Wiring in new headlights

[Thud]

I bought a set of cheap Ebay headlights to replace my stock ones which were flaking badly. It looks like a straightforward job to swap them but I have a question about wiring side lights (US call them city lights). It\'s obvious where the main bulb connects to but where do I need to wire the city light  to? You can see the black and red wires coming from the side lights bulb in the picture below.

Any ideas? Thanks

[Thud]

Actually - I\'ve decided to give these new side lights a miss and stick with the standard side lights. The ones which came with these headlights are blue and I prefer to keep the car looking original  (yes. I\'m a boring git - but hey, someone needs to protect our heritage!).

[Thud]

Done - 60min job and looks great. Should have been 30 mins job but a 16 year old screw decided it had had enough of life. Don\'t you hate it when that happens?

I will get a local garage to check the alignment the ribbing looks slightly different so I hope it does not cause any MOT grief....

If anyone is interested I used these guys as they were WAY cheaper than other vendors when it came to shipping charges to the UK :

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=8051152360&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT

£35 all in - bargain!   :WaveBye

[g.miller]

yep
i agree the blue halo bit looks naff, so i just tapped the wires to the back of the lights. shame that the blue halo bulbs cannot be changed to white.
ps don,t ask Mazda for a price on the eight 4mm retaining screws they quoted me over £12, bought 10 for 25p from the hardware shop.
Grant

[Prof]

I had a similar set on my FC - but the lights have no beam pattern so they failed the MOT on that.  You may want to keep the old lights handy for a quick swap so it passes.   :Giggle

BTW - I wired the blue lights to the dim dim relay, and disconnected the resistor - that way the blue bulbs are only lit when you have side lights and engine running.

Trouble is they are quite blue and I attracted way to much attention from other motorists.

I\'ve since gone back to the old lenses, but a less rusty set, and I use a HID replacement - it\'s a HID and a Halogen for high beam.  An ultrabright White LED gives the \'city light\', and the colur of all three \'bulbs\' is 6000K, so the light colour looks the same regardless of what lights are on. :cool

[g.miller]

hi Prof
do you know if it is possible to use side lights with the engine running but the main lights in the down position?
glad to seee i\'m not the only one who cannot sleep!
Grant

[Thud]

I had a similar set on my FC - but the lights have no beam pattern so they failed the MOT on that.  You may want to keep the old lights handy for a quick swap so it passes.   :Giggle

I hear what you are saying - the headlights I have installed have a smooth glass surface (whereas stock ones are patterned). My new ones do however have a pattern on the sliver reflective surface instead. Only problem is that because they are Yank lights the pattern does not seem right. On UK lights a portion of the beam is directed up and left to see road signs - mine are now the opposite (up and right). The MOT could be interesting.......as you suggest I will hang on to the old lights just in case.

[Prof]

hi Prof
do you know if it is possible to use side lights with the engine running but the main lights in the down position?
glad to seee i\'m not the only one who cannot sleep!
Grant

Grant - I think you can - but you need to disable the dip-dim relay.  From what I could work out there are actually 2 relays.  One is behind the glove box - mine was grey and full of diodes.  The other one is in the front row with the other relays.  The one in the front just feeds the headlights through the big resistor thingy that\'s under the air filter box (if you still have that in place    ).  If you unplug this resistor, then the headlights no longer come on in the sidelight setting with engine running.  However, the headlights still pop up, and I think the feed for this and the dip-dim relay come from the relay inside the car.

My pdf is for the US cars, as is the Haynes guide, and they don\'t have the dip-dim circuit.  I used the wife\'s Rover Haynes guide to see how they did it, and found similar circuit for the RX.  Best way to find the front dip-dim relay for me was to use a multimeter and check from the dip-dim resistor back to the relays, but unplugging each relay in turn will also find it.

On UK lights a portion of the beam is directed up and left to see road signs - mine are now the opposite (up and right).

I had that same pattern - although they do give out a lot more light - shame about the MOT blokes - suppose they have to check these things, but the standard lights are a \'bag o\' ****e\' as far as light output is concerned.  :rolleyes:

[g.miller]

thanks for the info Prof
I think the control for the head lights to pop up is behind the round headlight switch. when i have the side lights one with the ign. off and then turn the ing. key to on, their sounds like  a relay clicking behind the switch, if i can find the feed that makes the lights pop up i think i should be able to swap the feed [for the lights to pop up] on to the main beam switch. i will have a look at the weekend. it sould look cool with the side lights on and the other lights showing through the flash to pass ports.
Grant.

just for your info thud, i changed my headlights over [mine have the shinny centre cover over the H7 bulbs and passed MOT with only very minor lineing up

[Prof]

True enough the relay (and switch) that feed the motor retractor relay are in the light switch unit, but this relay is also fed from an input from another relay that is only present on the european models - this basically selects a dimmed main headlight when you have side lights position on, and the ignition switch is turned on.  This is the dip-dim control relay, which lives up behind the glove box.  This means you will hear a ticking from the switch when you operate the ignition switch and have sidelights selected.

If you pull the dip-dim unit off, the lights should stay down regardless of ignition switch position if only sidelights are selected.  I have yet to figure out what wire colour this is on the back of the light switch.  :3Confused

I plan to fit an overide switch so that the lights can be operated in the down position and hence only visible through the FTP lenses.  

Just out of interest, did your lights have the small blue bulbs to one side or underneath the main bulb ?

[g.miller]

thanks for all the info
i had no idea there is a relay behind the glove box

just a thought if i disconnect the pop up function from the main head lights maybe i could just use the manual pop up switch [as you sugested]

on the headlight front my lights had the blue halo surround. similar to the ones below

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/88-97-MAZDA-RX7-HALO-HEADLIGHTS-7X6S-89-90-91-92-94-96_W0QQitemZ8056505667QQcategoryZ33710QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Skifledanabit]

Is there any more info on the wire or relay that keeps the lights down when they\'re on?

[pdtaylor18]

behind the glove box mate, the relay is quite large and has written on it its a \'dim headlight relay\'