Headlight questions?

[sharpy-vr6 10]

Hi guys

 

I am new to corrados and i always hear about uprated headlight lumes and warm headlight switches on this forum. (more worryingly i just read the sticky above about dashboard fire prevention :/)

anyway due to all of this ive had a little worry and felt my headlight switch while driving and thought thats realy ----king hot.

the sitcky i read said that you can attach a fuse to the loom to stop the wire from failing and causing a fire, is this the same for late switches aswell??

im also wondering about uprated headlight looms what do these do?? are they a safer alternative to cutting in my own fuse??

i got worried about it all today when a headlight went in my car and i notice they are very dim and i was thinking if i buy a bulb from halfruads, there usual high power xenon jobbys would drawing this power through a "crap" loom cause over heating??

 

I may sound like a right worrier however i lost my last car to a dashboard fire and i dont want lightning striking twice.

and to see the scene in this poor quality picture again :(

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]61173[/ATTACH]

 

any information would be good thank you

[Portent 0]

I haven't done it myself but some people put a fuse in the earth (brown) wire out of the back of the switch. I assume the sticky has the fuse rating (I'm on my phone so searching is a hassle right now).The uprated looms don't prevent switch problems and it's a separate upgrade. They work by taking a direct feed from the battery and use a relay to send power to the lights when the switch is turned on. I have one but not installed it yet and the instructions look quite simple. It just connects to the battery, an earth, then into the two headlights and a feed from the old headlight connector. The benefit is a higher ampage and so brighter lights.

[Critical_Mass 10]

If you get in touch with Matt8v he's been selling new headlight switches which are from a jap VW, the new switches dont suffer from the overheating issue.

 

New looms are for bright lights as opposed to fire prevention. As the new loom draws power directly from the battery as opposed to the wiring going all round the car where you get voltage drop before they get to the lights. The loom is HIGHLY recommended along with new bulbs. Contact Kur2y IIRC, or you can make your own. Depends how good you are with wiring.

[sharpy-vr6 10]

Okay so should i be worried about driving untill I've fixed it as my switch is getting fairly warm atm is that the first sign??

[Critical_Mass 10]

The switched i replaced with one from Matt8v got rather warm. Not hot just quite warm. Never set on fire and still works - had it for 6 year. I wouldnt be panicking but id make sure you get it sorted sooner rather than later.

[sharpy-vr6 10]

Thanks guys :)

Okay thats a little more promising to hear.

How much are the new switches and looms roughly??

[Critical_Mass 10]

£20 odd for the switch (£28 I think, dont quote me), £50 odd for the loom. Worth the money though.

[smee 0]

Another recommendation for the loom from me - It takes the lights from "Are they on??" to "Ooooh - I can see where I'm going!". It will also help prolong the life of the headlight switch and thus make a fire a bit less likely.

 

The standard wiring sends the power from the battery through the switch and off to the lights, so by the time it gets to the bulbs the voltage has dropped and the lights are dim, plus the full current draw passes through the switch, generating heat which gradually makes the switch go brittle inside until it breaks. If you're lucky, your lights stop working. If you're unlucky the switch shorts out inside and fire can ensue!!

 

The upgraded looms add a couple of relays, so the switch is only switching the relays on, thus the current passing through the switch is less - less heat - less damage to the plastic. The relays are handling the current draw of the lights themselves, and since they're next to the battery, the cable run to the lights is much shorter - less voltage drop - brighter lights.

 

2 Top Tips:

 

1) When you get the loom, either try and get waterproof relays, or get a waterproof case from Maplins or suchlike and mount the relays inside. Otherwise water WILL get into the relays, and they WILL stop working, usually when you need your headlights the most...

 

2) The headlight switch from a mk2 Golf will fit and work, it just looks bobbins (and doesn't light up IIRC) so get yourself one as a spare - there are gazillions of them so they're easy to find.

[Critical_Mass 10]

yeah good point Smee. Definately waterproof the relays as mind got water in them and i didnt realise until MOT time when it failed for lights not working (it was summer so didnt use lights much) - water had corroded the relays.

[sharpy-vr6 10]

Okay awesome. Thanks smee ill bare that in mind and will have to invest soon :).

Does anyone sell a good set up loom with waterproofed relays??

 

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk 2

[tbvr6 0]

I put my relays in a small plastic sealed food container. Seems to keep them dry. They have survived this very wet April, so can't be too bad.

[jamiehamy 0]

I had an issue with my upgraded loom that almost resulted in the car going on fire. I'd pulled up at my parents and switched the lights off and headed to the front door. Craig (my other half) told me I'd left my lights on, and I saw the dipped lights were on (actual dipped beam).

 

I checked the switch and all was off and cheked that the ignition switch hadn't stuck but it hadn't. I opened the bonnet and one of the relays was smouldering furiously and buring up the wiring leading to/from it. Fortunately I had a 10mm handy and managed to get the battery disconnected.

 

Had Craig not noticed, I'd have gone inside and pretty sure the car would have gone up. There are fuses on all the relays, but somehow they never tripped? I removed the whole thing and inspected the two other relays which were perfect inside - no sign of moisture, nothing. They were strapped to the battery and the 'right' way to stop any splashed water going inside them.

 

I have never worked out what went wrong, but very wary of buying or fitting another one now - if fuses on the relays don't stop the thing almost going on fire, then not sure what will :(

 

Anyone else had this?

 

Edit - and it kept blowing headlight bubs, at least one a month. Tried cheap and expensive ones to no avail 5 is more than coincidence! :(

Edited May 4, 2012 by jamiehamy

[sharpy-vr6 10]

I had an issue with my upgraded loom that almost resulted in the car going on fire. I'd pulled up at my parents and switched the lights off and headed to the front door. Craig (my other half) told me I'd left my lights on, and I saw the dipped lights were on (actual dipped beam).

 

I checked the switch and all was off and cheked that the ignition switch hadn't stuck but it hadn't. I opened the bonnet and one of the relays was smouldering furiously and buring up the wiring leading to/from it. Fortunately I had a 10mm handy and managed to get the battery disconnected.

 

Had Craig not noticed, I'd have gone inside and pretty sure the car would have gone up. There are fuses on all the relays, but somehow they never tripped? I removed the whole thing and inspected the two other relays which were perfect inside - no sign of moisture, nothing. They were strapped to the battery and the 'right' way to stop any splashed water going inside them.

 

I have never worked out what went wrong, but very wary of buying or fitting another one now - if fuses on the relays don't stop the thing almost going on fire, then not sure what will :(

 

Anyone else had this?

 

Edit - and it kept blowing headlight bubs, at least one a month. Tried cheap and expensive ones to no avail 5 is more than coincidence! :(

 

Jeeze mate that must have been a little bit scary, where did you get your kit from??

as i have just seen on ebay this kit http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-Corrado-Mk2-Golf-Uprated-Headlight-Wiring-Loom-/320449647118?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item4a9c49920e i dunno if anyones used it or if i should trust it?

[jamiehamy 0]

I actually got them on here, with the OEM connectors, so wasn't cheap. I'll try trawl through and find out who I got them from and drop a PM to see if it can be fixed and maybe what caused the issue.

 

The blowing bulbs I just can't work out!

[MikeVR6 0]

I've had two of the looms from that seller (on 2 different VR6s) no problems whatsoever. 1st loom was on my last car 4 years. Second has been on my latest car for 18 months.