Projectors Project

[wake_rider]

Alright, so I bit the bullet and bought a Bi-Xenon Morimoto Mini Stage III kit with the DRL Panamera shrouds (led backlit). The package showed up on my door yesterday, so I'm hoping to tackle the job on Saturday. I'll be taking pics along the way and do a pseudo write-up to document my experience along the way. I'm mildly mechanically inclined, but always willing to dive into things, but I'm fairly inexperienced with electronic modification (beyond installing a head unit or LED bar); because of that, you can say I'm a wiring noob. I think my experiences might help out others in a similar state of wiring infancy who are also interested in doing a retro fit.

Here are my questions (deferring to those with more experience) before I really get started:

1) I want to retain the Daytime Running Light (DRL) function of my lights, and have them shut off whenever the projector is on (in order to preserve the longevity of the led's). How do I wire that function to be automatic?
Also, is it needed, or will the longevity of the LED not really be shortened by keeping them on as a DRL at any point the truck is on? Would the wiring setup be different?

2) Where are most tapping in for the power source? My LED bar is just tapped to the battery post, but running more wires to that post will start making a mess of the engine bay. Any better solutions that are a reasonable project for a relatively inexperienced auto-electrician?

3) Any tips before getting started that you wish you would have done prior to actually tearing apart your truck? I hope to get this done (but done well) over the course of a half-day on Saturday. I have an insanely busy schedule (full time teacher with a part time job, and husband/father), so I'm hoping to get all the planning done ahead of time so that once the wrench hits the truck, there's limited downtime since most research will be done ahead of time.

If these things have been covered, I'm terribly sorry. I've done considerable research for the past few months, but it has been taking place while a significant amount of academic research and action research has also been taking place. At this point, I'm a bit research fried so I'm trying to consolidate into a single location per subject.

I appreciate the assistance and hope that I can give back through my efforts this Saturday!

 

[wake_rider]

Little evening bump! Anyone have some input? I just got home from my second job and was hoping to get a bit of preparation taken care of tonight. I'm feeling productive...

 

[jpeaslee]

I'm not exactly sure what the answer is to this, but which halos did you go with? I'm running the XSB switchbacks. I hooked them up to turn on with the parking lights and then blink with the turn signals. The lifespan on these led halos is pretty crazy, so I'm not overly concerned with having them on with my headlights.

I know you mentioned tapping your lightbar directly to the battery post, that's fused, right? My positive for the HID controller is run straight to the factory post too, but it is fused. I keep adding stuff, so I'm planning on tidying it up with a Blue Sea fuseblock to keep everything fused and tidy.

 

[wake_rider]

I'm not exactly sure what the answer is to this, but which halos did you go with? I'm running the XSB switchbacks. I hooked them up to turn on with the parking lights and then blink with the turn signals. The lifespan on these led halos is pretty crazy, so I'm not overly concerned with having them on with my headlights.

I know you mentioned tapping your lightbar directly to the battery post, that's fused, right? My positive for the HID controller is run straight to the factory post too, but it is fused. I keep adding stuff, so I'm planning on tidying it up with a Blue Sea fuseblock to keep everything fused and tidy.

Thank you for the reply!

My LED bar I have running through a fuse and a relay, but I might try to look into doing a fuse block. I'm also considering upgrading my speakers and running a small amp to them in the near future, so I might need to look into a fuse block in order to clean up all the wires. Man, the domino effect of modificafions, and of course they have to involve electricity (which I'm seriously spooked about working with). I might try to see if any local auto parts stores carry a fuse block and try to get that done today, prior to wiring in the projectors.

 

[2000se]

This is just me but I feel the extra effort being put into saving the runtime on the LEDS is not worth it. If I'm not mistaken, LEDS can burn for a looming time.

 

[wake_rider]

Brown and white?

Well, this has been far too long of a project. Silly TRS, all of their info for wiring in the solenoid states that the wires are red and black, and MUST be wired correctly for polarity. That's cool and all, but the solenoid wires on my projector setup that they sent are BROWN AND WHITE.

I assume that Brown is positive and white negative, but I'm under a total assumption there.

Little adjustments all over the place are making this a much longer process than I had prepared for.

 

[ua330]

Just test out the polarity using a 9v battery. If it clicks it works if not it's reversed. That's what I did

Good luck!!!

 

[wake_rider]

I'm at a loss. Any ideas?!

This project has been a total pain. :yield:

Everything is up and running, but the aim is horrible. So bad that it cannot be adjusted anymore by the adjusters on the back of the headlight. They are leaning down so much that there is a 3" drop in just 6 feet. Also, both sides are badly slanted to the right, meaning that it consistently rises going from the passenger to the driver's side. In just the width of my truck, there is probably 5" of difference on the wall only 6 feet away.

