Night driving - EK headlights x(

[dahondr98]

As an owner of a 98 model VTi-R since new, I’ll agree that the headlights are poor. You can put in better globes, as long as they are standard wattage, to avoid damaging the plastic headlight lens and reflector. The Philips X-treme +80 globes are about the best standard wattage globes (55/60W) currently available. But, unless you upgrade the wiring to the headlights to avoid the voltage loss which the standard wiring provides, you won’t be getting the best out of any globe.

The wiring on the Civic, and on many Japanese vehicles, is just too thin to allow full voltage to get to the headlights. I measured that only 80% of the battery voltage was available at the headlights on mine on low beam, soon after I bought it – well over 2 volts was being dropped across the wiring between the battery and the headlight plugs. As voltage drop is proportional to current (Ohm’s Law is V=IR), and hence wattage, the 60W high beams would produce slightly more voltage drop, with less available at the headlights. Here’s a table from Hella, showing the percentage brightness of lights for various percentages of battery voltage:

Voltage Brightness
100% 100%
95% 83%
90% 67%
85% 53%

This shows that by reducing the voltage by only 15%, headlight bulb brightness is reduced to almost half. So, given a 20% reduction in voltage at the headlight terminals of a near-new Civic, as measured by me using a digital multimeter (I worked in electronics for many years, and have an electrical engineering qualification), we can assume that our headlights are about half as bright as they could be, if they had full battery voltage. Solution: upgrade the wiring, using two high quality relays, one for low beam, and the other for high beam, with 5mm or 6mm diameter cable run directly (via inline fuses) to the battery. You can either do it yourself, get an auto-electrician to do it, or use a quality plug-in headlight wiring loom. The 8 Standard Wire Gauge wire sold by DSE (Cat W2302, W2304), Jaycar (Cat WH3060, WH3062) and Altronics (Cat W4100, W4102) for wiring in high power car amplifiers is excellent wire for a DIY headlight loom job, and it’s nice and flexible too. If you do it yourself, here’s an explanation of how to do it, by US car lighting expert Daniel Stern http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...ys/relays.html , who knows what he is talking about.

The plug in headlight wiring looms are commonly available in Australia from 4X4 accessory outlets, such as ARB, Opposite Lock, 4WD Megastore, or 4WD Warehouse. The two best known brands are Piranha’s Superloom, and ARB’s IPF headlight loom. I used a Piranha Superloom on my Land Rover in the mid-90’s, which I removed before I sold it, so I fitted it to the Civic, and got much brighter headlights, on both high and low beam. The effect was much more noticeable on the Civic compared to the LR, as the LR original headlight wiring was thicker, so the percentage improvement wasn’t as great. The Superloom’s just a plug in loom, with relays for high and low beam, complete with fuses, using 6mm thick wire – a ring terminal connects to earth under a convenient bolt on the body in the engine bay, another is connected to the battery positive lead, one of the original headlight plugs is plugged into a socket on the new loom, and the two plugs on the headlight loom plug into the headlight globes. The relays on the loom need to be mounted to a convenient spot in the engine bay – I made up a small bracket to hold mine, and used an existing unused, tapped bolthole to screw it to, and the fuses also need to be mounted somewhere. I used cable ties to hold everything in position, and ran it alongside existing wiring, and as it uses similar split corrugated tubing to the original Honda wiring, it looks stock. The wiring loom, combined with upgraded bulbs – lately the recently released Philips +80 bulbs, means that the dim stock headlights are a thing of the past. I can certainly believe Hella’s figures – they look twice as bright. Here are some links to information on looms on Australian 4x4 websites http://piranhaoffroad.com.au/index.p...uper-loom.html http://www.arb.com.au/products/ipf-l...s-accessories/ . Unfortunately most Aussie 4X4 accessory sellers seem to be reluctant to use the web for sales, so if you’re in a remote locality, you may need to ring around some of the stores I mentioned above to ask about the looms, and see if you can buy from them via phone or mail order, or get a local auto-electrician to make up one – a close relative in that trade would be ideal.

Expect to pay quite a bit for the upgrade loom – somewhere between $100 and $200 would be typical. It’s been some time since I bought mine in the mid-90’s – I think it cost me about $60 or $80 back then, from a local 4X4/rally expert. While you may think that’s a lot, when you price the relays, relay connectors, fuses, wires, plugs, and split tubing (and labour), it’s quite reasonable. I actually extended the length of my superloom, so that I could fit it down the driver’s side of the engine bay, and mount the relays under the airbox, where there’s more room, but at a stretch, it’s probably possible to fit the standard loom down the passenger’s side from the battery, with the relays fitted in somewhere. I fitted the loom across in front of the radiator between the headlights – the radiator can be unbolted at the top, and tilted towards the engine to gain access, without disconnecting any hoses.

