictly for DC power. The benefit of the DRL Delete mod is you have the ability to let the running lamps turn on normally when its dark out and then you turn the knob manually to get the headlights to turn on. This also helps lengthen the life span on your bulbs and ballast as you will only turn them on when its dark and not have them on during broad daylight. Another benefit of the mod is that you can turn your high beams on and the low beams will continue to stay on. Only drawback to this mod is that if you should leave the headlights manually turned on in your truck and walk away with the key out of the ignition, the run down protection circuit will turn off your corner lamps but your headlights will remain on so be warned about that and make sure you remember to turn them off. I also have my setup with CCFL Halo's around the projector and I tapped them into the running lights so when the running lights are on, the HALO's are on too. This is nice for when I want to have some light at night if I pull my truck in the driveway from the street and do not need to warm up my bulbs just to shut them off after a few seconds (that is bad for HID's).
I would not go any higher than a 35w setup for your fogs should you want to put HID's in them. To be honest, I never use my fogs anymore since I put the 64mm projectors in the low beams. They are so bright and shine for a long distance that it is not needed anymore.
My setup consists of having a relay per ballast so I have redundancy in the event on relay blows or something I have the other that is fully functional on the other side. I also carry a few spare relays and fuses for the relays should they ever go bad I can swap them on the spot and be back up and running. I also retrofitted my lights with a 64mm bi-xenon projector that will give me low/high beam all in on. I refuse to use HID's on the stock housing unless it is my fogs which rarely get used but I found that the fogs on the Envoy are really nice and do not glare at all (disclaimer: at least they do not with the brand I run so don't hold me against that if another brand does cause glare and hot spots) and they do not get hot inside to melt the mirror coating off the bowl. I also performed the DRL Delete mod to entirely bypass the DRL's so I have full output going to the relays to eliminate the problem of burning out your relays/ballasts from an AC power signal coming into them when they are intended strictly for DC power. The benefit of the DRL Delete mod is you have the ability to let the running lamps turn on normally when its dark out and then you turn the knob manually to get the headlights to turn on. This also helps lengthen the life span on your bulbs and ballast as you will only turn them on when its dark and not have them on during broad daylight. Another benefit of the mod is that you can turn your high beams on and the low beams will continue to stay on. Only drawback to this mod is that if you should leave the headlights manually turned on in your truck and walk away with the key out of the ignition, the run down protection circuit will turn off your corner lamps but your headlights will remain on so be warned about that and make sure you remember to turn them off. I also have my setup with CCFL Halo's around the projector and I tapped them into the running lights so when the running lights are on, the HALO's are on too. This is nice for when I want to have some light at night if I pull my truck in the driveway from the street and do not need to warm up my bulbs just to shut them off after a few seconds (that is bad for HID's).
I would not go any higher than a 35w setup for your fogs should you want to put HID's in them. To be honest, I never use my fogs anymore since I put the 64mm projectors in the low beams. They are so bright and shine for a long distance that it is not needed anymore.
BINGA
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I guess i've been fortunate. I've been running my HIDs for about 5 years now, and haven't used a relay. That being said, I always turn my DRLs off whenever I start the vehicle and just as a precaution I flip the switch to on when dusk hits when I'm driving. However, i've grown tired of the recent "pulsating" of my headlights when my sound system is on blast or when using other powered items like my windows and such, and i'm finally going to break down and just buy a damn relay. Since most of you are using them already, do any of you have a particular brand or manufacturer you'd suggest to point me in the right direction?
They are a dime a dozen, and pretty basic when it gets down to it. You could actually build your own if you were so inclined. Just need a 5 pin automotive relay, some wiring, terminals/connectors, and some shrink wrap. If not, just grab one off Ebay and call it a day.BINGA said:
kickass audio
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^^ what he said. I have tyco relays that I use and have always had good luck, I had some cheaper ones I bought off partsexpress and they would get sticky sometimes and not turn off after being on so I had to smack them to get them to release until I replaced them.
