2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Make your own Sport Light harness?

[SRath]

The Super Heavy Duty Sport Light conversion harness offered by suvlights.com is nice, but HOLY COW! it ought to be installed for that price!!



You can buy the bosch relays, relay sockets, really good ceramic bulb sockets, male adapter sockets, wire, etc MUCH cheaper than the almost $150 (with shipping) that suvlights wants for theirs.



Before I strain my brain to figure out the necessary wiring, I thought I'd ask if anyone here had already done so?



Has anyone here figured out the wiring schematic to build your own 4-relay, four-bulb harness?

 

[tolmsted]

I will agree. Anyone?

 

[WilsonF]

I'm not sure what it takes to do the sport headlights but I made my own relay harness for my standard light truck from these sites, I would think it would just take a little modification to make it work for you.
Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply
Catalog

Floyd

 

[SRath]

That is excellent help, WilsonF! Just what I was looking for. I recently bought a good used set of OEM Sport Headlights for $81 (including shipping) and hope to accomplish this upgrade for a reasonable cost. My setup will be slightly more complex since I also have a snowplow and need to do relays for those lights as well through the switch that selects between headlights or snowplow lights. Not too complicated, just more relays and wiring.

I already installed a different harness with relays a couple years ago and have tried every bulb out there it seems. That chinese relay harness really brightened the highbeams, but did almost nothing for the lowbeams. The lowbeams are terrible still. Downright dangerous.

My headlight switch has melted twice in 14 years. I recently found I can order a new switch pigtail from RockAuto, which is good since my factory connector is mighty crusty from the meltdowns.

I have heard of these Dodges actually burning to the ground from dash electrical fires caused by that headlight switch and extremely poorly designed wiring! Where is the NTSB? Dodge should be ashamed and prosecuted for some of the trash they pawn off to save a few dollars per truck.

 

[KKlingbeil]

SRath,

I am in the process of this as well. I am highly considering the kit from Daniel Stern, just because it is so easy to not have to look up all the parts, etc. He just emailed me back, and said that a 4 relay system isn't any better, nor needed. I dont know, I guess I wont use four. With 10 or 12 gauge wire, I KNOW it will be better than stock, and having two bulbs per side will be AWESOME!!!

 

[dresslered]

I built several of these harnesses for friends years ago after converting my own to the "sport" headlights. The older trucks needed the hole in the fender enlargened and used the negative ground. The newer trucks (2nd generation) used the positive ground. The harnesses that I built plugged directly into the OEM plugs so that if I ever needed (God forbid), I could easily switch back to the standard lights. Been working perfectly to this day. I probably have some old diagrams somewhere. I also remember a weird 'sense' line on my '01 which can't be ignored.

 

[Clinton]

I'm also planning on the sport headlights this spring when I get some time. I'm going with the kit from Daniel Stern. I agree about not having to look up parts and go to several suppliers. Looks like a good weekend project to get it all put together and installed.



You might want to contact Daniel Stern via email. He'll reply with what I guess is his standard canned recommendation for this project that has quite a bit of good info about how to set it up, the best bulbs to use, etc. I found it helpful.

 

[dresslered]

Here's a couple of real old links that might help:



https://www.turbodieselregister.com...scussions/99088-sport-h-l-conversion-how.html



https://www.turbodieselregister.com...iscussions/108550-sport-headlight-wiring.html

 

[Bob4x4]

I built several of these harnesses for friends years ago after converting my own to the "sport" headlights. The older trucks needed the hole in the fender enlargened and used the negative ground. The newer trucks (2nd generation) used the positive ground. The harnesses that I built plugged directly into the OEM plugs so that if I ever needed (God forbid), I could easily switch back to the standard lights. Been working perfectly to this day. I probably have some old diagrams somewhere. I also remember a weird 'sense' line on my '01 which can't be ignored.

I think you should do some rewording It is not a positive ground.

 

[KKlingbeil]

I think what he is talking about is weather or not the system is negative switched or positived switched. Daniel Stern told me they are positive switched, so you dont have to use the ground from the stock harness as the output for the trigger wire.

 

[dresslered]

Sorry for the confusion in terminology (I actually do have an MG that is a true 'positive ground') and Kevin has it correct. What I meant was that the older trucks apply 12V to the circuit to turn the lights on (active high) while the newer trucks apply the ground to the circuit (active low) to turn the lights on. Of all the schematics that I had, here is the easiest for the newer trucks (2000-2002).

 

[dresslered]

Here is what one of my finished harnesses looked like. Note, it is not representative of the above schematic as I used 2 relays in my setup (one for each high beam lamp). The shrink wrapped portion is the relay.

 

[dresslered]

Here's the schematic for the older trucks (active high) using two relays.



Edit: right side battery should read "Drivers Side Battery"

 

[SRath]

That's great stuff, David! The links, too. Are you in agreement that all Dodge 2nd gens are positive switched? Mine is a '96 and I vaguely recall running into some negative-switched frustrations and modifications when I installed a generic 2-relay harness (from china) a few yaers back. The high beams were definitely much improved, but the ones I need most, the low beams were not helped.

Since my snowplow harness includes a dash-mounted toggle switch enabling me to select between the plow headlights or the truck headlights, it adds further voltage drop problems by running all the juice back into the cab them back out to lights

The plow lights are halogen sealed beams and have always worked far better than the trucks headlights.

I want to start with getting the sport light harness and relays all set up, then add additional relays for the plow lights.

 

[dresslered]

Are you in agreement that all Dodge 2nd gens are positive switched?

No, but again, I am going from memory. I believe that the year 2000-2002 2nd gens use an active low switch. I believe that your '96 uses an active high switch. The "two relay" schematic above should work for your application. The main difference is just the way you hook up the coil on the relay.



