j_martin

Headlight switch went south. Anybody know what connectors fit the block? (ie faston .250) I'd rather scrounge around for a good used block in a bone yard and crimp on the 1 or 2 new connectors needed than buy this for 40 bucks and splice it in.

cougar

Difficult, considering all the vehicles that had them were crushed. Same switch used in a lot of vehicles over a lot of years, you may be able to find one.

TJE

I recently put in a new connector. One advantage the wires are larger than the factory.

j_martin

Switch and connector used in cars and trucks from 71 to 93. Should be able to find one in a van or something. Don't know for sure if the original is beyond repair or not.

Worst case, could use individual faston connectors for now.

I figure the normal load for the tail light part of the switch is about 14 filaments. The clearance lights on a dually add 23 more. This trucked pulled a fiver with 13 more for most of it's life. No wonder the wire at fuse 4 is discolored. It had a 25 amp fuse in it instead of a 20.

Relays in store for both the head light and tail light circuits. Trailer circuits are already relay'd.

cougar

Idea! Let your trailer battery run your trailer lights.
Also, you can break up your running lights onto separate fuses. That way, if on string frazzles it won't take them all out.

j_martin

There's some drawbacks because to support a trailer battery with a drain on it requires a boost converter to make up for voltage drop in the long run between the batteries. You still have to get signal to the trailer to run relays for the various lights.
I am running all trailer light functions through a separate power circuit, fuses and relays.


Now there's an Idea I can use. One of the problems with the tail lights going out is the signal for the trailer tail lights also is missing. The splice breaking up the front, marker, and rear lights circuits is near the head light switch. I could pick up power off the 12G red wire to the switch, run it through a relay, and break it up into 4 fused circuits, front, rear, marker, and trailer relay.

Haven't torn the dash apart yet. Hoping the switch connecter uses terminals I have so I can do a neat job of this.

cougar

What size wire do you have between batteries? Mine is #6 all the way through a battery isolator.
You already have a signal, the original wiring. Instead of running all the lights directly, you now power a rely.

gyman98

LED bulbs on the trailer really help too, on my old 5er it reduced the load to 20%

j_martin

I have 6 to the hitch, fused, and switched by ignition in run position. Relays accomplish the same as you have except the big main truck battery is the source, and I can hook up to any trailer.

j_martin

I got the headlight switch out. Switch is in good shape. The connector on it is relatively new, in good shape, heavier as you said, and connected with butt splices. The 18g wire is in pretty bad shape at the butt splice, and also at the fuse block. There was a 25 amp fuse in #4, instead of a 20.

I need to bypass the wire. It's beyond safe use in the harness.

Is there any way to replace the crimp connector in the fuse block, or do I need to solder a pigtail fuse holder to the buss bar in the fuse block?

<edit>
Made a tool and got the connector out. Now where do I get some?

cougar

Might need to take a sample to your local doggie dealer and see if they can match it up. Or you could spend days looking through electrical connector catalogs.

j_martin

Local dealer sent me to Auto Value.

Somebody, like Jim, must have been down this road before.

j_martin

I must be missing something on the contact. Won't stay in the block. I held it in and installed the fuse for now.

Wired 16G to the headlight switch. Couldn't quickly find the distribution splice, so I relamped the cluster and buttoned it up. Needed the truck today to go to a funeral.

I figure when I relay the headlamps, it'll take most of the load off the red wire to the headlight switch. I can then tap off that and relay the tail lights with all the wiring and the relay right near the headlight switch.

Maybe I'll get a chance to tear into a bone yard harness and find the distribution splice that's supposed to be close to the headlight switch. Then I can separately fuse the lamp groups and the signal to the trailer relay box.

I still need to identify what the contact is and where to get some.

kensmachine

94 & up are the same plug but the color codes are wrong and the wire is larger in some places ken

GIT-R-DONE

I had the same problem with one of my wires not staying connected, I ended up crimping it best I could and then rtv'd it in there. Mine was burnt alittle bit