Some food for thought if you want to build your own relay harness and save money plus make it neater with having wire length to spec and not all hanging around as pre-made relay harnesses have a lot of wire length as they are universal and it can be ugly having it sit somewhere. Also for making your own relay set for your lights I recommend at least 16ga wire, I myself run 14ga for the power wires, the trigger wire for the relay I have at 18ga like our stock wire as that doesn't need a lot of amperage to engage the relay so thicker wire is unnecessary. Don't forget to run a fuse between the relay and the positive battery terminal, depending on what wattage ballast you are running you will need either a 20 or 30a fuse. I have all 30's in mine with having 50w ballasts. A final idea if you want to would be to get a relay harness adapter that will allow you to pull the relay straight out in the event you need to replace it due to failure. It isn't necessary because if you didn't have it, you just connect the wires to the relay with a female spade connector one at a time but with the harness it is one plug that will lock all the other wires in at the same time.
This is the place I bought all my HID gear from, not the cheapest but their support and warranty is amazing from them.
The relay setup I use on mine is to have 4 of these (one relay harness per ballast. so one for each low beam and one for each fog light): http://www.futurevisionhid.com/products/parts-accessories/hid-relay-kit-harness.html
If you want to go an easier route instead of wiring up more than 1 relay you can get a single relay kit that will engage 2 ballasts instead like this one: http://www.futurevisionhid.com/products/parts-accessories/dual-hid-relay-kit-harness.html
I still am against using a dual relay kit as I like having redundancy so in the event of a failure I am not 100% down and out without lights. I can at least limp with 1 light working until I can either pull over and fix it or get somewhere safely. I personally like having a single relay per ballast but again that is just my personal preference. You do NOT need to do that if you do not wish to do so.
Some food for thought if you want to build your own relay harness and save money plus make it neater with having wire length to spec and not all hanging around as pre-made relay harnesses have a lot of wire length as they are universal and it can be ugly having it sit somewhere. Also for making your own relay set for your lights I recommend at least 16ga wire, I myself run 14ga for the power wires, the trigger wire for the relay I have at 18ga like our stock wire as that doesn't need a lot of amperage to engage the relay so thicker wire is unnecessary. Don't forget to run a fuse between the relay and the positive battery terminal, depending on what wattage ballast you are running you will need either a 20 or 30a fuse. I have all 30's in mine with having 50w ballasts. A final idea if you want to would be to get a relay harness adapter that will allow you to pull the relay straight out in the event you need to replace it due to failure. It isn't necessary because if you didn't have it, you just connect the wires to the relay with a female spade connector one at a time but with the harness it is one plug that will lock all the other wires in at the same time.
This is the place I bought all my HID gear from, not the cheapest but their support and warranty is amazing from them.
The relay setup I use on mine is to have 4 of these (one relay harness per ballast. so one for each low beam and one for each fog light): http://www.futurevisionhid.com/products/parts-accessories/hid-relay-kit-harness.html
If you want to go an easier route instead of wiring up more than 1 relay you can get a single relay kit that will engage 2 ballasts instead like this one: http://www.futurevisionhid.com/products/parts-accessories/dual-hid-relay-kit-harness.html
I still am against using a dual relay kit as I like having redundancy so in the event of a failure I am not 100% down and out without lights. I can at least limp with 1 light working until I can either pull over and fix it or get somewhere safely. I personally like having a single relay per ballast but again that is just my personal preference. You do NOT need to do that if you do not wish to do so.
jimmyjam
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For what it's worth, I prefer metri-pack style relays for anything in the engine compartment. Like all the connectors under there, they have seals to keep them dry and relatively corrosion free.
http://www.bmotorsports.com/shop/product_info.php/products_id/503
For the price of them individually though, it is cheaper to get a quality harness pre-made
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/components/harnesses/morimoto-9006-low-beam-relay-wire-harness.html#.U9-uiWNW-MU
Yes, you can build one for cheaper, but... well I think roadie has a garfield cartoon to explain my opinion on the matter
oof thats way overpriced for the components they are using
http://www.bmotorsports.com/shop/product_info.php/products_id/503
For the price of them individually though, it is cheaper to get a quality harness pre-made
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/components/harnesses/morimoto-9006-low-beam-relay-wire-harness.html#.U9-uiWNW-MU
Yes, you can build one for cheaper, but... well I think roadie has a garfield cartoon to explain my opinion on the matter
oof thats way overpriced for the components they are using
kickass audio
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trust me I did not pay that much for the kit when I got everything. I even got CCFL halos for it free. haha. the perks of being a returning customer.
Hell yeah on the tycos. I reworked my el cheapo low/fog relay harnesses with tyco relays.kickass audio said: