I'm looking to improve the 4 x 5 3/4" headlight setup on my '70 Challenger. It has parts store halogen replacements now (35 watts?) on a re-pop factory harness. They work but are not the best. With the upgrade I'll be adding relays.

There are lots of options out there for the lights (Amazon, E Bay, JC Whitney ect). What has worked well? I'm not looking for special effects like different colors... just more usable light.

Thanks!

The factory harness is the first and biggest hurdle to headlight performance.

Get a set of E code lows at least, they throw the light where you need it, not all over the place like a DOT spec light.

Been looking for a way to improve my headlights as well, but I HATE the bright white blinding light headlights that lots of people put on there hondas and nissans etc etc. Gives me a headache when I pass them on the road.

Best place?

Daniel Stern Lighting, he knows his lights and will patiently answer your questions. He will not sell you the latest "oh shiny!" fad of the moment junk either. He set me up with E codes for my Diplomat years ago.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/home.html

That looks like good stuff. Thanks. Did you have to modify your light buckets to fit the better lights?

Not that I recall, but they were the 4 small rectangular lights. I do recall that the wiring pinout was different, IOW, you cannot simply plug the stock headlight wiring harness in and have it work properly. Dan sells a headlight harness with relays to upgrade and fix the supply issues.

On a two headlight (combined hi/lo) the H4s plug right in. On your Chally, I'm not so sure, but Dan will know. There had been some issue with availability of replacement housings for the 4 lamp systems - that may be resolved now.

It will be worth considering installing a relay for the high and another for the low beam lamps instead of drawing power all the way through the dash. On the A-bodies this is almost a requirement because the wires from the dimmer switch are only like 16gage IIRC. You'll see in the FSM diagrams that the other models got slightly heavier headlight wires and IIRC the 20 amp breaker in the headlight switch. The H4s will draw the same current as stock but are more sensitive to low-voltage.

I build headlight relay kits.

If the headlights are std style h4 plugs, it's not an issue doing a 4 headlight car. I've built a bunch of them. Recently sent 3 kits to Australia and New Zealand.

IMO, Wire sizing across all lines considering run length is inadequate. Plenty of benefits to a relay kit beyond light

Pinouts for various headlights

http://www.explorerforum.com/photopost/data//500/dualfilamentbulbpinouts.jpg

Bought a set of 4 Hellas (rectangular), and the low beams came with the reversed wiring plug adapters. Use the original wiring to fire the relays, and wire the relays to the battery (or alternator stud) with a circuit breaker. On my '84 gmc, it picked up 1.6 volts, my '79 Dodge van only gained 1.1 volts. Made a big difference.

You may find that the relays alone, wired to supply from the alternator will be sufficient to meet your needs. Since you are planning to do this part anyway, why not do it in stages, relays 1st, then custom solution lights if needed.
Prior to stating this, check the voltage at the headlights 1st and record it. Light output falls off DRAMATICALLY with lower voltage.

Relays, which he is already planning on doing, will not provide much "more usable light". They will simply help insure the lamps get sufficient voltage and current to operate at their best. They will also take a big load off of the rest of the wiring.

The problem with the ole sealed beam, whether incandecent or halogen, is twofold. They are not terribly efficient and second the lamps throw too much of their light in the wrong places. The halogen versions are a bit more efficient, and some brands do a slightly better job in getting the light on the road. The various halogen bulbs (such as the H4) are far more efficient in terms of converting electricity to light. Dan Stern has a chart of the lumens on his website.

The H4 lamps made by companies like Cibie and Hella put the light onto the road because of the reflector and lens designs. They could do this years ago because of Euro and UK lighting standards.* In more recent years Hella has made a US DOT compliant version of the lamps. I've used them, as well as regular Hella's H4s (which were not DOT compliant except for motorcycles) and the DOT version had slightly less jump in hieght between the high and low beams. The Cibie H4s seem to be just as good or better in tems of hi/low placement. However they are in my Jeep which sits a little higher than my Barracuda, so not a perfect comparison.

A few years ago I had the uh opportunity to use a truck that still had sealed beam headlamps (US gummyment contract pennypinching I suppose). I had forgotten just how bad they were. As soon as I had a chance I donated the Jeep's old halogen sealed beams. Not great, but a heck of lot better.

*As early as 1967, Chrysler engineer Scott Harvey was promoting H4s for rallying. "Several makes of European headlights have a very flat, top cut-off on both beams. These lights are as good in snow or fog as any fog lights I have used. Also they have a relatively low current-draw, so their bulbs have quite a long life. They are not sealed beam, so they continue to function even if the lens is cracked." "Scott Harvey and Rally Preparation" in Sports Car Graphic (May 1967) p. 70

Direct copy from Daniel Stearn's website >>
WHY USE RELAYS?

Power for the headlights is controlled by a switch on the dash. This is *not* a great place to tap into the system, for two reasons: The headlamp switch uses tiny, high-resistance contacts to complete circuits, and the wire lengths required to run from the battery to the dashboard and all the way out to the headlamps creates excessive resistive voltage drop, especially with the thin wires used in most factory installations.

In many cases, the thin factory wires are inadequate even for the stock headlamp equipment. Headlamp bulb light output is severely compromised with decreased voltage. The drop in light output is not linear, it is exponential with the power 3.4. For example, let's consider a 9006 low beam bulb rated 1000 lumens at 12.8 Volts and plug in different voltages:

10.5V : 510 lumens
11.0V : 597 lumens
11.5V : 695 lumens
12.0V : 803 lumens
12.5V : 923 lumens
12.8V : 1000 lumens ;Rated output voltage
13.0V : 1054 lumens
13.5V : 1198 lumens.
14.0V : 1356 lumens ;Rated life voltage
14.5V : 1528 lumens

edit: The 12.8v at the bulb(a common scenario with old stock wiring) upgraded with relays and heavier wiring could likely reach the 14.0v level at the bulb if driven directly from the alternator. This is a a 35.6% increase in RATED LIGHT OUTPUT which is usable light. I think you'll feel the difference with 1/3 MORE LIGHT. Relays alone will do wonders. Halogen on top is icing on the cake.

An example like using a specific halogen light so you can see how much more you get would be interesting

exactly