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h4 conversion troubles

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Old Feb 4, 2005 | 11:05 PM
  #1  
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From: Woodland, CA
Car: '02 Z06
Engine: L33 5.7
Transmission: T56
Axle/Gears: Stock IRS
h4 conversion troubles

I bought a pair of housings for my two H4 bulbs. I also bought a 4 lamp harness kit. heres how the kit looks :

the circle with the arrow pointing, thats where one of the old stock low beam plugs, plug into the new harness so i guess the relays can get a reading when to let the lights on/off. but what i dont understand is how the high beams know when to come on? right now only my low beams were replaced with H4's. my High beams are still stock, so i left the stock wiring attached .

with my headlights on, the h4's are nice and bright, but when i turn on my highbeams, of coarse my highs come on, but my h4's get dimmer.

how can i make this wiring harness work with my highs as well when i get the moeny to convert those as well?
Attached Thumbnails h4 conversion troubles-034upgradeharness.jpg  
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Old Feb 5, 2005 | 04:04 PM
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From: Woodland, CA
Car: '02 Z06
Engine: L33 5.7
Transmission: T56
Axle/Gears: Stock IRS
can anyone help me? if its confusing just say so ill try to rephrase it simpler.
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Old Feb 6, 2005 | 12:43 AM
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From: Austin, Texas
Car: 2000 Trans Am WS6 (Black)
Engine: LS1
Transmission: 4L60E
why not just rid yourself of the stock wiring for the highs as well?

I thought that on camaros the lows turned off when you hit the highs... maybe there is a power loss...
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Old Feb 6, 2005 | 12:25 PM
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From: Woodland, CA
Car: '02 Z06
Engine: L33 5.7
Transmission: T56
Axle/Gears: Stock IRS
no on camaros the lows stay on and the highs come on so you have all 4 on. the part i circled is what plugs into the stock low connector, so the relays know when i had turned on the lights.

thats my problem, if i plug the new harness into my highs, and turn on my headlights all 4 lights come on and i cant turn off my highs.
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Old Feb 6, 2005 | 04:04 PM
  #5  
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From: Austin, Texas
Car: 2000 Trans Am WS6 (Black)
Engine: LS1
Transmission: 4L60E
I'm a little confused... is that diagram you gave us, actually what you bought, or is it just an example of the way your wiring is?

was the new harness exactly like the picture?
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Old Feb 6, 2005 | 04:09 PM
  #6  
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From: Woodland, CA
Car: '02 Z06
Engine: L33 5.7
Transmission: T56
Axle/Gears: Stock IRS
that is what i bought
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Old Feb 6, 2005 | 04:12 PM
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From: Austin, Texas
Car: 2000 Trans Am WS6 (Black)
Engine: LS1
Transmission: 4L60E
and this harness has no way of controlling the high-beam? I don't see why you use any of the stock wiring at all anymore.
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Old Feb 6, 2005 | 04:21 PM
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From: Woodland, CA
Car: '02 Z06
Engine: L33 5.7
Transmission: T56
Axle/Gears: Stock IRS
ok i knew this is confusing, especially when i dont know much about electrical.

ok this new harness is hooked up to all 4 headlights. but the part i circled is connected to the stock low beam connector. now when i turn on my headlights, all 4 bulbs come on. and my high/low switch doesnt do a thing. if i plug my stock plugs into the high beams. all the lights work fine. does that help?
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Old Feb 6, 2005 | 04:39 PM
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From: Austin, Texas
Car: 2000 Trans Am WS6 (Black)
Engine: LS1
Transmission: 4L60E
okay well so the only connection to your headlight switch is via the circled area on that diagram?

it looks like its got 3 wires there, quite possible you need to combine the stock low-beam, along with the high beem wire... I'm not sure which is which, but I bet you need something like that...

if you get to that point, and do not wish to destroy all your wiring, just buy splices that clip onto the wires without hurting them much... as all this does is trigger a relay, as far as I can tell..

you are saying that that connector you circled is ONLY for your low beams, right? and on camaros, the low beams are ALWAYS on with the headlights, bright or not? well if this is the only connection then the brights will never know to turn on... but I think that the circled connector is intended for 3 wire hookup... probably ground, high, low... sure would be easy if you had a firebird!

if you could describe the connector in more detail, or if there are other connections to your electrical system other than the obvious battery connection.

and back to your original question... I think that maybe there is no actual relay and maybe a different method of triggering your lights, and when you turn the highs on the wiring harness is not setup to work that way... if you ask me, I'd say either buy new h4s for the highs, or just convert the connection so you can use your stock bulbs... I bet you can buy an actual socket adapter---just until you get the new bulbs...
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Old Feb 6, 2005 | 06:06 PM
  #10  
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From: Woodland, CA
Car: '02 Z06
Engine: L33 5.7
Transmission: T56
Axle/Gears: Stock IRS
ok thanks for the help scrap. I found out what went wrong, By studying the schematic found in the tech section. Appearently, All I had to do was swap two of the wires around with my stock harness and plug it back into my new h4 harness. since this was a 'universal' h4 harness, i guess it was bound to need a little work. it turns out i was always grounding the high beams and thats why it was always on. it works perfect now!
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Old Feb 6, 2005 | 09:04 PM
  #11  
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From: Bemidji, MN
Car: 1984 Z28
Engine: 350
Transmission: TCI Streetfighter TH350
Axle/Gears: 4th gen 3.42
im having similar problems as you. right now im running the stock harness with only the low beams with the h4 conversion.

when the lights are in low position, the lows are on and the highs are on too but they are very dim. when i hit the highs the highs come on and the lows are on too but they are very dim.

same problem as me? im still trying to figure it out
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Old Feb 6, 2005 | 09:34 PM
  #12  
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From: Woodland, CA
Car: '02 Z06
Engine: L33 5.7
Transmission: T56
Axle/Gears: Stock IRS
so your saying one or the other are always dim?
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Old Feb 6, 2005 | 10:04 PM
  #13  
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From: Bemidji, MN
Car: 1984 Z28
Engine: 350
Transmission: TCI Streetfighter TH350
Axle/Gears: 4th gen 3.42
yes, if its in low beam position the low beams are on like regular but the highs are on as well, just very dim. and if i switch it to the high position the high beams come on and the low beams become very dim, i think it would be easier if i would just go take a picture
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Old Feb 6, 2005 | 11:32 PM
  #14  
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From: Woodland, CA
Car: '02 Z06
Engine: L33 5.7
Transmission: T56
Axle/Gears: Stock IRS
i understand what your saying, are your grounds ok?
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Old Feb 7, 2005 | 10:32 AM
  #15  
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From: Austin, Texas
Car: 2000 Trans Am WS6 (Black)
Engine: LS1
Transmission: 4L60E
glad you figured it out

so it was just that you needed a different combination of wires going into the harness "input"? right?

that's pretty much what I thought
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Old Feb 7, 2005 | 01:10 PM
  #16  
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From: Woodland, CA
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Transmission: T56
Axle/Gears: Stock IRS
tes basically.
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