B
bonedoctor
Guest
It was a beautiful, sunny day here in Aspen and warm enough to work outside without gloves. Got the JAOS Challenger dual-beam lights and the light stay a few days ago and have been itching to get them installed. Don't know if anybody is considering these, but here are some tips that'll make it a lot easier to install, that is, unless you're fluent in Japanese!
Fairly easy installation, took about 2-2.5 hours poking along. The instructions were all in Japanese, so that was a little bit of a challenge--only had the pictures to go by and sometimes it was hard to figure out what they were showing in the diagram.
The light stay has two brackets that slip through the lower grill (one below the bumper) and they mount on top of the bumper mounts. That was the hard part figuring out what exactly was in the diagram. You look down from above with the hood up. The rubber flaps on either side of the radiator have to come out 'cause they're clipped into place in the two holes where the mounting bolts go. Doesn't seem much of a problem since the one on the passenger side hides an area just in front of the tire that collects a bunch of crud--it'll be easier to blast that area at the self-serve car wash now.
The lights are very easy to mount to the light stay. The wiring loom comes preassembled, just need to figure out how to snake it neatly behind the driver's side headlight.
Once again, the instructions are all Japanese, so the diagram's all you've got to go on. With the hood up and looking down at the space behind the grill and in front of the radiator, I snaked the wiring loom from in front of the radiator, behind the driver's side headlight, around the side of the battery and up just past the fuse box. One lead has a 25A fuse and goes to the + terminal. There's a double black wire that is the ground for the lights and I secured it to the - terminal. The lights themselves plug easily into the end of the wiring loom. The wireless control box also plugs into the other end of the loom. I mounted it on top of the fuse box. You have to watch out and make sure it'll clear the hood lift rods if you mount it along the top lip of the fender.
There's a yellow wire with a 2A fuse that spices into the headlight relay and I tied into the the driver's side low beam by taking off some of the black tape covering the wires after pulling out a little section from the plastic wire loom cover. The yellow wire connects via a crimper to the wires going to the driver's low beam. There are two wires, a red wire with yellow tracer and a white wire with a black tracer. I first had it going to the W/B and the lights didn't work. Switched it over to the R/Y and it works. The lights work via a little remote so there are no wires going through the firewall. The remote controls the on/off and also the mode--high beam or low beam. You can select either regardless how the headlights are set, i.e., you can have the headlights on low beam and the lights can either be on high beam or low beam, similarly for the headlights on high beam. Seems I remember some auxillary lights coming on only when the high beams were on, so I may have not have installed the splice into the correct circuit (maybe they should have been spliced into the high beam headlight but the Japanese instructions and diagram were no help). I like this way better, seems to have more options (4 combinations of headlights and JAOS lights)
Don't forget the little ground wire from the control module. It's kinda short and can get down out of sight--then you forget to connect it--lights won't work.
The wireless remote seems to be the best feature of this system. It's small, slightly bigger than the switches on the console and to the left of the steering wheel. It's also about the same color as the switches and also matched the color of my dash. I chose to mount it (with the two little sticky pads) just to the left of the steering wheel and to the right of the 4 switches that are already there. It should be easy to get to since you operate the high/low beam stalk with the left hand and the remote's close by. Blends in nicely with the row of switches.
The JAOS lights will turn on and off with the headlight switch on the left stalk, so no worry about leaving them on unexpectedly.
They look awesome and can't wait to try them out tonight. Gotta aim them first, however. The bulb is a bright slightly yellow-ish tint. Looks like a yellow HID.
These things are huge and I first thought they were too big. A neighbor ask me if I was going to go spot-lighting some deer with them! But it soon grows on you. The light stay is nice looking, has the JAOS logo laser-cut out on the front. Despite the lights being large, I can't see them, not even the tops of 'em, from the driver's seat and I'm about 6 ft tall. I do have a factory hood protector and maybe that also helps. I didn't want to be looking at the tops of two lights, so I'm happy with their height. They are ever so slightly lower than the headlights and hopefully a little less vulnerable to careless drivers than if they were mounted any lower.
Definitely a splurge and cost waaay too much, but that little wireless remote is sweet. Just wish they had some way to make the lights a little less theft prone. A crook with a socket wrench and two fingers to unplug them from the loom could make off with them fairly quickly.
