Gary Lewis Posted January 6, 2023 Share Posted January 6, 2023 A few things: Fuse Block: Trying one of these units out: https://www.ebay.com/itm/144794722310 12 circuits plus has grounding built in. I'll also be eliminating the fender mounted 40A breaker for the trailer brake as I can get an ATC sized breaker to use in one of the slots: https://www.ebay.com/itm/314186838994 Headlights: going with a pair of Phillips Truck-Lite clones. They're on sale right now: https://www.amazon.com/Philips-Automotive-Lighting-H6054LED-Applications/dp/B08DDFTVYQ So those are clones? Are they really Phillips and are clones of Trucklites? Or clones of Phillips? (Makes me wonder if my Starbucks Verona coffee that was literally just delivered is a clone.) Anyway, I'll be very curious to see what you think of them. And what the other drivers think of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratdude747 Posted January 6, 2023 Author Share Posted January 6, 2023 So those are clones? Are they really Phillips and are clones of Trucklites? Or clones of Phillips? (Makes me wonder if my Starbucks Verona coffee that was literally just delivered is a clone.) Anyway, I'll be very curious to see what you think of them. And what the other drivers think of them. My understanding is that they're a Phillips design in the same vein as reflector Truck-Lites... with very similar performance and quality but at a much more palatable cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratdude747 Posted January 9, 2023 Author Share Posted January 9, 2023 A few things: Fuse Block: Trying one of these units out: https://www.ebay.com/itm/144794722310 12 circuits plus has grounding built in. I'll also be eliminating the fender mounted 40A breaker for the trailer brake as I can get an ATC sized breaker to use in one of the slots: https://www.ebay.com/itm/314186838994 Headlights: going with a pair of Phillips Truck-Lite clones. They're on sale right now: https://www.amazon.com/Philips-Automotive-Lighting-H6054LED-Applications/dp/B08DDFTVYQ Got the rewiring done yesterday. New Layout: Fuse cover off: In the new setup, a dedicated 4 gauge cable runs directly to the starter (PMGR) with a 12 gauge pigtail to connect to everything else (as mentioned in a prior post, this is the exact same cable I used to redo the ground side awhile back). That pigtail runs to the new fuse panel, whose positive feed post also connects to the starter solenoid (10 gauge) and "main" fusible link... or what was left of it. I removed some nasty looking splices from the main fusible link where it had blown and I and others had patched it in the past; in the pictures, it's the yellow to pink spade connection in the lower right. The ground pigtail has been moved from a direct splice feed to the EEC and radio grounds to the ground portion of the fuse panel; such grounds have been moved to grounding bars of the panel. Also, the trailer brake controller ground and trailer 7-way ground have been moved from the battery post clamp to the ground bars. On the fuse panel (which I will label later), in the pics, on the left side from top to bottom is the trailer brake power (30A fuse, will be a 40A breaker when such come in the mail next week) and 7 way power (20A, is on 12 gauge wire to the plug so could be more if I wanted). On the right side, from top to bottom is the switched radio power (CB, TPMS, and radio igniton signal; relay switched, 10A), unswitched radio power (Radio battery power and 2x "clean" power points, 15A), and the EEC fusible link (20A, originally was fusilble link protected only). Here it is all tied up: Looks a lot cleaner... and it worked on a test drive (and seems to be cranking a bit faster???). New lights aren't in yet, so here's what my low and bright beam patterns currently look like: We shall see what the Phillips LEDs look like. Progress? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted January 9, 2023 Share Posted January 9, 2023 Got the rewiring done yesterday. New Layout: Fuse cover off: In the new setup, a dedicated 4 gauge cable runs directly to the starter (PMGR) with a 12 gauge pigtail to connect to everything else (as mentioned in a prior post, this is the exact same cable I used to redo the ground side awhile back). That pigtail runs to the new fuse panel, whose positive feed post also connects to the starter solenoid (10 gauge) and "main" fusible link... or what was left of it. I removed some nasty looking splices from the main fusible link where it had blown and I and others had patched it in the past; in the pictures, it's the yellow to pink spade connection in the lower right. The ground pigtail has been moved from a direct splice feed to the EEC and radio grounds to the ground portion of the fuse panel; such grounds have been moved to grounding bars of the panel. Also, the trailer brake controller ground and trailer 7-way ground have been moved from the battery post clamp to the ground bars. On the fuse panel (which I will label later), in the pics, on the left side from top to bottom is the trailer brake power (30A fuse, will be a 40A breaker when such come in the mail next week) and 7 way power (20A, is on 12 gauge wire to the plug so could be more if I wanted). On the right side, from top to bottom is the switched radio power (CB, TPMS, and radio igniton signal; relay switched, 10A), unswitched radio power (Radio battery power and 2x "clean" power points, 15A), and the EEC fusible link (20A, originally was fusilble link protected