Brain Teaser

[Hotshot]

Make the headlights work.

 

 

I apologize for the crappy paint diagram, but this is the dilemma I am facing at the moment. My current headlight are fogged up pretty much beyond all repair, so I picked up a pair of projectors off of ebay. I figured that it would basically be two circuits, one for the high beams, and one for the low, but it is a little different that what I had expected. The square in the middle of the diagram is the connector that I have to work with. (strangely enough, it perfectly matches the headlight relays)

 

So, any suggestions on how to wire these?

 

I have h4 adapters so that I can leave the stock headlight wiring in the outback unmolested, and I would prefer to leave the wiring on the headlights the same way if possible.

 

I'm also not sure whether the small blue light is supposed to be on with high beams, low beams, or both. Anyone overseas know how it is supposed to be?

[Mark-O-Back]

Make the headlights work.

 

 

I apologize for the crappy paint diagram, but this is the dilemma I am facing at the moment. My current headlight are fogged up pretty much beyond all repair, so I picked up a pair of projectors off of ebay. I figured that it would basically be two circuits, one for the high beams, and one for the low, but it is a little different that what I had expected. The square in the middle of the diagram is the connector that I have to work with. (strangely enough, it perfectly matches the headlight relays)

 

So, any suggestions on how to wire these?

 

I have h4 adapters so that I can leave the stock headlight wiring in the outback unmolested, and I would prefer to leave the wiring on the headlights the same way if possible.

 

I'm also not sure whether the small blue light is supposed to be on with high beams, low beams, or both. Anyone overseas know how it is supposed to be?

 

The Blue light is probably a daytime running light. You didn't have one.

Connect GND to the red square.

Connect +12 Low to the white square

Connect + 12 High to the Black square

The lights will work.

Do I win? :-\

[Hotshot]

Do I win? :-\

 

I suppose so, unless someone else knows for sure exactly what the blue light is supposed to be. If I can't find an answer, I suppose I'll just stick it in parallel with the high beams.

[The Keith]

what kind fo car is this?

 

i did my bug eye and may still have the pics for the wireing...

[Mark-O-Back]

I suppose so, unless someone else knows for sure exactly what the blue light is supposed to be. If I can't find an answer, I suppose I'll just stick it in parallel with the high beams.

You could connect blue square to "+12 on with ignition" for the daytime running light. Will ground through the high beam bulb, be on with the low beams and go out with the high beam. Be like a new car!

Now where's Cougar to show me the error in my thinking? Could it be that easy? Nipper?

[Hotshot]

what kind fo car is this?

i did my bug eye and may still have the pics for the wireing...

 

The headlights are JDM projectors that I believe came off of a 96 legacy, and are going on my 97 outback. I'll put some pictures up when I get them in and wired up, hopefully tomorrow.

 

BTW, your WRX looks awesome!

 

You could connect blue square to "+12 on with ignition" for the daytime running light. Will ground through the high beam bulb, be on with the low beams and go out with the high beam. Be like a new car!

Now where's Cougar to show me the error in my thinking? Could it be that easy? Nipper?

 

Sounds like the best idea so far if it works. I would like to make sure before I break out the soldering iron.

[Skip]

I do not know how to say this politely

Everything on this thread is wrong.

 

The paint picture in the first post

is incorrect as far as the headlamp wiring

on you Subaru is concerned.

 

-again I'm sorry to come off as such a "hanging appendage".

 

Below is the wiring diagram for your headlights as

per the factory service manual 1997 Legacy/Outback

 

Please notice the power or +12 Vdc as you show it is

incorrect.

 

The incoming power is fed to both the high and low beams.

 

To operate a beam, the hi/low switch grounds the filament you want to light.

( This is opposite from the way you portray.

You show it as if the switch is providing +12 Vdc.)

 

 

 

What you have shown is the old school "domestic" style

headlight system and bares no resemblance to the

Subaru system.

 

I hope this helps.

Please ask questions if you do not understand this diagram.

[Hotshot]

I do not know how to say this politely

Everything on this thread is wrong.

 

 

I really appreciate you letting me know it before I went and found out the hard way.

 

I'm not sure why I just assumed it would be that way, but when looking at the headlights, it makes a whole lot more sense now that I know it switches grounds . While the incoming wires in the "diagram" I threw together should now be completely disregarded, the wiring for the headlights themselves is correct, down to what color the wires actually are.

 

 

So does this sound like it would work better?

+12v to red, blue pins

Ground for low beams to white

Ground for high beams to black

[Skip]

the wiring for the headlights themselves is correct, down to what color the wires actually are.

I'm sorry I do not understand what you mean here by

the word "headlights"

 

Do you mean the factory headlights or the JDM headlights?

I have no reference for the JDM wiring, I'm sorry.

 

The question I am forming centers around the mystery

blue wire.

 

It may be the feed for the hi beam indicator on the dash.

This seen as a Black with yellow tracer on the diagram.

 

Can you read and do you understand the wiring diagram?

 

Can you use a multimeter?

 

Each head lamp (RH and LH) have different power inputs.

A saftey feature so you do not become Stevie Wonder on a dark highway if one headlamp's fuse goes open.

 

 

[Hotshot]

By "headlights" I was referring to the JDM projectors I am attempting to install.

 

I am pretty sure that the blue wire is supposed to be powered to turn on the blue light bulb when the high beams are grounded (black wire).

 

While I can understand most of the stuff in the diagram, I think it might be a bit more than what I needed. The thing that was confusing me most was that because the JDM headlights have three separate bulbs (4 including the turn signal) while the USDM headlights use a single bulb for both low and high beams. The thing that helped me the most was just knowing that it was a constant input from 1 wire with the grounds changing that controls the low/hi beams.

