[Pony]

I did away with the stock pop up headlight system on my 1974 Corvette and replaced it with a set up that swings the lights down into air ducts that I built into the grille openings. I used 1990 Mitsubishi Eclipse motors and some of the hardware. I have a Haynes manual that covers this model with wiring diagrams, But, it doesn't cover the headlight motor system. It works on the bench but only if I use the ground(black/wh) for the hot and hot ( red/bl) for the ground. Obviously I can't do this in the car. I need to see what i'm doing wrong.

[jrs396]

I had a look at the diagram in your gallery, I am assuming this is the wrong one as that was full of vacuum lines. I don't understand why you can not hook it up in the car as it works on the bench with the wires reversed. perhaps you have a diagram of how it is wired right know that I can have a look at.
Jr

[Pony]

The vacuum diagram in my gallery is for the stock Corvette headlights and was for another member on this board. My problem with the Mitsubishi Eclipse pop up light set up was that I needed a relay that I didn't get from the donor car when I got the rest of the parts. I went to the library and photo copied the wiring diagrams for the pop up lights. Went to the wrecking yard and got the relay. Will wire it in tomorrow. On the bench, without the relay, it would only work if you reversed the positive and negative and that would be a direct short in the car. Am hoping the relay changes all that.

[dollybud]

Pony,
A relay will not change + to - or vise versa. Relays are isolators that keep the power level down to protect high power circuits. It acts as a switch turning power off and on, and will protect and control the switch for your lights by lowering the power to it. It WILL NOT reverse the + and - wires. It may or may not work. Best of luck, and let us know.

[jrs396]

I'm still having trouble seeing how reversing the wiring in the car would create a dead short. The wires do not know they are suppose to be hot or negative. As far as relays go, Dollybud is right in saying they will not reverse polarity, And I think I understand what he's saying about them reducing power but he explained it in a confusing way. The relay it self does not reduce voltage or amps. It is merely a switch as he said. What it does do is allow you to switch higher current circuit's with a lower current circuit to allow for things such as your headlight switch to switch say a 10amp circuit without melting your headlight switch. I agree with him though, I don't think a relay is going to fix it but I would need a drawing to tell you for sure. I wire control panels for a living so if you could post a diagram even if the relay fixes it I would love to see how that worked.
JR

[docvette]

Hi!

Doc here!

New to this forum, But after reading your post, I thought I could possibly help with your problem.

First just about Everything everyone said about Analog relays is correct.
Relays are in fact a switch,
An electronic or Electrical Activated switch.
The nomenclature briefly:

Analog: It is a set of movable contacts:

1)~ Normally Open (NO)

2)~ Normally Closed (NC) and

3)~ Center Wiper (CW) or (CT).

The Contacts are movable by activating an electric Coil Creating a magnetic current against the wiper assembly causing the assembly to pull in the direction of the magnetic field. And will continue to do so until such time as the current to the coil is removed, The Wiper assembly (usually spring loaded in the opposite direction of the coil) will pull away from the stationary Contacts and thus will open the circuit.

All Analog relays, With a few exceptions such as TDR's (time delay relays) which actually time out before turning on or off and are usually programmable in time (R/C=T or C=t) Perform the same functions. To open and close, reroute or Isolate a circuit. The only variables are:

Size and draw of the Coil (Magnet) ,

Operating Voltage of the coil,

Number of and Configuration of Contacts (poles, single pole double throw, 4 pole single throw .. ect..)and

The Contact Rating of the Wiper and stationary Contacts.(The Maximum Voltage and current draw the contact will handle without melting the contact or Arc over to surrounding contacts)

You CAN configure an Analog relay as a motor reverser. It is simple and easy to do. You Need a relay, single throw Double Pole, (looking at the bottom of the relay you will count 8 pins including the coil.)

Put the motor leads Red+ and black- on the center wiper. Makes no difference what side is what right now but make note of it for later.

Lets say the Red is on the left black is on the right.

Go to the "normally closed" side of the relay contacta,
Put your black wire directly in line with the red motor wire.
The other side, red in line with the black motor wire.

This assures that the motor reverses when no power is applied to the coil.
(lights off, door closes)
Next jumper from those contact diagonally across the relay (red right NC, jumped to left normally open) or in an "X" pattern.

It should now look like the following:

red wire Coil +o o ground

CW + red motor o o - black motor CW
NC Bl;ack Ground o o +12 volts NC
NO RED +12 volts o o - black ground NO

When the relay is in the non-energized configuration, (Normally closed with coil off) The motor runs backwards, Because power and ground are backwards.(doors close)
When you energize the coil,(normally Open) the contacts pull and Power goes to the red motor wire, and the motor runs forward. (Doors open)

That's all you need for a reverser. HOWEVER, you didn't mention, and I assume they are already there, since the system already came from a donor car and was working,

There Must be (unless you plan to manually operate the doors) A set of Door limit switches. Up and Down, for each door These Shut off the flow of current to the relay and / or motors when the door has reached it maximum travel. Without them, you'll burn things up or break parts, and / or at the very least, end up with a dead battery each morning. Wiring for those is a bit more tricky.

Hope that helps!
Let me know how it turns out.