only). Here it is all tied up: Looks a lot cleaner... and it worked on a test drive (and seems to be cranking a bit faster???). New lights aren't in yet, so here's what my low and bright beam patterns currently look like: We shall see what the Phillips LEDs look like. Progress? Progress is good, Larry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted January 9, 2023 Share Posted January 9, 2023 Progress is good, Larry! Yep, progress! But when you take pics of the new lights use the settings your camera used for these lights. Set your camera to Manual and dial in the f-stop, shutter speed, and ISO to match. Then you can compare the pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratdude747 Posted January 11, 2023 Author Share Posted January 11, 2023 Yep, progress! But when you take pics of the new lights use the settings your camera used for these lights. Set your camera to Manual and dial in the f-stop, shutter speed, and ISO to match. Then you can compare the pics. Lights came in. Here's some test results: Cuttoff line test using the truck of a compact car: Performance is very good... night and day difference, pardon the pun. IMHO best bang for buck with 5x7 LED retrofit units. I'll get cosmetic pics tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpin Posted January 11, 2023 Share Posted January 11, 2023 Lights came in. Here's some test results: Cuttoff line test using the truck of a compact car: Performance is very good... night and day difference, pardon the pun. IMHO best bang for buck with 5x7 LED retrofit units. I'll get cosmetic pics tomorrow. Nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratdude747 Posted January 11, 2023 Author Share Posted January 11, 2023 Lights came in. Here's some test results: Cuttoff line test using the truck of a compact car: Performance is very good... night and day difference, pardon the pun. IMHO best bang for buck with 5x7 LED retrofit units. I'll get cosmetic pics tomorrow. Another note: due to these lights being 12V-24V rated (has a switching converter in the LED driver), the brighteness is constant across all "normal" voltages. Heck, they don't even dim or flicker when cranking... and I'm not running a relay harness. Heck, I still haven't gotten to replacing my suspicious headlight switch. What that does mean is that unlike resistive bulbs, at lower voltages the lights will draw more current, not less... as to maintain a the internal LED current/voltage, the power draw is more or less consistent (per whatever the efficiency curve of the internal driver is) and power is a combination of voltage and current. Not that it matters since they draw a lot less power than halogens- only 14W per the specs (presumably the highest power high beam, which uses all LEDs in the module). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted January 11, 2023 Share Posted January 11, 2023 Another note: due to these lights being 12V-24V rated (has a switching converter in the LED driver), the brighteness is constant across all "normal" voltages. Heck, they don't even dim or flicker when cranking... and I'm not running a relay harness. Heck, I still haven't gotten to replacing my suspicious headlight switch. What that does mean is that unlike resistive bulbs, at lower voltages the lights will draw more current, not less... as to maintain a the internal LED current/voltage, the power draw is more or less consistent (per whatever the efficiency curve of the internal driver is) and power is a combination of voltage and current. Not that it matters since they draw a lot less power than halogens- only 14W per the specs (presumably the highest power high beam, which uses all LEDs in the module). Larry - The output looks good. And the cutoff line is impressive. But I suggest you use Daniel Stern's directions for aiming them. I'll bet they aren't aimed properly - mine weren't when I changed out the shells & bulbs. And that makes a big difference. You have a good point about the voltage, and one I'd not thought about. I've done the math on how much light I'm losing on Big Blue since the battery voltage goes down to 13.9V when the regulator sees high temps, and it is significant. So to have the light output not vary is great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratdude747 Posted January 12, 2023 Author Share Posted January 12, 2023 Larry - The output looks good. And the cutoff line is impressive. But I suggest you use Daniel Stern's directions for aiming them. I'll bet they aren't aimed properly - mine weren't when I changed out the shells & bulbs. And that makes a big difference. You have a good point about the voltage, and one I'd not thought about. I've done the math on how much light I'm losing on Big Blue since the battery voltage goes down to 13.9V when the regulator sees high temps, and it is significant. So to have the light output not vary is great. I did aim the RH light... it was way off. I haven't fine tuned it... would like to find a set of Hoppy aimers as I don't have immediate access to 25' of level ground with a place to aim (my driveway isn't super flat). Edit- Found a set for a really good price: https://www.facebook.com/commerce/products/hoppy-headlight-aimer/6094230550596053 I'll either pick them up this weekend or have them shipped, pending on what the seller comes back with on a shipping estimate (and how adventurous I feel like being). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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