"My bird IS the word" (mybirdistheword)
04/22/2020 at 21:28 • Filed to: None
3
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"My bird IS the word" (mybirdistheword)
04/22/2020 at 21:28 • Filed to: None | 3
| 16 |
Fixed my last remaining fan speed. Issue was that the connector for the fan speed resistors was not fully seated. Looks like thats going to be a theme. But hey, my reverse lights are working!
If anyone was curious, this is the result of upgrading to LEDs for my gauge lighting. This should give a fair representation as this is low light and not night. They are a nice upgrade, but I think they work best in tandem with regular bulbs as some like my hvac controls are too bright.
I have noticed a few odd things regarding the electicals. The car seems to struggle to run anything without the engine on. This may be a side effect of me running the battery down, but it is disconcerting nonetheless. Also, when I activate my high beams, the low beams shut off. This may also be because the car is off, but I believethey should all be on at once.
Pixel
> My bird IS the word
04/22/2020 at 21:40 |
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Most cars shut the lows off when the highs come on to save the low bulbs.
Chariotoflove
> Pixel
04/22/2020 at 21:43 |
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My thinking too. Before getting worried, I would check the manuals.
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My bird IS the word
> Pixel
04/22/2020 at 21:49 |
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Thats good to know at least. Don’t have a ton of familiarity with pre 90s cars.
facw
> Pixel
04/22/2020 at 22:06 |
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Most? I’ve never seen that? Suppose my experience is limited, but I usually see cars with four lights on for brights. Which makes sense since they are aimed differently.
Gone
> My bird IS the word
04/22/2020 at 22:27 |
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Should keep all 4 on. Could have a bad ground in the harness or a dimmer switch issue. The other could be the battery or assuming i t’s all original wiring will stress the system a lot more Old harnesses can be a pain.
Wacko
> facw
04/22/2020 at 22:37 |
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My 2017 forester keeps the lows on but not my 2014 pathfinder.
Of all the cars I owned in the past 25 years I think my forester is actually the first to keep them on.
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Pixel
> facw
04/22/2020 at 22:41 |
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On older stuff it generally saved on both power draw and bulb life, so it was much more common than newer stuff.
My ‘62 had either/or, and my ‘87 has both.
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Wacko
> My bird IS the word
04/22/2020 at 22:50 |
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Does it have a dimmer and can you dim those bulbs?
I started converting my forester to LEDs, started with my hidden in the bumper yellow LED bar, then the side markers, running lights, puddle lights and cargo lamp( all the same bulb type) then the reverse(highly recommend!!) and finally the low beams. Didn’t do the high beams since they are also the daytime driving lights.
GLiddy
> My bird IS the word
04/22/2020 at 22:53 |
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Nope. All 4 headlights should burn at once with the high beams on. The outboard lamps burn all the time. There are 2 filaments in them and placing the high beams on will change the low filament to the high filament so to cast a beam further down the road. Additionally, activating the high beams will light the inboard single filament lamps too.
What is happening is that the switch IS deactivating the low beam outboard filaments, but not activating the high beam outboard filaments. Oddly, it is lighting the inboard high beam filaments which I think should be on the same circuit.
If you need a wiring diagram, I think I still have my old Pontiac service manual around here.
someassemblyrequired
> My bird IS the word
04/22/2020 at 22:59 |
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The 80s GM cars I had with sealed beams turned off the low beams when the highs were on
Sovande
> My bird IS the word
04/22/2020 at 23:07 |
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I would think in this era car with four headlights, all four would be lit when the brights are on. That's how it is onmy El Camino, Caprice, the old Nissan, etc.
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My bird IS the word
> GLiddy
04/22/2020 at 23:11 |
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I bought the big 78 manual with the 79 supplement. Its less helpful than I’d imagined. The manual doesnt specify but it does use the term lows OR highs, not AND highs. Although, the lows are 2 prong whereas the highs are 3 prong, I thought the extra prong was to light the highs with the lows. Doesnt make sense but Ill need to look at the diagram.
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My bird IS the word
> Wacko
04/22/2020 at 23:12 |
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The interior lights do have a dimmer, and it does dim even though I did not buy special dimmable leds. Although, they don’t dim as much as I think they "should" since they draw so much less juice.
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My bird IS the word
> Gone
04/22/2020 at 23:14 |
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Thats what I thought too, but the manual is less than helpful. They dont have it listed as a potential fault.
MiniGTI - now with XJ6
> GLiddy
04/22/2020 at 23:27 |
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My Jaguar works this way too. THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!
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GLiddy
> My bird IS the word
04/23/2020 at 14:00 |
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Ok. You have the same manual set as I did. Good luck with sorting this out. Take this for what it’s worth, but in a fit of insanity one summer I endeavored to convert my 79 TA headlights to H4 replaceable bulb halogens. I bought all the stuff from JC Whitney, which was my first mistake. The bulb housings were far from water tight and so moisture got in and rusted the reflector. Since I wanted the brightest lights I could get, I rigged a relay so I could burn all 6 filaments at once but what I didn’t take into account was the current draw on the light switch. As soon as I kicked all these hi-wattage halogen H4 lighting my headlights went out. (In fact they would go out after a couple minutes with them just on normal Hi beams.) Fortunately, it seems there IS a thermal breaker in the headlamp switch assembly in the dash and after a couple minutes it worked again.
I threw away all that junk and went back to my GE Halogen sealed beams. But yeah, I found out the hard way that even if you overdraw your system, it does have protection built in.