Most auto-electricians will also wire up a new loom, with relays and fuses, for you at a reasonable price, using decent 5 or 6mm wire (the Civic uses 2.5mm wire, which is why it produces such a voltage drop with high wattage accessories like headlights). Do a google search on headlight & loom on Australian websites, and you’ll see what plenty of Australians had to say about the difference in brightness after fitting a headlight loom to their (mainly) Japanese 4X4 – the majority, if not all, said what a major difference it made. Note that you shouldn’t use high wattage globes in the EK Civic, due to the plastic headlights – only standard wattage globes (60/55W) can be used, as higher wattage bulbs damage the plastic headlight lenses and reflectors through excessive heat and UV output. The upgrade standard bulbs, such as +30, +50 and +80 bulbs, from reputable manufacturers such as Cibie, Hella, Osram, Philips or Narva, are quite OK, as they run at the same temperature as standard, and they also make a worthwhile difference, but not as much as fixing up the wiring. The Philips brand globes are superb, and if you go for +30 or +50 bulbs, you can save a bit by buying the Australian Narva brand items – they are actually the Philips globes, in Narva packaging, or the ones I’ve checked have been! But remember, when you fit new headlight wiring, you’re effectively fitting the equivalent of “+100” bulbs, and you can also install the +80 bulbs, and get a total 180% improvement! That’s 3 times as bright. If the headlights are properly adjusted, you won’t dazzle other road users – I’ve been using the upgraded wiring, and brighter bulbs, for almost 11 years, and I’ve never had anyone flash their headlights at me because they were dazzled. I’ve also driven towards my Civic, in another vehicle, when a relative was driving it, and although the headlights looked nice and bright, they didn’t cause me any discomfort, unlike those of some other vehicles I’ve had the misfortune to meet coming the other way!

[MikeyG]

dude wtf is that?? did u copy and paste that???

[dahondr98]

dude wtf is that?? did u copy and paste that???

Wrote it in MSWord, and then pasted it in.

[vinnY]

when you say upgraded harness do you mean something like this don?
i've been considering it for some time now..

hidplanet also have their own sort of harness for hid conversions

also these blokes seem to be selling harness' to car batteries for about $30US too
i wonder how they would perform?

[dahondr98]

when you say upgraded harness do you mean something like this don?
i've been considering it for some time now..

Yes, that's the sort of thing.

hidplanet[/url] also have their own sort of harness for hid conversions

also these blokes seem to be selling harness' to car batteries for about $30US too
i wonder how they would perform?

I think that the HID harnesses would be fine to do a HID conversion. However, I suspect that they don't have the correct socket to plug onto an H4 halogen globe - they probably have a different plug, so that they can plug into the HID ballast units, and power them.

I'd guess that the Xenonexpert harness is like that - it certainly looks like a nice harness, but only for HID. I can't access the HIDplanet link - it wants me to register and login to gain access to it. I can tell you that I think it's illegal in Australia, and I suspect the USA too, to convert halogen low beams to HID. HID low beam headlights in Australia MUST have headlight washers, and some form of levelling - either self-levelling suspension, or a driver headlight height adjustment, I believe. I know people do the conversions, and plenty of firms will sell you the equipment to do it, but it could invalidate your car insurance (including third party insurance) if you do it.

About the only HID conversion that's legal here is one for high beam headlights (or driving lights, and possibly foglights, too) which are seperate from the low beams, with their own separate globes, like the very latest Civics, but you'd need to check that - I think I read it on a forum, so it's not gospel. I notice that the Xenonexpert FAQ section gives no details on the legality (or otherwise) of their conversion kits. They just want your money, and aren't interested in what the consequences might be. However, the excellent Australian Xenonoz site specifically tells you that their HID conversion kits are "for off road use only", and are "not ADR compliant or legal for road use on low beam" http://www.xenonoz.com.au/faqs.php#10 .

So, to sum up, you can either build a harness to upgrade your halogen lamps, which is quite legal, like the rallylights circuit you provided the link for, or buy one of the readybuilt Aussie ones, like the ARB or Piranha harnesses, from one of the (mainly 4X4) suppliers I mentioned above. They are relatively expensive, but they are very high quality, and the wiring is even thicker than the wiring the rallylights people were recommending.

[vinnY]

actually just used the link as an example of a somewhat 'off the shelf' harness, not really specifically used for a hid setup

shot them an email today and they said you could probably shop off the ballast connectors and just hook up a h4 bulb connector(usually available from autobarn and the likes)

might order one and see how i go

[dahondr98]

Yes, it can't do any harm, if the wiring from the battery is nice and thick. I'd recommend at least 4mm wires for the wiring from the battery to the relay switch terminals (30 and 87) and then on to the headlamp plugs, preferably 5 or 6mm for the lowest voltage drop. That's the diameter of the wires, including insulation. But if you order it and install it, you can always see how it goes.

