15fingers

what kind of switches are in a sleepy headlight conversion kit ? and how could i make my own? is it worth it to buy a kit or do i get the same results if i make my own?

jefraney

just turn the adjustment ***** under the lights for free!!











I dont know how the kits do it, but the way I would do it is to go to radio shack , by 2 timer ICs and a few other parts, hook them up so you can adjust the timer via a pot. Make 2 of those (just in case one of your lights go up faster then the other), bypass your light motor relay to a 2 way relay (explain later), connect another relay to the first relay (so you dont blow your circuits), set the light height with the pot, and then it works.



Basically, when you turn the headlights on, they will pop up, when you turn them off, it will turn the one relay off (the one I would say I would explain later) and then the timer circuits will kick on and lower your lights to where you set them. Then you could wire in a switch to bypass the whole thing to put your lights back to normal. I will put a circiut diagram up in a little.

jefraney

This will work, not sure how well, I have to go think about it while I go to sleep now.



I will check it out in the morning, but it looks like it should cost about $10-$20 depending on how nice you want it to be and how much you want to safe gaurd it.



Havnt figured out what pot or cap you need, but I am willing to test this out on my car to see if it works.



Also, to make things easier, you can use a LM556 instead of the LM555. The 556 is a dual IC so its 2 LM555s put together.

jefraney

I have a new design now that will work. I think that I will try doing it with one counter, so both lights will be controlled by the same timer, so if one motor is slower than the other, they will not be even, but as I have seen from companies that sell these things, they dont offer the dual setup.



I will let everyone know how it goes.

75 Repu

best way would be to make shorter arms, maybe reindex the arm from the motor.. that way they will function and be that height always.. but if you are keeping the square lamps.. even with HID conversions you will be blocking the larger half of the useable beam pattern..

jefraney

Thats what I did on my old RX when I built a headlight conversion

SilverSeven

[quote name='jefraney' date='Sep 1 2005, 08:39 PM']just turn the adjustment ***** under the lights for free!!

I dont know how the kits do it............I will put a circiut diagram up in a little.


[/quote]

My god that's a lot of work just to look like a drifter.



[quote name='SilverSeven' date='Aug 26 2005, 10:40 AM']I had my FD set-up for a while where I could stop the lights whereever I wanted, yet still have full function when I needed it.



All I did was pull the dash and get the switch that let you put the lights up without them being on. I tested each wire until I found out which one powered the motor's up signal. Cut it, wired in a momentary switch that I mounted down on the hood release cover (just so it would be out of the way). So the lights would work normally when I turned them on, but when I pushed the switch that put them up when off, I could just tap the added momentary switch until they were as high as I wanted. Much better than just pulling the fuse or whatever, and trying to drive with crappy lighting at night.


[/quote]

I don't know for a fact that FCs use the same type of system, but if they do, this will work wonderfully. If they don't, you can just put the momentary switch inline with the regular "up signal" wire, but you would have to hit the momentary switch everytime to raise the lights. Still unless you plan on changing the actual bulb housing/reflector, this is the smart way to do sleepies. There's nothing worse than driving down a lonely desert highway at night with lights pointed four feet in front of your bumper. Trust me.

89 Rag

Buy a new snout and headlight conversion kit or leave the stock config alone.



Any other way makes the car look broken and the owner is too broke or too stupid to fix it.

jefraney

[quote name='SilverSeven' date='Sep 5 2005, 02:04 AM']I don't know for a fact that FCs use the same type of system, but if they do, this will work wonderfully. If they don't, you can just put the momentary switch inline with the regular "up signal" wire, but you would have to hit the momentary switch everytime to raise the lights. Still unless you plan on changing the actual bulb housing/reflector, this is the smart way to do sleepies. There's nothing worse than driving down a lonely desert highway at night with lights pointed four feet in front of your bumper. Trust me.


[/quote]



Thats a good idea. A little easier than building my circuit. If that works, that would be easy.

75 Repu

[quote name='SilverSeven' date='Sep 4 2005, 11:04 PM']There's nothing worse than driving down a lonely desert highway at night with lights pointed four feet in front of your bumper. Trust me.


[/quote]



the thing about the fc lights is that they never angle downward, they stay pointing straight forward throughout their travel, the problem with using sleepylights with the stock headlights is that you cover the bottom half of the h6054 because it is behind the bumber, but the top half that shines throughs still points forward.. still not enough lighting though..