Hello to the group. Sure have learned a lot here. I am trying to hook up my PIAA 520 driving lights. I am using the relay and switch supplied with the lights and am going around and around trying to find a high beam trigger wire that is not +12v when the lights are off. I also am looking for the neg wire that triggers the highs as this may be a way to rig the relay. Right now, I have tapped the high beam wire at the bulb so the lights switch correctly. with the high beams. Trouble is, when I turn off the lights, the driving lights come back on and require a manual turn off at the new switch on the dashboard. In addition, this new piaa switch has a green/red led that lights as to the status of the driving lights. So when the truck is off and sitting, the bulb glows green. When I contacted PIAA, I must say I was confused by an explanation they gave that I need a relay to run the relay!!??, but it still does not address the ciruit activation when the truck is off and the lights are tuned off.
thanks for any help. OH....truck is a 2001 2500 quad cab. Thanks

 

Here's what I did for mine (I think, it's been a while). The wires that power the lights, white, and white/red go directly to the battery. That, I'm sure of. The "trigger" wire, it's small, goes to the high beam wire. In my case, I have mine tapped on a running light so I can work them independently from the high beams. The bi-color LED does not stay on when hooked up in this fashion. I have the button mounted just to the right of the headlight switch. I hope I covered all of the wires.

 

Yes, I had it hooked up that way when I bought the truck. I want to have the high beams come on with the driving lights for safety and convenience. I know there has to be a way to do this. I even poked around in the fuse box in the engine compartment to see if the fog relay would offer up some sort of reverse trigger possiblility. No luck so far

 

Well, where does the main wiring go to? The harness from the lights goes to the relay but is it connect directly to the battery from there?

 

Yes, the main power and ground for the PIAA's are attached to the battery terminals. I wish there was a switched main +12v terminal somewhere.

 

Something's wrong somewhere for the it not to work as you desire. I just came in from checking my installation (CTD's always before work). Power wires come from lights and go to relay. Power and ground wires go from relay to battery. 3 small wire route to button in cab. 1 small wire (switched +12 V) goes to, in my case, parking lights.

Do this. Leave everything the same, but pull the harness off of the light you have it connected to, and just leave it dangling, and then try it. You may have to pull both harnesses. I'm thinking of a problem I had with my new fog lights. Try it and get back to us.

 

When the harness is pulled from the left headlamp (where I attached it to the highbeam wire) the green led is not operating etc. I know what your saying.
The issue I'm describing is that the white wire with black dashes--the "trigger" or "sense" wire is attached to the high beam wire at the harness. All works well. Except........when the headlamp rotary switch is turned to the off position on the dash, the headlamp power wire (that the sense is attached to) re-energizes to +12v. Matter of fact, all three (High beam, low beam, ground) wires are +12v when the lights are "off". I know this is the negative ground switching that is being done on new cars, but how does one deal with it it getting a "sense" circuit that is only active during high beam operation?
Interestingly, when the lights are turned off on the dash switch, I can turn on the driving lights by just pushing the Piaa switch. When I turn on the headlights from the dash switch, the PIAA lights are then actively switched from the highbeam energized circuit.
Did I describe it OK?
I could attach it back to the parking light, but I want to operate them in conjuction with the high beams for safety. The dash switch is not efficient in my opinion to operationally rapid enough to dim highs.

 

Yes, I understand, you described it fine. It's the same problem I had with my aftermarket fogs. When I mounted them, and hooked them to the OEM fog light harness, they'd blow the fuse. If I left them dangling by the wire, they would work fine. So it sounds like you're getting feedback. Problem is, I don't have an answer for you; it's that darned switched ground I think.

 

Find the ground wire that is grounded when the lights are on, and is NOT grounded when the lights are off. Next, take the trigger wire to the battery, along with the supply wire. Tie the relays ground wire to the ground wire for the lights. This should solve your problem.

 

Firestorm, that sounds good and I will try that. My trouble is that all the wires at the headlamp plug go =12v when the switch is off. Do you know where to look for this switched ground wire?
thanks for any tip or help.
Jan

 

High beam indicator light, somewhere behind the dash, maybe?

 

The high beam indicator would be great. I was told it was a circuit board socket and not wired with a conventional....well....wire? Is that bunk?
Is it available from the loom below the steering column?
Thanks
Jan

 

If you have a truck with daytime running lights you can use the high beam indicator driver output of the DTRL module. On a 99 it would be the one with the red dot on the sketch.

Hope that helps.

AlpineRAM

 

Thanks for the info and what a great idea. I unfortunately do not have that unit. Your idea is a good one though. I need to find my highbeam module and I bet it would have an appropriate pin. Any idea where it would be found?
Jan

 

If you don't have the DTRLs it could be that hte harness is in place. (Maybe with a bridge between the 2 dotted pins on my pic. On my truck it sits on the drivers side fender, between the brake master cyl. and the fuse box.
If your truck is wired differently you could do the following: Take a good 60amp relais and wire the coil contacts in between the headlamp high filament and the headlamp ground. Wire the permanent plus for the piaas through this relais. This will only power the PIAA relais when the high beam can come on.

AlpineRAM