Headlight Motor Questions - 2 wire 87-89 motors
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From: Brisbane, Australia
Car: 1985 Pontiac TransAM
Engine: 400SBC 24x conversion
Transmission: T700r Stage2 Shiftkitted
Axle/Gears: 2.77 9 Bolt
Headlight Motor Questions - 2 wire 87-89 motors
Hey All,
My LH headlight motor decided to crap out on me, and it was the bushing/relay thingie on the side with the 3 screws that died. Looks like one of the copper tangs corroded and fell off, so now I'm up for a replacement.
My car is an 85 TransAM with the 3 wire motor and I'm in Australia so thirdgens are too rare here to be at a wreckers, so ebay is my only option, and the best deal I've found with international shipping is around $300 for a used one.
Next models up though, 87-89 firebird and 86-88 fieros though seem to have brand new ones for $70 each for the 2 wire versions that use the headlight module. The downside there is people want $500 for a headlight module.
I've foudn some Arduino projects that replicate the headlight module that I can build for around $70 and a bunch of time soldering and reading circuit diagrams but I long story short, I'm wanting to know exactly how the headlight motors work, and if it's possible for me to instead just wire up a simple switch to raise the headlights with power until they're up and then turn off the switch, and then reverse the polarity and do the same to lower.
So.. on to the questions:
1. Do the 2 wire motors require constant voltage to hold them in place, or once it's in a certain position does the mechancial workings hold the motor in place?
2. Once the motors hit maximum travel and are fully up, how long until the power flowing in and the motor under load would it take before damage starts occuring?
For further context, I hardly ever drive the car at night, so the headlights will be used only on rare occasions.
The isolaton relay died a long time ago so the headlights are controlled using 2x SPDT relays per side and another SPDT relay for the isolation relay, all wired in based on someone's design here on the forums and has worked great for years. I also have a custom switch used to control the 12v signal for the headlight motors and low/high beams, so if I'm able to without damaging the motors I'd rather use a 6 pin 3-way switch to control them and just manually shut off the power when they're up/down.
Has anyone tried this before or have some info on the headlight motors to assist?
My LH headlight motor decided to crap out on me, and it was the bushing/relay thingie on the side with the 3 screws that died. Looks like one of the copper tangs corroded and fell off, so now I'm up for a replacement.
My car is an 85 TransAM with the 3 wire motor and I'm in Australia so thirdgens are too rare here to be at a wreckers, so ebay is my only option, and the best deal I've found with international shipping is around $300 for a used one.
Next models up though, 87-89 firebird and 86-88 fieros though seem to have brand new ones for $70 each for the 2 wire versions that use the headlight module. The downside there is people want $500 for a headlight module.
I've foudn some Arduino projects that replicate the headlight module that I can build for around $70 and a bunch of time soldering and reading circuit diagrams but I long story short, I'm wanting to know exactly how the headlight motors work, and if it's possible for me to instead just wire up a simple switch to raise the headlights with power until they're up and then turn off the switch, and then reverse the polarity and do the same to lower.
So.. on to the questions:
1. Do the 2 wire motors require constant voltage to hold them in place, or once it's in a certain position does the mechancial workings hold the motor in place?
2. Once the motors hit maximum travel and are fully up, how long until the power flowing in and the motor under load would it take before damage starts occuring?
For further context, I hardly ever drive the car at night, so the headlights will be used only on rare occasions.
The isolaton relay died a long time ago so the headlights are controlled using 2x SPDT relays per side and another SPDT relay for the isolation relay, all wired in based on someone's design here on the forums and has worked great for years. I also have a custom switch used to control the 12v signal for the headlight motors and low/high beams, so if I'm able to without damaging the motors I'd rather use a 6 pin 3-way switch to control them and just manually shut off the power when they're up/down.
Has anyone tried this before or have some info on the headlight motors to assist?
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