Lighting

[ArdWrknTrk]

The Walmart Hyper Tough fixtures are impressive. As of now there are four of them hanging in the barn. The barn is 40x50. They light the place up. The floor is dirt at the moment so, not very good reflection. In two weeks the cement will be poured. Should really brighten the place up. I'll never go back to florescent. I hate Walmart but, can't beat the price.

Mark, are you using the 3,500 lumen fixtures, or the 5,000 lumen fixtures with the pull chain?

Either way I'm surprised at the value of these things.

If I wasn't so skint I would have dismissed them as cheap garbage and never given them a chance.

[Machspeed]

These particular tubes take non-shunting tombstones. All of my tombstones are the shunting style, which means that the tombstone connects the pins together on that end.

Instead, these tubes want positive and ground to come in on the same end, and there are no connections to the other end. So I have to change out the tombstone on the end to which there will be power.

Perhaps I bought the wrong style tubes? Perhaps there are shunt-style tubes where you put power on one end and ground on the other? That way I'd just have to snip the wires as you said.

Gary, I'm certain that there are tombstones out there that fit your fixtures without all the hacking and cutting. I'd put the brakes on that before I cut up any more. If time permits, Ill see if I can find the websites I looked through.

I too tried to photograph the differences in my old fluorescent bulbs vs. the LED but it's something you just can't capture.

 

[Gary Lewis]

Gary, I'm certain that there are tombstones out there that fit your fixtures without all the hacking and cutting. I'd put the brakes on that before I cut up any more. If time permits, Ill see if I can find the websites I looked through.

I too tried to photograph the differences in my old fluorescent bulbs vs. the LED but it's something you just can't capture.

Thanks, John. I'll post up a pic of the original tombstones in a bit, so if you find better ones then please let me know. But while it isn't too bad to do, I'm going to stop right here for a bit and enjoy what I have. The difference is amazing.

[Machspeed]

But while it isn't too bad to do, I'm going to stop right here for a bit and enjoy what I have. The difference is amazing.

I know, I was blown away by them! Post those pics with measurements. While I bought my lights off Amazon, I sourced the tombstones elsewhere and I had to do some homework to find them.

Here's a start for you........https://www.totalbulklighting.com/parts-accessories/non-shunted-tombstones-sockets.html?p=1

[Gary Lewis]

But while it isn't too bad to do, I'm going to stop right here for a bit and enjoy what I have. The difference is amazing.

I know, I was blown away by them! Post those pics with measurements. While I bought my lights off Amazon, I sourced the tombstones elsewhere and I had to do some homework to find them.

Here's a start for you........https://www.totalbulklighting.com/parts-accessories/non-shunted-tombstones-sockets.html?p=1

John - That's perfect! I found this one, which is on the left below with one of mine on the right. I just ordered 20 of them, which will make for a much easier conversion. Thanks!

[Machspeed]

John - That's perfect! I found this one, which is on the left below with one of mine on the right. I just ordered 20 of them, which will make for a much easier conversion. Thanks!

Awesome! Glad that worked out for you. You'll be excited to get them and fire that shop up. Get your sunglasses out....lol!

Now, if I may, I'm in a quandary on the headlight relay mod, mainly because I can't picture how it all goes together. I've searched and am not finding detailed pictures of this. In my web search, people that have done this mod and put together great illustrations with photos and such have lost those photos due to Photobucket issues. I like the plug and play thing I seem to be reading about on the LMK and BG websites but I find no instructions for doing it. Also, I like the idea of a fuse and convenient relays as you guys mentioned above. Gary, I've looked at what you've done here, but I'm still left a bit confused. Details?

[Gary Lewis]

Awesome! Glad that worked out for you. You'll be excited to get them and fire that shop up. Get your sunglasses out....lol!

Now, if I may, I'm in a quandary on the headlight relay mod, mainly because I can't picture how it all goes together. I've searched and am not finding detailed pictures of this. In my web search, people that have done this mod and put together great illustrations with photos and such have lost those photos due to Photobucket issues. I like the plug and play thing I seem to be reading about on the LMK and BG websites but I find no instructions for doing it. Also, I like the idea of a fuse and convenient relays as you guys mentioned above. Gary, I've looked at what you've done here, but I'm still left a bit confused. Details?

Are you looking for a schematic? That's one thing that our writeup lacks, but I could create that if you need it.

As for the Photobucket problems, that's one reason I like Nabble. When we upload pics they are "ours" and stored on our server. Even if we just give it a link to another site in the Insert Image dialog it goes out and gets the picture and stores it on our server. So we aren't subject to other sites going away.

In addition, unlike some other forums like FTE, when you put a pic on this forum you can easily copy it or a link to it and use it elsewhere, like Facebook.

Anyway, what do you need on the headlight relays?

[Machspeed]

Are you looking for a schematic? That's one thing that our writeup lacks, but I could create that if you need it.

As for the Photobucket problems, that's one reason I like Nabble. When we upload pics they are "ours" and stored on our server. Even if we just give it a link to another site in the Insert Image dialog it goes out and gets the picture and stores it on our server. So we aren't subject to other sites going away.

In addition, unlike some other forums like FTE, when you put a pic on this forum you can easily copy it or a link to it and use it elsewhere, like Facebook.

Anyway, what do you need on the headlight relays?

I've seen the schematics at FTE, Gary. I guess what I'm wanting is step by step pictures where people tied into the existing harness. I'm not really following how the switch ties in to the rest of the harness.

[ArdWrknTrk]

I've seen the schematics at FTE, Gary. I guess what I'm wanting is step by step pictures where people tied into the existing harness. I'm not really following how the switch ties in to the rest of the harness.

The switch is in the dash....

The relays are triggered by the right side headlamp socket.

The relays then power the headlamps through their own harness, with dedicated grounds on each side.

[Gary Lewis]

The switch is in the dash....

The relays are triggered by the right side headlamp socket.

The relays then power the headlamps through their own harness, with dedicated grounds on each side.

Yep. Another way to say it is that some harnii have a plug that simulates the headlight and plugs into the right side headlight connector. Another harnii have you remove the old headlight connector and connect directly to the wires.

Those wires trigger the relays by going to their coils, the other side of which is grounded. If the low beam wire has power from the switch then the low beam relay pulls in. And that relay is getting its power through a fuse that's tied directly to the battery, so the headlight comes on but it is powered by heavy wire directly from the battery and only triggered by the headlight switch. Ditto the high beam.