 

I do know how to use a multimeter. In fact, right after hearing about the switching grounds, I went back out to my car and checked which leads do what.

 

I feel pretty confidant that I understand how to make it work now, but there is just one thing I am wondering about that I haven't been able to discern from the diagram: when turning the high beams on, does the ground for the low beams open up?

 

Thanks for all the help!

[e4620]

Yes, the low beams should turn off when the high beams are on, at least on the original headlights.

 

Subarus switch ground for much of their electrical system, what I find curious from the paint drawing is, it seems like the blue wire would be a seperate and switched positive lead just for the running light (I'm guessing the blue mystery light is a DRL?)

[OB99W]

The following should have useful info, especially with reference to the JDM wire colors:

http://www.sl-i.net/FORUM/viewtopic.php?t=5941

[Hotshot]

OB99W: I really wish I had seen that writeup a few weeks ago when I started trying to figure out how to make this work.

 

I went ahead and wired it up like the link showed, and I ran out to the car to hook it up and test it. Seems to work fine, with the projectors/city lights lit on low beams, and everything lit up with the high beams, which works for me. Tomorrow I will have to go out and scape enough ice off of the car to where I can actually install them. Pics to come soon.

 

Thanks for the help everyone!

[OB99W]

OB99W: I really wish I had seen that writeup a few weeks ago when I started trying to figure out how to make this work.

Sorry, but although I found your related post there, I don't typically read "Subaru Stuff Wanted".

 

 

I went ahead and wired it up like the link showed, and I ran out to the car to hook it up and test it. Seems to work fine, with the projectors/city lights lit on low beams, and everything lit up with the high beams, which works for me. [...]

Based on the info you've provided and that at the link I gave, something seems wrong. (By the way, is the white lead "high" as in the link, or "low" as in your own diagram?)

 

I suspect that things aren't wired correctly -- only highs or lows should be on at a time (ignoring for now the "city light"). I can think of a way to wire the lights to behave as you described ("everything lit up with the high beams"), but it would require a mis-wiring that puts the high and low filaments in series when on "high"; if so, that would limit the light output in that switch position.

 

Could you post the specific connections you made, perhaps by adding to your "paint" drawing?

 

EDIT: Will you be able to align the lights from a JDM (RHD) car so that they'll aim correctly for a US (LHD) one?

[Hotshot]

I suppose I need to just suck it up and admit how incredibly wrong I was, about pretty much everything. I think that OB99W pretty much caught me on everything: I managed to mix up the ground for the high beams with the power input the first time around, and sadly enough, I didn't even know that the projector was the low beam.

 

I finally did realize what wires I had doing what, and got it straightened out and working the way it should. This is what the wires ended up looking like:

 

From what I have seen so far, it is impossible to "align" them to act like LHD lights. While the high beams don't appear to have any bias towards one side or the other, the cut off pattern for the projectors is opposite what it should be in the US. The beam does something like this:

 

__________________

.............................\________________________

 

While it does raise questions on safety, there is maybe only 1 degree difference of hight between the two sides of the beam, and I had a friend check and make sure that they were low enough to not be obnoxious. I'll take some pictures to illustrate. When looking into the rear of the projector from where the bulb goes, the piece that cuts off the beam is clearly visible. I might look into seeing if it is possible to get to that piece and either modify it or replace it with another that would give it a LHD beam pattern.

 

And this is the final product.

 

[OB99W]

I suppose I need to just suck it up and admit how incredibly wrong I was, about pretty much everything.[...]

Don't beat yourself up. As I've said here before, we're all human and make occasional mistakes; in describing them, so that others benefit, you've done the right thing.

 

 

From what I have seen so far, it is impossible to "align" them to act like LHD lights. While the high beams don't appear to have any bias towards one side or the other, the cut off pattern for the projectors is opposite what it should be in the US.[...] I might look into seeing if it is possible to get to that piece and either modify it or replace it with another that would give it a LHD beam pattern.

Yes, that was my concern. If you do find a way to improve the pattern, I'm sure there are folks who would like to read about it.

 

 

And this is the final product.

 

Looks good.

[johnceggleston]

Don't beat yourself up. As I've said here before, we're all human and make occasional mistakes; in describing them, so that others benefit, you've done the right thing.

 

 

Yes, that was my concern. If you do find a way to improve the pattern, I'm sure there are folks who would like to read about it.

 

 

Looks good.

 

i don't know the specifics of the projector head lights but could you swap the "lens covers", the clear plastic outer lens, with the lights you removed.? or would this defeat the "projector" aspect of the new lights?

[Hotshot]

i don't know the specifics of the projector head lights but could you swap the "lens covers", the clear plastic outer lens, with the lights you removed.? or would this defeat the "projector" aspect of the new lights?

 

Two reasons why it won't work:

 

First, it's not the outer plastic lens that creates the cutoff pattern. There is some sort of a piece actually inside the projector housing that does this, between the bulb and the projector lens. I'll see if I can fit a camera down in there when I replace all the front grill clips here in a bit.

 

Edit: Picture

 

Second reason is because the lenses on my original lights were so bad that they where the motivation behind me getting the new projectors. It got to the point where it felt like I could have done better with a flashlight, and I partially blame them for the deer I hit a few months ago. I tried clearing them up once a few months ago, but they are pretty much beyond all help.

 

Besides the aesthetic appeal of the projectors, the other reason why I got them was because of how much cheaper they were than new USDM headlights. I paid 150 shipped from japan to my door for the pair, while I had trouble finding USDM lights for under 120 each, plus shipping.

[Legacy777]

I didn't read every piece so it may have been covered, but you can simply wire the city lights in with your accessory/side marker lights. That's what I did when I installed the EDM lights on my legacy.

 

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru/images/edmlights/

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru/images/edmproject/