924Board.org

[bureau13]

A while back I replaced my old sealed beam headlights with Hella e-code halogen lamps. The light output improved, but not as much as it should have (I put the identical headlights into my 928 and it made a much larger difference).

At the time, I recall a discussion about an aftermarket wiring harness that included a relay to provide power to the headlights straight from the battery, so as to remove the load from old stock wiring. This supposedly made a big difference, and was required for lighting updates that included upgraded bulbs.

I noticed that I'm getting a significant voltage drop with my lights on, and the car runs worse...long story there, but I thought I should try that harness and see if I can fix the lighting issue and see if it also improves the other problem.

However...the Rennbay harness, if that's what I'm remembering, is out of stock, and it also only lists 944 and 924S as compatible cars. Has anyone else done something like this?
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1982 931
1986.5 Silver 928S
2007 Hummer H3 (Daily Driver)

Past lives (I miss them all):
2004 RX-8 (Wrecked)
1993 RX-7 (Sold)
1987 RX-7 Turbo II (Sold)
1985 RX-7 GSL (Stolen)

[Beartooth]

You can just use a couple plain old relays and wire them up however you see fit. Wouldn't hurt to use sealed relays for one. I have an old Ford Fairlane that I put halogen headlights in, and quickly discovered there's a current limiter in the headlight switch, so I put in a relay for the high beams. Wasn't at all fancy, but it never failed. I've half-planned on adding relays to a couple of my vehicles, but never got around to it. I even bought some spools of wire; I should really get on that one of these days. If you've got more than one vehicle you want to add headlight relays to and you're comfortable with wiring, I'd lean that direction. You could probably do three cars for what a prebuilt kit costs.
I could see where it might fix the issue with poor running with the lights on. The power distribution setup isn't overbuilt on most cars, and it just gets worse over time; it may be the headlights are enough of a draw to affect the ignition.
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1980 931 diamond in the rough

[chuck21401]

I switched to LED bulbs in my headlights and fog lights. I'm not crazy about the look of LEDs in older cars but I can see better when driving at night and they use much less power. I'm getting older and my eyesight is not improving.

I run the fog lights as day time running lights to improve visibility to other cars.

Source for headlamp conversion: https://only944.com/partscatalog/only/ledheadlight/

I'm using Cibie Type 35 fog lamps with Led H2 bulbs: https://www.bettercarlighting.co.uk/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=734
(note: they are not nearly as bright as regular halogen bulbs, but I like them as DRLs)
I ran a new wiring harness directly to the battery with a relay and switch.


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1981 Porsche 931 w/S1 engine & g31 transmission. Water-cooled intercooler