Upgrading Ke70 Headlights

[Murd 55]

i can't see projector lights being illegal as my 13 has them standard and yeah no issues there. black ones look fat!!

[rjenman]

just cos its an upgrade doesn't mean its legal :)

Edited February 13, 2010 by rjenman

[rjenman]

Would many people be keen to get a big order? Save some coin?

 

i am definitely thinking about it. PM me if u do buy!!

[rhys2229]

does anyone else have their lights turn off for a half-second when turning left? my mates ae71 also did it. how do you fix that

[RainWarriorDregs]

mine does that sometimes, and when changing from high beam to low beam the lights cut out. i think its dodgy connections in the steering column around the indicator stalk. i thnk

[knibusu]

On 2/5/2010 at 11:08 AM, altezzaclub said:

Do this before you do anything!

 

http://www.ke70.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1856&hl=

 

The stock lights are great providing they are switched by relays instead of running the power back to earth through the dimmer switch. That resistance just kills the brightness of the bulbs.

Hello I just changed my headlights over from sealed unit to semi sealed, and upon reading this I am guessing you use a relay to to help with brightness and I am wanting to install relays but the link is no longer working, does anyone have a writeup on how to install relays for the headlights.

[altezzaclub]

That link is now here I think, the change from KE70.com to Rollaclub caused it-

Try one of these kits, cheap enough and easy to do for what you gain, its what I now have on mine.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/144043979533?chn=ps&_ul=AU&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1vZn3r5k9SwOXM01GB5d-7Q4&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=705-139619-5960-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=144043979533&targetid=2370046502538&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9071791&poi=&campaignid=21766134162&mkgroupid=175112620264&rlsatarget=pla-2370046502538&abcId=10047381&merchantid=115487535&gad_source=5&gad_campaignid=21766134162&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsafEhaOHjgMVgx-tBh2EejSgEAQYBCABEgIiHfD_BwE

The relays pick up off one headlight plug, that's the black male-pin plug in the image, that goes into a one stock headlight plug.

Edited June 23 by altezzaclub

[knibusu]

$30 bucks can not go wrong I will try it out thankyou

Edited Tuesday at 03:16 AM by knibusu

[knibusu]

Oh I see what you mean so the black male pin plug goes into one of the stock harness headlight plugs the other one unused, then the yellow pin plugs go direct into the headlight bulb and the black wire connected to yellow plugs is ground and the red wire is battery positive.

[altezzaclub]

That's right. You don't get a high beam blue light with the system like that, unless they've improved it, but I remember I had the blue light working if I put a bulb in the other headlight plug and let it hang there.  The original wiring diagram had a resistor in that line to make the blue light work. These days I have a separate little LED on the dash that I wired into the circuit and it comes on with high beam.

[Banjo]

Good morning all !   I noticed this thread was started way back in 2010; 15 years ago !   A lot has happened in that interrim period.  Thank Heavens; as back then, there were limited ways of improving headlight performance; both in terms of brightness & lower power consumption.

I would therefore offer this link, as a pretty good place, to learn about all that is available out there now; & being an aussie site, also has some comments about ADR requirements.

https://www.stedi.com.au/blog/post/complete-led-headlight-conversion-guide#overview

It's one of those subjects where there are several parameters, that affect the ultimate goal, of being able to see; further/clearer/brighter, than what our Rollas, produced in the 60s, 70s, & 80s; could ever achieve.

However, if It is hard to justify the outlay, of several hundred dollars to discard lenses, reflectors, & bulbs; then there are some simple mods You can do, some of which Altezzaclub has mentioned above. 

The single biggest problem with early headlights; was that they were power hungry, & pulled substantial current.  Some of that power was wasted as "heat", but the simple ohms law was applicable for a 36 or 40 Watt headlight bulb. Ohms law where (Current = I, Voltage = E,  R = Resistance, & P = Power) says Power = Voltage x Current

Therefore a dear olde 55 Watt H4 bulb with 12 volts placed across it  had P/E = I; 55W/12V = 4.58 amperes current, flowing through it.  We tended to always refer to the 55W rating of the bulb as being it's light output. However, the tungsten bulb was not perfect. Anyone who has tried to remove one from a headlight, after it has been on, realises it is hot.  That heat is waste heat, from the tungsten filament, that never gets transformed into light.  There are lots of places in the headlight circuits, that produce "voltage drops", as Altezzaclub has highlighted. Switches; relay contacts; bad connections & undersized wiring; all act like little resistors in the circuit, reducing the actual voltage that ultimately is across the bulb; & ultimately; the amount of light, that the bulb can produce.

All electric power to the headlights, leaves the +ve terminal of the battery, as current, & after it has done it job; returns to the battery's -ve terminal.  If You care to sit down & study this path in those horrible Toyota wiring diagrams, it is probably several metres circuit distance.  The fitment of relays, directly behind the headlights, is an excellent way of reducing the heavy current path length, for the headlights, from +ve to -ve battery terminals.  30 ampere 12V automotive relays are cheap, & this mod is fairly simple, to implement.

The wires that connected to the headlights originally, now operature the relays; & the relay N.O. contacts, are fed 12V directly from the battery & back, via a suitable seperate heavy 20A fuse.

There are posts elsewhere on RollClub, where I have described this previously.  Every light on my Corolla, is now fed power directly from the battery; & all lights are switched by relays, close to the lights.  This I did, prior to LED replacement bulbs being commonly available for every size bulb on the olde Corollas. The only one You can get caught out on, is the turn indicator lights, but I believe there are now plug-in flasher units, that cater for LED bulbs.

Cheers Banjo