Headlight Wiring Upgrade

[Gaz64]

Originally Posted by patrickt

Yes, LEDs draw less current. For instance this nice headlight Complex Reflector, 7" Round LED, 2 Diodes Headlight, Polycarbonate Lens, E-Coat Aluminum, 12-24V | Truck-Lite only draws 3 amps, which is roughly half of what we're used to seeing. Now I have the LED brake/tail lights, and the brake lights run on a different circuit than the Lucas toggle switch anyway. But my two LED tail lights in the back, and the two running lights in the front, all pull down 2.8 amps including whatever resistance happens to be on the circuit as well. So if you went with LED headlights, which will eat up about six amps, plus two and a half for the LED running/tail lights, you're still crowding ten amps for the circuit, but it's certainly less than normal headlights and tail lights. A decent switch can handle that current pretty easily, but anything that even looks like an authentic Lucas piece of equipment is suspect.

Yes, that's it.

Any vehicle that hard wires headlight current from the battery to the cabin switch WITHOUT relays is asking for trouble.

One of mine eventually burnt the headlight switch, 30 mph at night, gave me time, thank god it was not a 60mph on an unlit road.

Gary