Connect a voltmeter, or a multimeter on a DC volts range, up to the headlight connector earth and active pins, start the motor (to avoid flattening the battery), switch the headlights on, leave for maybe a minute or two until they stabilise their temperature, then measure the voltage at the headlight connections. Then remove the multimeter, and with the headlights still on, measure the battery voltage at the battery, and compare the headlight voltage with the battery voltage. If the difference is one volt or more, then the headlight wiring is too thin. If it's lower than 1 volt - preferably 0.5V or less, then it's OK. Even a 1 volt drop is far better than the standard headlight wiring (more than twice as good, actually!), so should make a worthwhile difference.

[Killa From Manila]

use 6mm cable??r u sure thats huge.


edit jstu read the rest. so ur prob usin 2.5mm cross sectional area then. or auto wiring is totally diff to regular cable

[vinnY]

8ga? pretty fat cables to have leading up to a h4 bulb connector i'll see what i can do

enquired about the relay rating and cable gauge size but they weren't able to tell me much other than 'it's rated to run a 55w xenon ballasts... so it should be okay'
not verbatim but pretty much what they meant

[dahondr98]

use 6mm cable??r u sure thats huge.


edit jstu read the rest. so ur prob usin 2.5mm cross sectional area then. or auto wiring is totally diff to regular cable

The wire that's in the ARB and Piranha looms is 6mm diameter, including the insulation - it's not just the wire that is 6mm thick. This sort of wire - http://db.hella.com.au/cgi-bin/catal...ew&flmaint=441 and http://db.hella.com.au/cgi-bin/catal...ew&flmaint=442 . It's somwewhere between 10 and 11 AWG, I think, with Hella saying it's about 4.6mm² cross sectional area.

I prefer diameter, or wire gauge (SWG or AWG/GA) to cross sectional area. Somewhere between 8 and 12 AWG is ideal. DSE actually used to have some high quality red and black 5mm wire, which I think was about 12 AWG, that I used to use for wiring driving lights, but they've taken it off the market sometime in the past few years - I last bought some early this decade. None of the main electronic stores - DSE, Jaycar or Altronics, seem to have anything between about 4mm thick and the 8GA wire, which is 6.5mm thick, so I recommended that.

The Hella wire from above would be ideal, and may be available from some more specialised auto places, including auto electricians - whether Repco, SCA or Autobarn would have it, I don't know, but I suspect not. They may be able to order it, though, if they haven't got it, as it should be a standard line in the Hella catalogue. The trouble is, they may want you to buy 30 metres, if they have to order it!

8ga? pretty fat cables to have leading up to a h4 bulb connector i'll see what i can do

enquired about the relay rating and cable gauge size but they weren't able to tell me much other than 'it's rated to run a 55w xenon ballasts... so it should be okay'
not verbatim but pretty much what they meant

Chances are the relay contacts should be OK - it looked like a standard mini relay with 30 or 40A contacts. They are pretty cheap from most electronic and car accessory stores anyway - even places like Big W and KMart sell them.

Yeah, the 8GA wire is about 6.5mm thick - slightly thicker than the auto 6mm cable that ARB and Piranha use, which is probably the Hella cable, seeing that they supply a lot of the Australian car industry's electrical products, including headlights. If the HID people supply nice thick wire in their harnesses, then use that. It's hard to tell from the photo they supply, and saying it will supply 55W HID ballasts doesn't really say much - I'm sure Honda would tell you their wiring thickness is suitable for 55/60W headlights. IMO, it's not. It's almost certain that the HID harness uses thicker wire, but whether it's 12 GA (AWG) or thicker you may not be able to find out, unless you buy one. It looks as if the wire is all hidden inside split convoluted tubing and heatshrink, by the look of it, so asking them to measure it may not be helpful, even if they have a vernier caliper.

Rallylights do have a similar upgrade H4 harness using 12GA cable, here http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=1247 - select HL28200 with the menu (below "In stock"), which gets the harness for two H4 headlamps - US$79.64. I think that after postage, the Aussie ARB or Piranha looms will be better value, and of similar quality. I was also unable to find whether they export or not.

[vinnY]

that rally lights looks fairly easy to construct.. the only problem i have is finding the male end of the h4 connector

[dahondr98]

that rally lights looks fairly easy to construct.. the only problem i have is finding the male end of the h4 connector

Yes, they are a problem, aren't they? I did manage to get some last century from an auto electrician who started a business supplying auto electrical equipment in Hobart, but he didn't last too long in business. I bought some H4 plugs from him, and the proper H4 male connectors, similar to an H4 globe, and swapped the male connectors with the female ones in one socket to make a male plug.