Headlight Relays

[mickelson54]

Hello all... I bought my 1970 Opel Gt about 1 month ago..... I'm a big Opel Gt fan and this is my 1st attempt at restoring any type vehicle. The car runs great; however, I'm having headlight issues too. All my marker lights, turn signals, & hazards work fine. The headlights are another story. I've been surching auto parts stores and ebay and all I could come up with was 3 different service manuels that tell me almost nothing about relays, switches, fuses , or wiring. From what little I found, I'm assuming it's the relays or the headlight position switches. I am so glad I found this web site and became a member, I've learned more in the last 20 min. reading about Texas Tom's problems and all the advise everone has given in the community. I'm hoping to get advice on where to start looking for my light issue. I have tried changing the headlights themselves with no avail. I do have a 1973 parts car that may have the relays, switches, or wiring that I may need. The problem is with the 3 manuels now have, there is no pictures, nor does it show the location of where the relays are located. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again, the newest meber of the community, Tim......................... P. S. Tom, could you let me know what kind of relays you used from Radio shack ?

[namba209]

Tim, use the search button and do a search for headlight mechanisms or something similar. Keith Wilford has done an excellant thread on the repair of these and although it doesn't pretain to you soecific problem, there are pics in the thread showing the microswtches that turn the headlights off and on through the relay. Also, you may want to contact J.J. Wheatly of DESTEC engineering and pick up one of his outstanding schematics. Also do a search for headlights in general. There was a thread this month on your problem. Another thing about the headlights, they are not fused and the wiring in the buckets can be deteriorated and short out causing all kinds of problems in the main wiring harness under the hood. Check the condition of those wires, if original, replacment is a must. HTH.

[baronbors]

I really think that the first order of bussiness for any Opel coming to a new owner is to replace the headlight wiring - I wouldn't even trust it if the PO said he just changed the wires recently. We all know that PO's lie

[baronbors]

Originally Posted by mickelson54 P. S. Tom, could you let me know what kind of relays you used from Radio shack ?

They are 12volt Auto relays- no lie, that what they say. Cost about $6-$7 each. Get some slide on connecters and shrink wrap at the same time plus some 10 gauge wire. If you are going to replace the headlight wiring find a marine supply house and get some heavy duty 3 conductor wire- I bought about 25 feet and had some left over.
BTW - Welcome to the wacky world of Opels

[baronbors]

Next project on the lights is to replace the rear lights with LED. Bought one of these NEW / 4" ROUND 32 LED TRUCK TRAILER TAIL LIGHTS Item number: 7991425896 on ebay and with very little modification can be used behind the tail light lens

[asdasc]

A quick update on my Headlight relay issue...
I was out of town for a week, so lost some time. Went to Radio Shack today and bought the only "automotive relay" that they had. I was disappointed to find it was only a SPST, so I pulled the coil wires and plugged them in, then the Brown/Yellow wire that also went to the Hi/Low beam relay went on the switched output. When I pulled the red Battery line, I fused it and plugged it in to the new relay.

When I turned on the key and flipped the headlights, THEY CAME ON!!!!

Since I didn't replace all the outputs, I now have to turn on the running lights manually until I can get more relays. I also do not get the orange lights in the grill or the side marker lights in the rear, so i am looking thru the wiring diagrams now to see if it is because of the relay, or if they just never worked. I thought they had, but might not have ever really checked as I couldn't ride at night anyway!

Lastly, is fusing the red wire the only thing that needed fused to save my lighting from shorts? Or are there other feeds I need to fuse also?

Thanks,
Steve

[fsrowsell]

Hi Guys, I'm about the do the relay conversion on my 71 and I have one quick question which I'm not clear on.... Do you have to remove the microswitchs, when you connect the relays into the lighting system (L/H beam) or just leave them where they are, even if some are not working.... Thanks Felix

[asdasc]

Even if some are not working...

That seems to be the key. I left them in and it works great. All the little things work well, such as the white light in the warning lamps by the turn signal indicators on the dash. If the microswitches aren't working right, you have some choices to make:
- Fix the microswitches first and leave them in (lotsa work, questionable payoff unless you are going to show it)
- bypass the microswitches and go driving tonight!

