RockmanZ3R0

So I don't know if I can be helped on this since they arent the original headlights. They are "2LHP-MST94JM-TM -- Dual halo LED headlights --I already changed the low beams out to halogen bulbs and it just is not bright enough at night, sometimes it doesnt even feel like they are on. It's like... having a couple of midgets superglued to my hood holding those large flashlights with the large batteries in them. Maybe it is just me, they could be bright. but when its raining or I am on the highway, I have to go slow because I cant see far up the road. When I had the lights installed, the person used most of the original wiring from the old lights and some improvised wires yielded from a microwaves power cord. So, there is a huge thick wire connected to really thin and small wires connected to even smaller wires which then are in the headlights.

Someone looked at it and said that the lights should be connected directly from the battery via a relay, but sources i've read on this site seem to indicate that no such relay exists because it all goes through the headlight switch. But he feels that this is the problem. That not enough electricity is reaching the lights.

Knowing diddly about this topic, I thought I'd through the dilemma on the forums. See what other people know or if anyone else has had poor illumination issues. I bought these headlights trying to get better night time driving conditions and it is annoying that they (combined with better bulbs too) are no better than the originals. I have considered alignment/angle of the headlamps.

Daehawk

Good luck. Mine are the same way....so dim in twilight I cant tell if they are even on. Brights aren't much better. Mine are standard lights. I think they were new replacements when I bought the car. Clear as crystal. They have some moisture in them now but nothing that should harm the brightness. They just have never been bright. If you find an answer maybe I can fix mine too. Ive been tempted to go the HID road.

RockmanZ3R0

Well, thanks to the projector part of the lights, the highs are actually somewhat decent. I have considered the HID route as well, but it is so expensive for a decent kit it does not seem worth it. My car has about 142K miles on it now and I don't know how much more life I will get out of it. So why dump a 100+ kit into it?

TfcCDR

First thing to check is whether you have a good ground (-). A ground is just as important as the hot (+) lead, but it often overlooked.

So the first thing to do is connect your ground lead from one headlight straight to the battery negative (-) terminal, then at night aim the lights at a wall and see if the low beam spot is brighter than the one on the other side. If so, then wire both light grounds directly to the battery.

To know if a relay would do you any good, you can connect another lead to the low beam terminal and the battery positive (+) terminal and do the same wall test. If the one you have hooked up is brighter than it was, then you want to put in a relay (or maybe one for each light).

If you don't see any appreciable difference between the lights, you don't have to worry about your ground and a relay would do you no good.

Your test connections should be 12 gauge wire, nothing any smaller. You can make a couple of test leads with alligator clips on each end, or if you like, use an actual headlight connector on one end -- the important thing is that the wire is heavy enough.

If you put on a relay, connect the pull-in to battery negative and to the switch. The working terminals are connected to the battery positive and the low beam terminal. You can make the connections with crimp-on spade lugs. Insulate with electrical tape and you're done.

RockmanZ3R0

Wellp, you may be on to something with the ground. Turns out, there was no ground working properly on either headlight. (Voltmeter turned up zilch) However, I cannot tell you if it solved anything yet as it has not yet been fixed to have a working ground. Sometime this saturday though I should have an answer if it helped or not, or if a relay helped. All I know is, if it does not, I am totally buying an HID kit.

TfcCDR

The three leads in the connector that the blub attaches to are ground, low beam and high beam.

Pull the connector, and use your voltmeter to check for volts to ground from each of the two hot leads. These should be 11 - 15V, they should be within 0.1V on both leads (low - high) on a side, and should be within 0.2V between the same lead (low - low, high - high) between sides (L - R).

Then check BETWEEN low and high with the high beams on -- there should be 0 volts.

RockmanZ3R0

So, when tested, the wires for low beam were reading 11.4 volts? and the highs were reading 12.1v? something like that. Certainly not what they are supposed to be. The battery is partly to blame since it apparently is only putting out 12v on the dot. Regardless, wires were replaced, stuff rewired to work better. But no improvement as far as I can tell (now that it is dark out) -- A new battery may make the diff but I wont hold my breath. Now, to look for HID kits...
Also, Daehawk, be sure that the HID bulbs you buy (if you do) will fit your headlamp assembly, apparently they are too long for mine and ill need the compact version H3C HID.

Daehawk

Ive been looking at LED bulbs lately. They fit the normal lights and dont need anything special but are really bright white. Check out some YouTube videos.

TfcCDR

LED bulbs which don't need magnifying lenses?

One thing that I don't like about LED headlights is the loss of side lighting. Among other things, this makes a lot of the reflectorized signage ineffective.

Daehawk

Ya no special lenses needed.