Running your lights (especially high powered) through a shorter, larger gauge wire will result in less of a voltage drop than running up to the cab and back (especially relying on the dodge wiring). The wiring won't make much difference in the lower power lights like the low-beams (which is why I didn't even bother with a relay there), but the sport lenses are far superior throwing a much better low beam.



You can also modify the schematics to do what the "brite box" does, but I believe that there is too much heat generated for the plastic lenses.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

I made up my own Sport Light wiring harness setup - got the relay kit from Daniel Stern - but wanted larger wire sizes (10 ga direct to batteries), and the ability to easily run all bulb filaments when on hi-beam for better lighting. So far, is working perfectly - and the OEM headlight switch sure appreciates the lower current draw...

 

[SRath]

I have a bunch of new bosch relays and relay sockets/pigtails. There is a plug-and-play relay harness of sorts on the truck now with the adapters to plug into my stock harness, but I'm not convinced it wired right for the lowbeams. It gets more complicated with the snowplow harness, though, and I know there are current losses throughout the system.

I need to sit down with some of these terrific diagrams you guys have provided and map out all the lighting requirements, then figure out how to simplify everything and put together a super-duty harness and relay system. It cannot be any more complex than the reverse-polarity 4-relay setup I had to research and build to get power door locks to work in my truck. The power windows were plug-and-play, but the locks were not.

I will wire up the relays using both switched + and - to the relays since I know I ran into that issue on my truck when combining the aftermarket relay harness with the snowplow harness and truck harness. I'm glad the Sterns website covered that. It was new to me.

My highbeams work good (since the relay harness install) and my lows still suck. My halogen sealed beam snowplow lights are far superior in both, but go on and off the truck with the plow.

The used pair of genuine mopar sportlights I bought just arrived today! I was worried they might be hazy like my stockers, but they are in terrific shape, clear as new, and the seller included the bulb retainers and rubber edge seals as well as the turn signals. Pretty darned good deal for under $80 shipped! It has gotten to where I want to run with my plow on all year just for the benefit of the superior lights! I can't describe how poor my stock lights are and how happy I am to have some good ones to install. Now for the wiring...

I drive all night for a living (in a semi) and simply cannot stand having my vision impaired. Great headlights, a clear windshield, and big heated mirrors are all I have to keep me out of trouble and are priceless. Standard Dodge lights are a deadly hazard. You have to be all alone on a dark county road to even tell if they are on and a MiniMag flashlight will still put them to shame.

 

[dresslered]

Scott,

You're going to notice a big improvement with the low-beams just by adding the mopar sportlights--much better reflectors. Just let us know what you want them to do and we'll draw the picture.

 

[SRath]

David, As bad as the factory wiring design is, I think the plow harness is as bad or worse. I know Boss Plows went to relay-operated harness shortly after I bought my plow, so they obviously encountered problems. They make the Dodge parts counter look like a Dollar General Store when it comes to prices on replacement parts, though, and will not upgrade my harness.

In stock configuration, the Boss harness plugs directly into the Dodge harness down at the headlights. The wiring is all diverted to a toggle switch in the cab before being sent back to both the factory headlights and the plow lights. The toggle is a 6-wire switch that selects between the factory headlights or the plow headlights (you cannot run both). The parking lights and turn signals on both the truck and the plow work at the same time, though.

That is a lot of feet of wiring running all the way back and forth to the cab and through one switch! A very dumb design and a recipe for disaster given the Dodge headlight switch problems. The toggle gets very hot just like the factory headlight switch, and I have had to replace it a couple of times, too. The wires at the connectors get brown and crispy just like the dash switch harness.

The halogen sealed beams on the plow are very good lights, nonetheless. But they need their own relays (2), one for high beams and one for lowbeams. The trigger wires for the relays need to run to a switch inside the cab as before. That switch still needs to allow me to select which headlights I want since the plow blocks the factory headlights when installed.

As for the Sportlights, I just want them wired to light up like the SUV harness would do it, if everyone here that has them is happy with that arrangement.

The Sterns website seems to indicate there isn't any need for 4 relays since good relays with dual output connections are more than capable of powering a pair of headlights each. But maybe I missed something?

First, I need to understand the bulbs. Currently, my understanding is that Sportlights take one 9007 and one 9004 bulb. Each bulb has both a high and a low filament. Is this correct?

The choices then are: Which filaments do you want lit on low beam and which ones on high beam?

Then the decision comes to: How many relays are necessary to light up those filaments?

After that, it becomes a matter of selecting which of the factory wires is the appropriate trigger for each set of beams.

I know from installing that generic relay harness (supposedly custom designed for the Dodge), that I have one wire per headlight that switches polarity. That caused me some problems and I think is why the relay harness helped my highbeams and did absolutely nothing for my lowbeams.

That makes me suspicious of having switched-negative leads, rather than positive. maybe that chinese harness is just wired wrong for the truck? It was supposed to be plug-n-play.

Because of that, I think wiring my relays to work with both switched-positive AND switched-negative as the trigger wires, as shown on the Sterns website, would be the smart decision.

The trigger wires must run through a switch like they do now that will allow me to select either truck or plow lights, which means having separate relays for the plow lights.

This sounds more complex than it really is, I'm sure. But if I have made any sense and you or anyone else thinks you can help with the design of a harness, I would greatly appreciate it. Connectors to make things plug-n-play into the factory harness, as well as headlight sockets, relay sockets, and dual-output relays are no problem, so don't get hung up on them.

Thanks! Scott

 

[jeepit]

Scott,

I have a Western plow and when I hook my plow up to the truck there must be some relays that automatically switch from truck lite to plow lites? I have no switch to control this. Anway, does anyone know how this would affect my changing my light setup to the sport lites and what harness may or may not work?