It is up to you!
Steve

[fsrowsell]

Thanks Steve, whats the best way to by pass the switches? and for the relays itself...did you splice into the white for L/beam and Yellow for H/beam? Thanks Felix

[soybean]

Originally Posted by baronbors Next project on the lights is to replace the rear lights with LED. Bought one of these NEW / 4" ROUND 32 LED TRUCK TRAILER TAIL LIGHTS Item number: 7991425896 on ebay and with very little modification can be used behind the tail light lens

I was re-reading this thread and was curious as to whether you have had a chance to try out the tail lights? If so, how well do they light up? Thanks, Jarrell

[asdasc]

Hi Felix,
My problem was a little different, in that my main headlamp relay coil wasn't pulling in the contacts, so I just unplugged some of the terminals from that relay and plugged them into the new relay, and everything worked!

Jeff has a great schematic to follow if you want to move the relays up front and bypass the little microswitches. It is in post 8 of this thread.

Good luck and let us know how it works out!
Steve

[fsrowsell]

Steve, sorry I have not replyed earlier... I just had knee surgery and was away from the car.... I will be getting back at the car in a couple of days, so in the mean time I came up with a drawing of what I think is where the relays will be connected.... Do you or someone else thing this will work? Thanks Felix please see attached...

[simplemind7]

unless i'm looking at it wrong, the left relay is correct, but the one on the right will always have power going to one of the lights, you should have the right relay feeding switched power to the "power terminal" on the left relay, so one is an on/off relay and the other is a high beam/low beam relay

i'm bored, so i'll draw up a diagram in paint of what i think it right...

[simplemind7]

like this... although the normally open and normally closed (87 and 87a) on relay #1 may be backwards, i'm not sure if the microswitches are positive or negative, this is assuming they send positive

[markandson]

It looks correct to me assuming you have the terminals numbered correctly. The best schematic would be a combination of mine and yours showing the numbers AND the physical contacts of the relay, that way you can tell what it is doing without having any knowledge of the contact numbering system.
In order to get rid of the microswitch in the headlight you would just put a simple on off switch anywhere in reach of the driver and connect it between power and the 86 contact on relay #1.

[namba209]

Jeff, how about the number and color of the wires at the contacts, plus the operation or name of what each contact does. This is a simple diagram of what I used on Willit? for all the peripherals so I don't use the ignition switch to power everything. The colors are what the wires were on the "Bosch" type relays i got. HTH.

[markandson]

Well, I prefer to use the word Coil rather than trigger and common instead of 12V in, but that's just me being too technical.

[simplemind7]

this is the numbering system of the kind of relays i use at work, don't know where we get them, but they're what i'm used to.

85 and 86 are the coil that operates the relay, 30 is the common connection of 87a and 87, 87a is normally closed, and 87 is normally open

[namba209]

It's just semantical terms that were in the pamphlet I got with the relays. But they work just as you've both stated. A small current at 12V operates the coil which actuates the switch inside the relay and allows the high current into contact 30 and out through contact 87. With the coil inoperative, or no flow through the coil, the high current available at 30 will flow through contact 87a. HTH.

[fsrowsell]

Thanks for the helps guys.. just on more quick one... In Brendan's drawing he has the two relays connected from 30 to 87(NO), but Jeff in his drawing on post number 8 shows his relays connected from 30 to 87a(NC). which is correct? Thanks

[simplemind7]

normally open means the lights are normally off, and the switch would activate them

normally closed means the lights are normally on, and the switch would deactivate them

so i think normally open would have the lights on when they are up, and normally closed would have them on when they are down... if you are using the microswitches. if your using a toggle switch inside the car then i guess it doesn't really matter, if you hook the relay up backwards, then just mount the switch upside down

[fsrowsell]

Thanks Brendan, this is what have put together from all the info that I gather here on this thread.... I well also be hooking up an on/off switch for the head lights.... Thanks Felix

[nobody]

This is just an idea, instead of mounting an on off switch somewhere why not put some type of microswitch around the front cable area to turn them on and off? Easy to get to and retains some of the original function and wiring.

[simplemind7]

the way that circuit will work is that when the on/off switch you added is off, the lights will operate as they normally would, when they are up, they turn on, when they are down, they turn off. when your on/ff switch is turned on, they will turn on regardless of what position they are in.

is that what you were trying to do? or did you want it so you can turn it off if they are up? in that case, run the on/off switch in the wire between the microswitch and the relay.

[fsrowsell]

Brendan, I would like to be able to turn the headlights on/off while they are up... So your saying in order for me to that all I need is to install an on/off switch on the yellow/black wire between the microswitch and my relay. and I do not need to run power to that switch... This all good assuming that the microswitch is working correctly. Felix