Facts: My 82 Hatch had the single headlight with the dual element. Now my Hatch is a buggy, I have those off-the-shelf, single element driving lights.

 

Problem: What I want to do is have one set of driving lights be my low beams and use my blinker to switch on a seperate set of driving lights for high beams.

 

It don't work!

 

What I have tried,

 

Wiring the new, driving light, low beams to the existing low beam wires and wiring the new, driving light, high beams to the existing high beams.

 

What happens is as soon as I flip the blinker to light the "high beams" the "low beams" go off! I assume the problem is the head light relay?

 

I'm looking for suggestions to allow me to use the original light switch and blinker to run the lights.

 

Thanks,

Glenn

82 Summer the "SubaruHummer".

01 Forester, still bent but not broken!

that sounds right. the high beam element is usually positioned differently to provide the higher beam, but not be on at the same time...

 

I had the same situation on Mtn Grizzly. I replaced the entire headlight harness with a new custom one, and used a DPDT switch, with "off" in the middle position.

 

you should just be able to add a relay fed from the high beam switch to send power to the low beams as well. that way the low beams get fed from either position of the stalk....

 

Side note. When I put in the new headlight harness, I used 12 AWG wire. WOW! much brighter lights....

If I remember correctly the factory headlight switch actually swithces ground to the different filaments. Can anyone acknowledge or deny that?

 

If that is true do you have the lights wired corectly for that? You would need +12 going from a fuse off the battery to each lamp, and then the negative going back to the switch.

 

Keith

The headlights are wired using the Factory harness (2 fuses one for each light) and then they share a common ground.

 

The headlight plug is labeled;

Pass

Drive

Ground

 

What would happen if I used a jumper wire back to the low beams from the high beams? and didn't use a relay? (roasted wires? What's that smell?)

 

Wheres this relay thing?

 

Glenn,

82 Summer, with park, reverse, signal, hazard and brake lights only!

01 Forester, fully lit!

almost all cars made are setup up so that high beam runs all by itself

same with the low beam

 

there is a few kits out there to make the high beam and low beam filament work at the same time

but all the kits basically consists of it a 30 am relay and some premade wiring harness's

 

now for you do-it-yourselfer's

 

want to run the power wire from the high beam into the relay so when you use high beams it activates the relay

then you run power from the batter to the pass through terminal of the relay and split it off to the low and highbeam filaments

 

when runnign low beams the relay is off and isolating the high beams so they do not turn on

when you turn on the highbeams it clicks over the relay and applies power to both elemants in the headlight

 

 

now if you can decifer all that then i feel you can do it

 

oh yeah don't forget to ground the other side of the relay field coul <it will be marked on the relay>

or else it will not function

 

there are 4 wire and 5 wire relay's

 

either one will work

 

but they go like this

B

P@G

L

 

 

p- power <your high beam wire>

g- well ground

b- battery

l- lights

@- relay coil

the lettering is far from correct but it gives you a idea

i hope on how to run it

The four headlight soobs (like my 84 GL) have the high's and lows come on at the same time. Take a look at the 84 wireing diagram, and you will probably get the idea of how to adjust your wiring to be the same. Either that, or get the harness from an 84, or an 85 to 89 Hatch, and wire the healight parts of it in.

 

GD