Some chatter regarding the installation of HID headlights has been observed, and a note has been made of a 'device' sold on eBay to solve the loss of the (blue) "High Beam indicator", and the complete "loss of headlights".
The device that I so purchased adds a 10 ohm load (rated at 1 watt) across the old headlight connector (LoBeam-Neg* and HiBeam-Neg*) at the connector and supposedly solves both these two issues. [Note: Neg* is not necessarily at earth/ground, potential.]
When connected, smoke immediately started issuing from the 10 ohm load resistor, as it was exposed to the full battery voltage, and thus was soon to burst into flames, had I not switched off the headlights.
What went wrong?
Looking at the components, the device was clearly only expecting a nominally small voltage without the normal headlights fitted, which was the case with when HiBeam was selected (about 0.7 volts measured) [0.05watts], and was not designed to safely deal with the full voltage it received from the LoBeam connection (13+ volts). [16watts]
Now I cannot explain why it got the full voltage from the LoBeam connector, thus it may have no relevance to the general motoring community. The problem that I have is that unknown circumstances (loose wire, car ECU upgrade, etc) might change the status quo, and possibly start a fire if you have something like this device fitted, particularly if it contains no thermal protective measures?
Whilst it is easy enough to increase resistance, and rated wattage of the loaded resistance, I am still uneasy about the whole process, as the elevated temperatures in the engine compartment make for a conservative thermal environment. I am now back to std globes!
Is there an Auto-Electricians voice to the problem, and perhaps just what is going on in the car's ECU that explains the headlight switching and load sensing in the Prado?
With Thanks
bworth
The device that I so purchased adds a 10 ohm load (rated at 1 watt) across the old headlight connector (LoBeam-Neg* and HiBeam-Neg*) at the connector and supposedly solves both these two issues. [Note: Neg* is not necessarily at earth/ground, potential.]
When connected, smoke immediately started issuing from the 10 ohm load resistor, as it was exposed to the full battery voltage, and thus was soon to burst into flames, had I not switched off the headlights.
What went wrong?
Looking at the components, the device was clearly only expecting a nominally small voltage without the normal headlights fitted, which was the case with when HiBeam was selected (about 0.7 volts measured) [0.05watts], and was not designed to safely deal with the full voltage it received from the LoBeam connection (13+ volts). [16watts]
Now I cannot explain why it got the full voltage from the LoBeam connector, thus it may have no relevance to the general motoring community. The problem that I have is that unknown circumstances (loose wire, car ECU upgrade, etc) might change the status quo, and possibly start a fire if you have something like this device fitted, particularly if it contains no thermal protective measures?
Whilst it is easy enough to increase resistance, and rated wattage of the loaded resistance, I am still uneasy about the whole process, as the elevated temperatures in the engine compartment make for a conservative thermal environment. I am now back to std globes!
Is there an Auto-Electricians voice to the problem, and perhaps just what is going on in the car's ECU that explains the headlight switching and load sensing in the Prado?
With Thanks
bworth
Comment