HID and LED Lights Install - GMT-400

[Bernie]

I think I figured out the problem... or part of it. You're feeding the low beam ballasts from two different points when it should be just one. Instead of having relay #3 send power to the ballasts, have it send power to energize relay #1, which will then turn on the low beams.

You should be powering the low beam relay, not the low beams themselves... The relays are powering the lights

If you're already doing this... You definitely have some digging to do

OK, so I need to get rid of the 3rd relay and have the low beam relay get the signal from 2 places: factory low beam and factory high beam.

If that sounds good, I'll run a wire.

No, because if you do that then you'll never be able to turn the high beams off as long as the low beams are on. Also, if you were to connect a wire from the output of the high beam relay to the trigger on the low beam relay that wouldn't work either. The signal turning on the low beams would also turn on the high beams by bypassing the relay. What would work is connecting a wire from the low beam relay trigger to the high beam relay output, but using a diode in there so that current can only flow one way (to energize the low beam relay but not energize the high beam ballast when the low beams get turned on).

 

[nubuilder]

No, because if you do that then you'll never be able to turn the high beams off as long as the low beams are on. Also, if you were to connect a wire from the output of the high beam relay to the trigger on the low beam relay that wouldn't work either. The signal turning on the low beams would also turn on the high beams by bypassing the relay. What would work is connecting a wire from the low beam relay trigger to the high beam relay output, but using a diode in there so that current can only flow one way (to energize the low beam relay but not energize the high beam ballast when the low beams get turned on).

so Power to High Beam Ballast to Low Beam Signal Wire with a Diode in there.

Would my 2nd diagram work (with putting a diode in there too)?

 

[Bernie]

I want to know what he is doing with the LED's.

This is what I'll be doing with them. The only difference will be that they will be mounted behind the grill.
I'll be getting to those in a week or so. Next week I have to work 7 days so I'll be pretty pre-occupied.



Here is my current setup:

Forget the bottom drawing. On the top drawing, just take the blue wire from the quad relay (center relay) and connect it to the orange wire on the Low relay (instead of to the low ballast). You can also put a switch in that wire so that you can manually turn the quad feature on/off from the dash.

 

[nubuilder]

I want to know what he is doing with the LED's.

This is what I'll be doing with them. The only difference will be that they will be mounted behind the grill.
I'll be getting to those in a week or so. Next week I have to work 7 days so I'll be pretty pre-occupied.



Here is my current setup:

Forget the bottom drawing. On the top drawing, just take the blue wire from the quad relay (center relay) and connect it to the orange wire on the Low relay (instead of to the low ballast). You can also put a switch in that wire so that you can manually turn the quad feature on/off from the dash.

I'll give it a shot.

Power from Quad-beam (blue) to Signal Wire to Low Beam (orange).

 

[Bernie]

I want to know what he is doing with the LED's.

This is what I'll be doing with them. The only difference will be that they will be mounted behind the grill.
I'll be getting to those in a week or so. Next week I have to work 7 days so I'll be pretty pre-occupied.



Here is my current setup:

Forget the bottom drawing. On the top drawing, just take the blue wire from the quad relay (center relay) and connect it to the orange wire on the Low relay (instead of to the low ballast). You can also put a switch in that wire so that you can manually turn the quad feature on/off from the dash.

I'll give it a shot.

Power from Quad-beam (blue) to Signal Wire to Low Beam (orange).

Yup. That turns On the low beam relay when the high beams are on. There may be a split second delay though, depending on how your headlight switch is constructed. If it's a "make before break" type (meaning it "makes" the new connection before "breaking" the old one - in this case turning on the highs before turning off the lows) then there's no problem. The low beam relay won't lose power switching from high to low or low to high. Most headlight switches are setup that way, so there's never a point where you lose all light when switching between low and high. But, if it's a "break before make" type switch, that means it would disconnect the lows a split second before connecting the highs, and that will cause the low relay to "drop out" for a split second, and that will cause problems with the ballast (hot re-strike). If that happens then the only answer is to add a capacitor to keep the low relay energized for that split second.

 

[nubuilder]

Bernie, it appears as if that worked.
I put a board in front of the light so I could see it when I clicked on the highs. It never shuddered.

New problem
When I turn the highs off (click them off with turn signal) and the headlight knob (which after turning the highs off, should turn the lows off), the lows stay on with no other lights on.
Would this be solved by a diode?

 

[Bernie]

Bernie, it appears as if that worked.
I put a board in front of the light so I could see it when I clicked on the highs. It never shuddered.

New problem
When I turn the highs off (click them off with turn signal) and the headlight knob (which after turning the highs off, should turn the lows off), the lows stay on with no other lights on.
Would this be solved by a diode?

It sounds like one of the relays is staying energized. Start by pulling the orange wires off, one at a time, and see which ones cause it to stay on, and which don't. Very important, more than one may be causing it so you want to pull one off, see it it goes out, put it back then move on to the next. Test all three, even if the first one fixes the problem, to ensure we "see" exactly how the problem is happening.

Does your truck have any kind of factory system that keeps the lows on for a few minutes after you shut down and get out? A lot of vehicles do nowadays.

 

[ScottyBoy]

You might need some 4000 series diodes. I have dozens of them if you need some. I can put a few in an envelope and mail them to you. I used to buy them in bulk when I was installing alarms and remote starters.

 

[nubuilder]

You might need some 4000 series diodes. I have dozens of them if you need some. I can put a few in an envelope and mail them to you. I used to buy them in bulk when I was installing alarms and remote starters.

Thanks for the offer.
What do the "4000 series" do or what makes them different?

 

[700 sportsman]

Bernie, it appears as if that worked.
I put a board in front of the light so I could see it when I clicked on the highs. It never shuddered.

New problem
When I turn the highs off (click them off with turn signal) and the headlight knob (which after turning the highs off, should turn the lows off), the lows stay on with no other lights on.
Would this be solved by a diode?

Ok, so is the drawing like I posted what you did? and it solved the flicker?