Alfonso Calabia aibar
Club Member
Yes sir. I hate the kits that put the relays in the engine bay - without a proper sealed and dampened box (as you have in modern cars), you end up with vibration fatigue, dirt, corrosion and eventual unreliability. IMHO of course.
The best place for them I feel is by the blower motor under the dash on the passenger side.
The kits also take the trigger signal from one side of the lighting connector loom under the bonnet. IMHO again, if you take it from just below the switch / steering column, you have instantly relayed all the lights including tail, dash etc lights too.
Finally, the wiring in the car has two circuits / fuses for each side of headlights. This is so that if one side blows you don’t lose both headlights. With the kits you will lose both sides at the same time. My recommendation would be to use two fused relays, taking an input signal from the stalk and power directly from the battery (fused at the battery of course) and run fresh new wiring directly to the headlights, by passing 40+ year old wiring.
https://www.12voltplanet.co.uk/make...tacts-12-volt-30-amp-integral-blade-fuse.html
AES have everything you need at reasonable prices:
https://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/mobile/product/1010/category/7
Finally, slightly controversial for some, I have replaced my headlight bulbs with LED ones and will never go back to halogen. They use 1/3 of the current reducing load on the alternator, fit the normal headlight housing and lenses and I see EVERYTHING at night. I would also say I have a much better light than out of my Q5 with halogen H7s.
Sure they look whiter than classic headlights “should” look, but I’m into safety and function over style ; being able to see the road ahead for me is worth a lot
Thanks for al the info, Alik!
Questions...
1. is there a good positive connection to use? Or I should wire it from the battery to the relays?
2. did you put 1 relay per side per switch position? 4 relays? Or you didn't bother with the position lights?
3. Is it worth doing it also for the high beams and the indicators?
Thanks again!