Relay Wiring Help - Any Gurus Out There?

[Fishin Guide]

I hope this is in the right place.



I just recently completed the Sport headlight conversion. I am having some difficulty with getting the filaments to follow my commands.



All lights work as they should on low beam. Grab the lever, hit high, no problem. Hit it again to go back to low, no go. If you turn off the lights, it'll switch back to lows.



I followed the schematics I got from members of the TDR. Thanks guys! And all my connections appear to be correct. I am running two harnesses, one for each side of the truck, and everything has it's own relay and fuse.



I seem to remember reading somewhere that others had these same issues and it could be resolved with diodes. Now I don't know anything about diodes, so I need to know what to get and where to put it (on the truck would be helpful).







If anyone could point me in the right direction, I would be eternally grateful!



Dave

 

[RobertBolinger]

Diodes allow current to flow in only one direction. Sounds like what is happening is your relay is becoming self energized. This is a pitfall of the relay coil circuit somehow being connected to either/both of the NO/NC contacts. I might be able to help if I saw a schematic, but I am far from a guru, and have no practical knowledge of the Ram wiring harness, because I don't have mine yet, but I have wired up numerous electrical devices on many cars over the years, and not one has caught fire... yet!

 

[dresslered]

Fishin Guide-

My guess is that you have the fog lights turned on as well when this is happening? If you leave the fog lights off, do they work properly? I've seen the schematics and I think that they are meant for older trucks or those without fog lights. You need to leave the high beam circuit in place (at least one filament) because the fog light relay gets it's voltage through this filament when not used (i. e. fog light on). This is how it senses that the high beams are off. What you have probably done is put your new circuit relay coils in series with the fog light relay coil without knowing it.



If you PM your email address, I can send you a schematic which will work for you.

 

[Joe G.]

Fishin Guide,



You need your truck year model in your signature. The headlight wiring is diffferent in different years.

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

its:



'02 2500 SLT, 4X4, Auto, Patriot Blue, EZ, BHAF, Mopar Running Boards, Lyntrux Liner, Muffler and Silencer Ring LOST

 

[Thomas]

You can easily eliminate any fog lamp relay coil problem by eliminating the fog lamp relay!



Just perform the fogs-on-with-high beams modification (shown at the bottom of the page for 2000 & 2001 Rams). Your 2002 is the same.

 

[dresslered]

That is an excellent suggestion Thomas. A while back I had performed this mod but it didn't seem to make a bit of difference as far as extra light is concerned, so I put it back the way it was (that was with the whimpy OEM fogs). Now that I have the PIAA's, it might be worth a try again. The one reason that I stayed away from it after this Quad conversion is that in Kalifornia, it is a big "no no" to ever be seen with 6 lights on at a time. Oh well, "Ossifer, I didn't know?"

 

[Thomas]

". . . after this Quad conversion is that in Kalifornia, it is a big "no no" to ever be seen with 6 lights on at a time . . .



My read of the California Vehicle Code is that I can fire up two fogs or two driving lamps in addition to the Sport headlamps. I do notice some difference close to the truck with the fogs-on-with-high beams. The PIAA 60XT driving lamps are interlocked to only be available with the 370 watts from the Sport lamps on high beam and can be disabled with a rocker switch on the bolster. If I'm running with the illegal "more than four" lamps, an officer would need to look into 615 watts of front lighting. At that point it would be pretty hard to count the lamps



24405. (a) Not more than four lamps of the following types showing

to the front of a vehicle may be lighted at any one time:

(1) Headlamps.

(2) Auxiliary driving or passing lamps.

(3) Fog lamps.

(4) Warning lamps.

(5) Spot lamps.

(6) Gaseous discharge lamps specified in Section 25258.

(b) For the purpose of this section each pair of a dual headlamp

system shall be considered as one lamp.

(c) Subdivision (a) does not apply to any authorized emergency

vehicle.

 

[klenger]

Not more than four lamps of the following types showing at a time.

So, you install a 2 phase 60 Hz AC inverter and connect the fog lights to one phase and the headlights to the other phase, and then tell the officer that the fog lights are off when the headlights are on. His eyes are just defective and can't see that.

 

[Thomas]

"So, you install . . . "



No need to go to all that trouble. Subdivision b allows all the bulbs in the Sport lamps plus the fog lamps at the same time. It's when driving lamps are added to the mix that the infraction occurs.

 

[RobertBolinger]

Install a Diesel genset in the bed and install no more than 4 stadium class lights on the front.

 

[Fishin Guide]

I am still looking for answers on this, no ideas out there? Maybe I don't fully understand the relays or the effect of adding juice to the secondary filament.



I too thought that the relay coil was being energized by another source, I just wish I knew which one it was.



Basic wiring is that there are two harnesses. There are four relays total. On each side of the truck, there is a two relay bank. Each relay runs two filaments. One is for low beam, the other is for high.



I hope that helps with the internet diagnostics.



Dave

 

[pgleavitt]

I did my conversion some time ago and have somewhat of the same problem. With my fog lights on ,the high beams stay on until I turn the fog lights off. They will then switch back to low beam mode. I installed 2 harnesses also(1-per side) that are made by APC. Did you switch the ground wires on the plugs that go to the 9007 bulbs? I think they are different than the 9004 bulbs as far as which is the ground in the bulbs. Good luck. Someone will have the correct answer. Dresslered you have a pm from me, Thanks



Pete

 

[dresslered]

Pete, another thought that I had (but am not positive about) is that the harness made by APC might have been designed for the older trucks (1999 and earlier ???) which switch the 12V rather than the grounds. The factory fog relay coil of the newer trucks rely on 12V being present at terminal C of the OEM plug when the low beams are on. When the high beams are on, this coil is then de-energized.

 

[Fishin Guide]

Did you switch the ground wires on the plugs that go to the 9007 bulbs?

I did swap the grounds for the individual bulbs. I even checked it again and it looks ok.



The fog light switch is a non factor for me as the sense wire is disconnected and I did not have "factory" fog lights.



PLeavitt, did disconnecting that wire solve your switching problem?



dresslered, thanks for all the ideas so far. You seem to know alot more about this stuff than me.



Dave

 

[Fishin Guide]

TTT

 

[dresslered]

Fishin Guide, are you still having problems? If you shoot me a schematic, maybe I could make some further suggestions. Everything you had written sounds correct, but a picture sure helps.

 

[Fishin Guide]

On it's way...



Dave

 

[nickleinonen]

sorta on topic, but for anyone who wants a pretty good relay wiring diagram, here is a link to parts express website's relay wiring diagram http://www.partsexpress.com/resources/relays.html



hope this is helpful to some...

 

[R.M.THOMPSON]

Try a current sensing relay available fron Newark Electronics,Kelle and assoc. or the like . You can get them in very small sizes and just pick a pilot current source (high beam feed) to activate another relay powered from your choice of locations. (battery,fuse block etc... ) Multible wrapping of the pilot current source is a trick to gain power. ie. 1 amp bulb feed wrapped ten times thru current relay tricks relay into acting on ten amps. this allows easier adjustment of the setpoints for tranfering the relays contacts !