New headllights wiring

[AZPete]

I have upgraded from the old front to the new front and installed the headlights, but I'm confused about the wiring. I have the wires for the low beam and the high beam which worked with the old headlights. Now, I've got the new headlights with connections for "headlight" and "shutter". Which donor wires go to which new headlight connections?

Of course, I also have wires for the clearance (parking) lights and the turn signals which will go to the LED lights in the new headlights.

[Frank818]

You want wire colors as an answer?

[AZPete]

Frank, my wire colors may be different from the donor because I extended some. I just need to know that the low beam wire goes to the __________ (light or shutter) connection.
And, the high beam wire goes to the __________ (light or shutter) connection.
The most recent manual, 1Q, shows headlight wiring for the old Camry lights, but not the new lights.

[Frank818]

Frank, my wire colors may be different from the donor because I extended some. I just need to know that the low beam wire goes to the _light_________ (light or shutter) connection.
And, the high beam wire goes to the ___shutter_______ (light or shutter) connection.

Because the low beams are just the lights on the new projectors and the high beams are the shutter. We don't have more powerful bulbs for high beams or same power bulb but with complete different beam pattern. What happens is that the shutter opens when you engage high beams so the low beams pattern is still there + you get a higher pattern when the shutter opens up, still using that one "low beam" bulb. Low beams and high beams draw the exact same current. For example 40w on low beams and when you switch to highs it will still be 40w.

The shutter is slooow to react. Cannot "flash" high beams like we usually know, it's slower. It works, just slower.


Is that what you were looking for?

[AZPete]

So, I should connect the Low beam wire to the "headlight" connector and the high beam wire to the "shutter" connector. I think I can handle that, Frank. Thanks.

[Frank818]

Yes, that's exactly how I tested mines using the roller switch on the left column arm and it worked perfectly. It's really simple, the headlight connector switches the bulbs on and the high beams connector switches the shutter up (opens up). That's how it worked for me.

I'm surprised no one responded before I did and still no one joined in to confirm the connection.

[AZPete]

I reached Courtnie at FFR and she got Dan Golub to write an update to the manual which he says will come out soon. But, you are the only guy to give me an answer.

My only worry is that this might make me speak Canadian or drive like a VW.

[Frank818]

I don't see any problem there, so you're good to go!

[iWire]

For certain models (generally non DRL) the low beam shuts off when the highs kick on. With a shutter this creates a problem. If that's the case you'll need to add in a relay in order to keep the low beams on when the shutter is triggered. We have added a "low beam relay" for all our harnesses with the new front ends.

[Frank818]

You guys got DRLs in USA?
We did in Canada, can't remember in US.

[AZPete]

My 06 WRX has DRL so maybe I'll be okay. I haven't had time to do the headlight connections yet. Thanks!

[AZPete]

Yesterday I wired the headlights and Frank818 is correct. Just to be clear, connect low beam wire to the headlight (rear of fixture) and the high beam wire goes to the shutter (side of fixture).
I'll aim the lights tonight. Thanks Frank.

[Frank818]

Cool news. I'm also starting on that since yesterday. Takes a while to make the big round hole the right size to fit the glass through.

[alpine227]

I had an 02 headlamp switch I did have to add a relay to keep it on when I Switch to high beams.

[metros]

Could one of you who made the jump to the updated nose and headlights with an iwire harness create a wiring diagram?

[aquillen]

Six weeks late but you asked for a schematic.

The various year/models I've dug up schematics for always have the headlight relays supply 12V to the lamps. Then the low (ground) side of the lamps are switched by the user switches and in some cases relays are involved to cut in day time running mode, etc.

The common theme is that the headlight relays must get turned on to power up the lamps. This is to our advantage.

The new lamps are a single bulb, a mechanical shutter opens to expose the full lamp, closes to cut the beam down = high/low beams on one bulb only. So ground one side of the bulb, use the headlight relay to power it up. No matter the user switches set to high or low, the headlight relays will power up their lamps.

That leaves getting the high beam circuit to power on the shutter.

Some info of interest (I benched this stuff last night). one side - H9 lamp, 65 Watts, 5.5 amperes (nominal current at 12V). Shutter circuit = 525mA (1/2 Ampere) at 13.8V applied. The shutter mechanism is non-polarized - works the same with wires swapped.

[iWire]

We messed around a little with this type of setup, but ended up with a back feed to the relay when you hit the high beam but no headlights on (push forward on stalk while headlights are off) which caused it to buzz. I would suggest you make sure that it doesn't do that when powered up. Curious it behaves a little differently in a OEM setup.

[aquillen]

Interesting problem. For the wiring diagrams I've looked at for Sub (several different years and models) the ground passed up through the passing/dimmer pull stalk (B71 - 16) in the above drawing works its way up to the headlight relay via (B71 - 8). Variations seem to end up doing this each time. You did see the problem though so can't say from just looking at Subaru drawings why that would happen.

That said, I'm still working on my suspension redesign and electrics are still all on paper for now. And of course - “the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry”,

[iWire]

Exactly my thoughts, which is why we set up originally very similarly to what you described. Sending only the ground to the shutter shouldn't be a problem, but we found that with the shutter motor vs. a light bulb it would loop back to the output side of the relay and cause problems.

[Chef818]

Can someone elaborate what they mean / entails adding a relay to keep the low beams on when you switch on the shutter for the new headlights, tha k you

[aquillen]

Can someone elaborate what they mean / entails adding a relay to keep the low beams on when you switch on the shutter for the new headlights, tha k you

Well, you got left hanging on this question back when... sorry. And since you're having question/problems in a new thread I'm adding some info here.

Whether this helps out, at least you see here what the adding headlight relay means. The above drawing and this one tie together via the "endpoints" at the edge of the drawings. Basically, the lighting switches send ground to the headlight relays, which were part of the original donor relay/fuse box, and they supply the 12 volt via fuses to the headlights (as well as the high beam shutter motors).

So if you tie the two drawings together, above and this, you see the headlight bulbs are grounded at one end, and get 12V via these relays for both cases of low or high beam mode now.

Keep in mind this wiring is for my 3.0 project and I've changed many of the wiring/fuse/relay assignments. But the headlight thing is only changed just enough to get it working with the new FFR headlights.