Better lighting for the Cruze

sciphi · Nov 10, 2011

Problem:

The H13 connectors and plugs aren't physically big enough for 10-gauge wire. No matter how I slice/dice matters, it's just not spaced out enough to allow for that big of wire. So, time to locate some 14-gauge wire. The connectors and plugs will fit that!

Now, the good news is that the Fit's H4 headlights can fit 10-gauge wire. So it won't go to waste.

sciphi · Nov 13, 2011

I installed the foglights today. They still need aiming. Initial impressions are that they won't do much for side lighting, but will work just fine where a true foglight is called for. Strangely, the regular headlights appeared to be brighter after installing the fogs.

I'm also slowly working on the harness. Being a perfectionist as usual, it's taking a while. I had to go to 14-gauge wire on the power wires to fit them into the H13 headlight pins. 18-gauge fits much better yet. If I had to re-do it, I'd do thinner-gauge wire and making the runs as short as possible.

Klutch9 · Nov 14, 2011

Using smaller gauge wire for short sections won't do you any harm. Resistance (as one member on this board said... not sure who, but I give them the credit) is a "by-the-foot" matter. Since 99% of your wires are still thick gauge, you'll be just fine!

Glad to hear the fog lights work well. I may just have to bite the bullet on factory fogs for my Focus. I've been looking at other Foci with fog lights, and they do a decent job.

sciphi · Nov 14, 2011

I lined up the fogs tonight, and the passenger's side is wildly out of aim. The driver's side is aimed well, but the passenger side needs to come up.

Neat feature: The fogs can be run independently of the headlights! So if there's ever a pea-soup fog, I can creep along at 20 mph with only fogs and running lights on.

Smokescreen · Nov 14, 2011

You might want to check local laws on that operation of fogs only, in many states it is illegal.

ffhdriver · Nov 15, 2011

And with fogs only you would have NO tail lights?

sciphi · Nov 16, 2011

Originally Posted By: ffhdriver
And with fogs only you would have NO tail lights?

Originally Posted By: sciphi

Neat feature: The fogs can be run independently of the headlights! So if there's ever a pea-soup fog, I can creep along at 20 mph with only fogs and running lights on.

Running lights includes taillights. When running with only the fogs providing forward illumination, every other exterior light on the car that would normally be on is on. Except the main headlights.

It does need a special procedure to enable fog+running lights mode. Not something the typical Cruze driver would do.

Hokiefyd · Nov 18, 2011

Originally Posted By: sciphi
Strangely, the regular headlights appeared to be brighter after installing the fogs.

This is true of our MDX also. It has H11 projectors for low beams and 9006 multi-reflector housings for fog lamps. I have Xtravision bulbs in all four places and lighting is fantastic. I have the fog lamps aimed just high enough to slightly overlap with the flat lower cutoff of the projectors so that there's a completely uniform field of light in front of the vehicle.

sciphi · Nov 18, 2011

I tested the harness tonight. It works like a charm! The headlights were noticeably brighter. It also worked seamlessly. No bulb-out warnings, it toggled between low/high beams without issue, and was overall much brighter than stock wiring. I have to switch two pins to make the low beams come on with the low beams, but aside from that, the harness works fantastically!

HTSS_TR · Nov 19, 2011

Do you use relays along with thicker wires and harness ?

sciphi · Nov 19, 2011

Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
Do you use relays along with thicker wires and harness ?

Yep. 2 Tyco Electronics SPDT relays built to Bosch specifications. One for low beams, one for high beams. Using relays is the only way to make the harness successfully work.

I'll get some shots in a different thread. Likely tomorrow night when I'm aiming the lights, again.

sciphi · Nov 20, 2011

Running into problems with the DRL and the low beams. The DRL run the low beams at reduced power. I have another DRL module that's being added, so I don't need the low-beam DRL. They are making the low-beam relay buzz, which is bad for the relay. Fortunately they can be turned off manually. It is a pain in the neck, and not something I'd like to do every time I'm in the car. Time to find another wiring solution. Modern cars are so much fun to work with!

Klutch9 · Nov 21, 2011

Glad to hear the harness made a difference. I hope you can figure out the bugs. I've come to the conclusion, after driving with my harness for some time now, that it really did make a difference. Not only in brightness, but in whiteness. The only problem is the housings themselves; they just don't have the best beam pattern. But every car I own from here on out will have a harness.

sciphi · Nov 21, 2011

Agreed, the beam is far whiter than regular bulbs.

After searching around, it looks like I need a capacitor across the trigger pins to smooth out the PWM signal. Either that, or find another wire to tap into for headlights on. I'll try the capacitor first.

sciphi · Dec 4, 2011

I got around to installing a 470 microfarad capacitor across the low beam relay trigger pins. It works! The low beams come on at full intensity as the DRL! And, the relay is quiet! Well, for now. We'll see how long the capacitor lasts. The capacitor size was a guess.

For right now, it's operating seamlessly. The low beams come on as the DRL, and stay on when the headlights are triggered. High beams should be unaffected, as they're on a separate circuit in the relay harness.

sciphi · Dec 4, 2011

Beam shots:

Headlight color:

Low beams. The neighbor's cars are about 60 feet away:

High beams:

The driveway tilts down there, so the car's nose is tilted up. I've checked the beams against a flat wall, they're fine for cutoff.

Klutch9 · Dec 5, 2011

That beam looks pretty nice (much better than my car). Nice gauge cluster BTW

cchase · Dec 5, 2011

Nice cutoff on the lows. Very even light, too.

Klutch9 · Dec 5, 2011

I've been impressed with the quality of the beam and cutoff on some modern reflector housings - namely the Cruze and the Malibu.

91344George · Dec 5, 2011

Originally Posted By: Klutch9
I've been impressed with the quality of the beam and cutoff on some modern reflector housings - namely the Cruze and the Malibu.

What you have in your Cruze is called a "modified" e code lamp.
It basically retains most of the good things about the exact spec European e code, but is modified just a bit to meet a couple of other DOT specifications.

OP BTW do you have the integrated parking lamps in your headlamp reflector? I believe the ROW cars have this.

Better lighting for the Cruze

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