I drove it around last night and the cutoff on the passengers side slopes so much that it only runs about 70' in front of the truck on the ground. Here's the thing, this Mini H1 setup uses a slotted retainer on the back that forces the projector to sit with a very specific orientation, so I'm not sure how I'm going to adjust where the projector sits inside the housing. All I know is that I DO NOT want to pull these things back apart and do this all over again.

I'm going to try again today to make some adjustments, and might even try to shim behind the headlight with some washers to create more adjustment. If I can get them more closely level and not sloping so much, I'll probably be happy with it. Then I just need to wire the LED's into the trucks wiring and disable DRL's.

This has taken entirely too long.

 

[jstim]

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but did you look at any of the really good how to threads that have been out there before taking this on? [MENTION=65101]BrianSD_42[/MENTION] has a really good how to, and says before you take your headlights off you need to mark them, and get them test fitted, etc. Take a look at his how to, and maybe you can get it right. Good luck man.

 

[BrianSD_42]

They are leaning down so much that there is a 3" drop in just 6 feet. Also, both sides are badly slanted to the right, meaning that it consistently rises going from the passenger to the driver's side.

Did you buy new TYC headlights and use the TYC housings ... OR ... did you reuse your OEM housings and additionally swap the glass?

Several people, including myself have had issues with the TYC plastic coming apart causing the lights (1 or both) to point downward very badly.

 

[wake_rider]

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but did you look at any of the really good how to threads that have been out there before taking this on? [MENTION=65101]BrianSD_42[/MENTION] has a really good how to, and says before you take your headlights off you need to mark them, and get them test fitted, etc. Take a look at his how to, and maybe you can get it right. Good luck man.

I've read through countless "how to's" in reference to the projector projects, but it just kept seeming like the problems I was running into weren't really covered in other people's experiences. The Mini H1 setup doesn't really give any adjustability with the mounting, so I'm a bit at a loss as to why it came out so lopsided.

Did you buy new TYC headlights and use the TYC housings ... OR ... did you reuse your OEM housings and additionally swap the glass?

Several people, including myself have had issues with the TYC plastic coming apart causing the lights (1 or both) to point downward very badly.

I'm using OEM housings that I baked and reused all components. Since I have a 2000, I love the clear glass lens and wanted to maintain OEM quality. I'm going to attempt to pull the headlights and shim with some washers in between the housing and the mounting holes on the radiator support and see if I can't get it closer to aligned so that the adjusters can actually serve for fine tuning.

That said, I have NO idea how I'm going to fix the lean. I might have to pull the headlights and see if I can loosen the nut to get a little bit of twist out of the projector and then retighten everything back up.

This has been frustrating.

 

[BrianSD_42]

if you take it apart then take some pictures of the light housing and post them here.

In particular post pics of the how the adjustable plastic pieces are mounted together to the larger housing.

When you assemble the adjustable plastic piece and mount it to the glass housing it is mounted by 3 points. Two parts that connect metal threads to plastic and a 3rd piece that clips together. I would check those first.

 

[wake_rider]

if you take it apart then take some pictures of the light housing and post them here.

In particular post pics of the how the adjustable plastic pieces are mounted together to the larger housing.

When you assemble the adjustable plastic piece and mount it to the glass housing it is mounted by 3 points. Two parts that connect metal threads to plastic and a 3rd piece that clips together. I would check those first.

Well, I went ahead and pulled my headlights out in order to get rid of the slanting issue and I got it figured out. I will post some pictures when I have a chance so that people can see where it was I was making a mistake. There is a little bit of up and down as well as rotational adjustment that you can make with these h1 mini systems. I just was not being careful enough through my first install, but now that I've seen and fixed the issue, it makes a lot of sense.

Do you know if wiring in the led Panamera shrouds is problematic to run from the DRL wiring? It's my understanding that DRLs run off of half voltage, or 6 volts, so will this be problematic for that led set up? Should I just wire them into the parking lights? It would be a pretty slick setup if I could just wire it directly into the wiring harness coming off the DRL box. I've already unplugged the wiring harness from the DRL box so that its not sending half voltage to my projectors.

 

[wake_rider]

if you take it apart then take some pictures of the light housing and post them here.

In particular post pics of the how the adjustable plastic pieces are mounted together to the larger housing.

When you assemble the adjustable plastic piece and mount it to the glass housing it is mounted by 3 points. Two parts that connect metal threads to plastic and a 3rd piece that clips together. I would check those first.

By the way man, you've been a great help. Thank you!

As soon as the Sun Goes Down I'll be sure to post some cutoff and output shots once I get these things properly aimed. I will also give out some pointers for those who might run into similar issues as me.