I'll post pictures as soon as possible, but I still shoot film since I don't have a digital camera (spent all my money on this damned JAOS stuff!)
Fairly easy installation, took about 2-2.5 hours poking along. The instructions were all in Japanese, so that was a little bit of a challenge--only had the pictures to go by and sometimes it was hard to figure out what they were showing in the diagram.
The light stay has two brackets that slip through the lower grill (one below the bumper) and they mount on top of the bumper mounts. That was the hard part figuring out what exactly was in the diagram. You look down from above with the hood up. The rubber flaps on either side of the radiator have to come out 'cause they're clipped into place in the two holes where the mounting bolts go. Doesn't seem much of a problem since the one on the passenger side hides an area just in front of the tire that collects a bunch of crud--it'll be easier to blast that area at the self-serve car wash now.
The lights are very easy to mount to the light stay. The wiring loom comes preassembled, just need to figure out how to snake it neatly behind the driver's side headlight.
Once again, the instructions are all Japanese, so the diagram's all you've got to go on. With the hood up and looking down at the space behind the grill and in front of the radiator, I snaked the wiring loom from in front of the radiator, behind the driver's side headlight, around the side of the battery and up just past the fuse box. One lead has a 25A fuse and goes to the + terminal. There's a double black wire that is the ground for the lights and I secured it to the - terminal. The lights themselves plug easily into the end of the wiring loom. The wireless control box also plugs into the other end of the loom. I mounted it on top of the fuse box. You have to watch out and make sure it'll clear the hood lift rods if you mount it along the top lip of the fender.
There's a yellow wire with a 2A fuse that spices into the headlight relay and I tied into the the driver's side low beam by taking off some of the black tape covering the wires after pulling out a little section from the plastic wire loom cover. The yellow wire connects via a crimper to the wires going to the driver's low beam. There are two wires, a red wire with yellow tracer and a white wire with a black tracer. I first had it going to the W/B and the lights didn't work. Switched it over to the R/Y and it works. The lights work via a little remote so there are no wires going through the firewall. The remote controls the on/off and also the mode--high beam or low beam. You can select either regardless how the headlights are set, i.e., you can have the headlights on low beam and the lights can either be on high beam or low beam, similarly for the headlights on high beam. Seems I remember some auxillary lights coming on only when the high beams were on, so I may have not have installed the splice into the correct circuit (maybe they should have been spliced into the high beam headlight but the Japanese instructions and diagram were no help). I like this way better, seems to have more options (4 combinations of headlights and JAOS lights)
Don't forget the little ground wire from the control module. It's kinda short and can get down out of sight--then you forget to connect it--lights won't work.
The wireless remote seems to be the best feature of this system. It's small, slightly bigger than the switches on the console and to the left of the steering wheel. It's also about the same color as the switches and also matched the color of my dash. I chose to mount it (with the two little sticky pads) just to the left of the steering wheel and to the right of the 4 switches that are already there. It should be easy to get to since you operate the high/low beam stalk with the left hand and the remote's close by. Blends in nicely with the row of switches.
The JAOS lights will turn on and off with the headlight switch on the left stalk, so no worry about leaving them on unexpectedly.
They look awesome and can't wait to try them out tonight. Gotta aim them first, however. The bulb is a bright slightly yellow-ish tint. Looks like a yellow HID.
These things are huge and I first thought they were too big. A neighbor ask me if I was going to go spot-lighting some deer with them! But it soon grows on you. The light stay is nice looking, has the JAOS logo laser-cut out on the front. Despite the lights being large, I can't see them, not even the tops of 'em, from the driver's seat and I'm about 6 ft tall. I do have a factory hood protector and maybe that also helps. I didn't want to be looking at the tops of two lights, so I'm happy with their height. They are ever so slightly lower than the headlights and hopefully a little less vulnerable to careless drivers than if they were mounted any lower.
Definitely a splurge and cost waaay too much, but that little wireless remote is sweet. Just wish they had some way to make the lights a little less theft prone. A crook with a socket wrench and two fingers to unplug them from the loom could make off with them fairly quickly.
I'll post pictures as soon as possible, but I still shoot film since I don't have a digital camera (spent all my money on this damned JAOS stuff!)
