how do I wire hi beam low beam for my projectors ?

[Harley818]

I'v been driving with projector lenses installed into the Camry front lights for a couple years now.
They work great for daytime running lights, and for normal night driving, however, I never did get the high beam to work correctly with the projector cut off.

Right now I have projectors wired with the Retrofit ballasts for low beam and DRL. I shim adjusted the bulb mounting inside the Camry housings to be at the correct height for regular driving.
When I use the Subaru high beam, my highs come on, but I would rather use the switch to power the high end cut-off for the projectors so they let out all the projected light.

However, the Subaru high beam wiring seems to have two power wires, and one goes OFF when the high beams are selected.
What I really want is for the +12 to torun on the cutoff thus moving the cutoff on the projector light higher.......
What is the best way to modify this circuit?

Thanks guys..... one of the last things thats been nagging at me to get right.

[STiPWRD]

I ran into this similar issue with the new front end projectors - I believe I ended up just wiring the hi-beam switch to trigger the cut-off flap. The amount of light coming from the bulbs remains the same, they just illuminate higher up with the flap lifted.

I measured the voltage at the headlight pins at each position on the lighting switch to help figure out which wire would trigger the flap when turning on hi-beams.

[Harley818]

Thanks STIPWRD.
I have tried your solution.
I tried that last night before I posted and what I found is that on low beam, both high beam pins are +12V,
Then, when the high beam switch is activated, one of the two pins goes to zero.
So I'm not sure how to utilize that to activate the flap which needs 0v to switch to +12v

[STiPWRD]

I just checked my wiring binder and I'm pretty sure I tossed out my notes about how I wired those projectors. But looking at the OEM diagram, there is fused power going into each head light (RH/LH) and each bulb element (hi/low) gets grounded when turning the lighting switch. I somehow made this work without really any modification to the wiring. I'd take a peek at the wiring but I just lowered the 818 off the jack stands this past weekend. Sorry I can't be much help at the moment.

127411

One thing I would add is to measure voltage across each combination of pins at each position of the lighting switch. For example, if looking at the RH headlight connector (F7), measure voltage from pins 1-2, 1-3, and 2-3. You'll end up with a table of those 3 measurements at the switch in the off position, parking light position, low beam position & high beam position. That's basically what I did to figure out which circuit closes on hi.

[Harley818]

I followed your suggestion and measured the voltage across each combination.

Comb. Low. High
1-2 - 1.8V. 12 v
1-3 - 11.8V. 0V
2-3 - 10V. 12V

So it looks like combination 1-2 would give me a high when going to High Beams.
The problem is that the projectors are connected to the Low Beam source..... so they shut off when I switch to High Beams - but now the cutoff is activated up.......

I think the only solution with the projectors wired to Low Beam is to rewire the fog lights to activate the cutoff while in low beam.
Unless someone has a better suggestion?

[STiPWRD]

Why not run the projector bulb off of pins 2-3 and the cutoff off pins 1-2? Low beams will stay on during Low and High, flap lifts on high only. Pin 2 is the common fused power.

[Harley818]

Thanks STiPWRD.

I should have thought about going back to basics. All along I thought that taking the source for the projector input had to come from the Subaru Low Beam connector (as per their install diagrams) ....... but your suggestion to take it directly from the combination makes more sense.
I'm sure that will work.
I'll give it a shot and let you know how it works.

In the meantime, I have my Halo's with switchback turn signals working for the first time as well.....
After 3 years of driving, I'm finally getting to the small details, and just finished the interior as well.
127445

[STiPWRD]

That interior is looking great, I actually copied you on the center console!
127454

[Harley818]

Still couldn't get the H/L beams to work with the projectors.
When I hooked it to 2-3 combination, the projectors still shut off when I activated High beam.
Subaru must shut off power to the Low circuit when in High beam mode, and for some reason, I can't get it to work .....
I'll try again tomorrow...

[Ajzride]

I didn't use the Subaru harness, so i'm not sure how it works, but 99% of cars from 2006 would not have power to the high beam and low beam at the same time. If that is what you need to happen, I would suggest a jumper from the high beam to the low beam with a diode in the jumper. Place the jumper somewhere before the relays, like near the light switch or even at the relay panel. This will make the high beam signal active both sets of lights, but keep the low beams from activating the high beams. Should take about 10 minutes to make up a jumper with a diode.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

In 02-07 Subaru's there are 3 wires going to each headlight.
I am not going to give you colors or pin numbers because this varies by year and model.

First wire. There is a wire from the engine fuse box. This wire becomes hot when the ignition is turned on.
Second wire. This wire goes to ground when the Low beam or DRL is requested.
Third wire. This wire goes to ground when the high beam is requested.

As a side note. The hot wires coming from the fuse box are individually fused right and left.

The reason for the confusion on Subaru headlights has to do with switching the ground to turn things on. Normally thing are turned on by switching the hot power side.


To get both headlight to come on when you go to high beam. You need to put a diode across the 2 wires (high |< low)
The fuse is 15a per side. I don't know if you will run into problems running both high and low beams at the same time.

Bob

[Harley818]

Thanks Bob.
I only have the projectors in the front, no separate high beam lights. When I go to high it will just activate the cutoff so there won't be an appreciable increase in power required, but since the projectors are powered off the low circuit, I need those to stay on.
Sounds like the diode is the way to go.

[metros]

Hello All,
Been quite a while since I've posted. It seems I'm having the same issue described here. FYI - I have an iWire harness and adapter harness for new front end (headlights). Harley - did you ever install the diode as described and did it correct the problem?

Lights off - both daytime running lights are operational.

Lights on -
-Driver side light works, no discernible difference between hi/lo beams.
-Passenger light off - no difference hi vs lo or using the stalk to flash the lights.

I actually just installed LED lights because I originally thought there may have been one filament that failed or something along those lines. Lights are brighter, but no functional difference.

[Harley818]

Hi metros.
No I haven't tried the diode yet. been too busy with other things.