Relays for headlights

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by dyno

I called Autozone to see what they had for headlight relays and they were clueless as usual. Got a source? Looking for new ones.

The Jeep relays I showed and the ones OrrieG showed probably have the same part number new at the parts house. They are a standard 5 pin relay that is used on tons of cars.

As far as running one relay at the light switch as Russel suggested or told how to do. That pretty well defeats the concept of running a relay for the headlights as you want the relays close to the headlights to cut down on the load through the headlight switch, dimmer switch and quite often, wiring that won't handle the draw of high powered halogen lights.

[dyno]

Thanks Mr 48 and Russell. I will explore both options, and I'm all about easy, but I think wiring them close to the headlights does make sense as Mr 48 explained.

[Russell Ashley]

I said I wasn't going to comment on this any more but I need to correct one of Mr48's points. The light switch is no longer in the circuit to the head lights when you use the relay so there's no voltage drop there. The switch just picks the relay which is connected to battery voltage. I'm using off the shelf Sylvania halogens, not aircraft landing lights, and I do have all new wiring. It works fine and my lights are bright, and most importantly they stay on since the bi-metal strip on the light switch is no longer in the circuit.

Use as many relays as you like. I was just suggesting a cheap easy alternative to the multiple relay setup. I also like the fact that my relay is inside the cab under the dash so there is no visible wiring changes.