Headlight relay buzzing
 

Tonight I installed some IPF E-codes with a higher watt bulb off my previous LJ Rubi. I built a harness with 2 relays triggered from the stock wiring with parts from autozone. The lights worked great but the relays started humming very loudly. I had seen this problem addressed in another thread somewhere but I can not seem to find it. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Chuck

Do yours only buzz when the engine is running also? Mine worked as expected untill I started the vehicle with the hood up and heard the relays start buzzing... I thought I screwed something up and took it all apart again but every thing was correct. I even hooked a relay up right at the stock head lamp skt with one beam driver and the return to the 86 and 85 terminal on the realy only and as soon as the engine starts so does the buzzing from the realy.


I thought that would happen to everyone with a JK because it is based on a pulse modulated electrical system. I think that the problem is that with the pulse system the voltage is acting similar to an AC circuit insted of a steady DC current. So the current is rising and falling rapidly and not holding the relays closed which need a constant DC voltage of at least 8 volts I think it was. Any way I'll repost what I wrote up
if you want to try it. It worked perfect for me.

After installing the Cibie E-code lamps with the 85/80w bulbs I dont think you would need to try and do any better. I get a big sh*t eating grin every time I turn my lights on at night :D The difference btw stock and the E-codes is amazing. The stock lamps are weak at best. I dont mind most of the plastic on my JK but when I pulled my stock head lights out and saw how light weight plastic they were, they went right in the garbage can. Its a little bit of a job to change over but not hard just time consuming. There is another issue about changing over to the upgraded wiring that does not seem to be addressed. Since this vehicle uses a pulse modulated voltage system per the FSM you need to take a few more steps with the relay wiring or the relays trigger on and off from the pulsing so fast they make a buzzing noise and you really dont get full power to the bulbs. Nothing a trip to radio shack cannot cure. Here is a pic of what worked for me.

http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/7058/relaybp2.gif

DSY,

Thank you very much. And you are right, they only hum with the engine on.

Chuck

BTW, I put the stock lights back in for now, and found out they are not half bad when aimed correctly. They were way to high.

I'm not much of an electrical guy so...
I just ordered some lights and will be hooking them up over the weekend. I'll be hooking them up straight to the battery. It will be its own circuit, not involving any wiring of the jeep. Will I still have this problem? Will I need to do this mod to my relay?

You should have no problem as long as you don't use the positive or a ground from the factory light harness.

Can you explain this statement a little more, I'm confused.

If you use the the factory positive or ground to to run relays for axillary lighting the relay will buzz (turn on and off really fast) This is due to the CanBus system in the new jk's that sense if a bulb is out. This is a pulsed electrical DC system the new jk's use. You must use the circuit above if you want to use any factory part of the harness to operate axillary lighting.

You should only need the above circuit for headlights mods only. This is the only time I HAD to use it.

To bypass all of this..... Use the Left and switched accessory plug hot wire (the one that turns on and off with the key) on the center console to operate the relay for your axillary lighting. Then power your lights directly from the battery through the relay. :thumbsup:

Do you know how many watts the OEM foglamp wiring is? Reason is I've got a pair of late model CLK430 Mercedes HID headlamps and a pair of late model BMW 330XI HID headlamps and I was thinking about doing some kind of hillbilly setup to get them working. I'm wondering if they are too much for the wiring? Anyways, if anyone has done the conversion kits before is there some kind of adapter that allows you to plug the standard HID bulb into a 9006 or 9005 lamp hole?

Can I just connect to battery directly on a separate on/off switch??

what happened to the diagram someone had posted on how to wire in the relay? I could have sworn it was this thread...maybe it is somewhere else.

anybody...maybe it removed for some reason?

it had the radio shack part numbers and everything!

OR, AM I GOING CRAZY?