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Tribar halogen headlights with built in signal wiring

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7.7K views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  atotalnincompoop  
#1 ·
I have a set of those 7" headlights that have the signal light built into the bottom.
Wiring the headlight portion was not an issue however wiring the signal has me scratching my head.
Can these lights be used as both park and signal lights?
There are 2 wires coming out of the signal portion of the unit, im assuming one is hot and the other is ground.
My new wiring harness has a wire for turn signal and one for park light on each side of vehicle.
I emailed the company that i bought the lights off of, they said to connect both the signal and the park light wires both to the hot wire on the lamp.
Does this sound right? Will the harness know to shut the constant park light off when it needs to flash when signal is started?
Thnx☺
 
#2 ·
no it don't sound right

if u had parking lite on the sig lite is useless. the parking lite wire needs to be wired through the sig sw.. this is so when u do turn sig the on the parking lite source get interrupted.
if u did like they said and no parking lite on.. turn on sig and BOTH parking lites will blink.
 
#5 ·
do u have a turn sig sw ??

if so do u have the wiring diag of it ??? if not do u have the manuf of it ??? this wire needs to go through the sw. so we need more info about the above. now if there is a place on the front/rear where u can put an extra set of lites then use them for sig only.
sometimes using a turn sig sw can be a major pain to do..
 
#6 ·
in looking at the basic wiring diagram... its for the headlights ONLY..

i can see that in this video.. i see a red wire and a black wire..

i could not tell but the black wire looks like its grounded to the headlight socket.. please correct me if i am WRONG..

https://youtu.be/g3h9-4bNxUg

now... what the people may me requesting you to do by hooking the turn signal wiring to both circuits. does not make sense... if you have one grounded..

there is a Trick.. that is used on Side marker lights starting in the mid 70s on GM cars and trucks...

the side marker lights are NOT grounded directly.. and they flash out of phase with the turn signal lamps..

one wire is connected to the parking light circuit and the other wire connected to the turn signal circuit for that side..

when the parking lights are on.. the side marker bulb is grounded thru the turn signal bulb filament.. this gives a constant bulb on for the side marker lights..

when the turn signal light is flashing.. and the parking lights are OFF.. the side marker light is grounded thru the parking light filament.. this gives the side marker lights flashing ability..

when the parking lights are on.. and the turn signal is activated.. the side marker light will flash out of phase... going completely dark when the turn signal light is on.. as there will be no ground connection when the turn signal circuit is powered..

will this work for your front turn and parking lights... i don't know.. there may not be other turn signal bulbs with parking lights up front to supply the ground thru when one side is turned off..


you should be able to do it for the fronts by using a pair of relays for the front turn and park lights.. the relays can be stashed under the dashboard.. i will have to think about this for a while and draw up a relay logic diagram if you are interested... might have to use some resistors..

please inform me of the bulb number in the turn signal position in the tri bar bulbs.. and where the black and the red wire go to.. if the brass shell of the bulb is grounded and it is using a 2 filament bulb... or just a single filament.
 
#7 ·
I have purchased a set of United Pacific lights (w/LED turn signals) for my Coupe, and while I haven't installed them, I just noticed that on their website they give the wiring info:

7" Crystal Headlight w/ 10 Amber LED - Headlight Bulbs - Headlights United Pacific

•LED Portion of the Light for Auxiliary/Utility Purposes
•LED has 3 Wire Hookups, White = Ground, Black = 12V+Function# 1, Red = 12V+Function # 2


hope this helps-
 
#8 ·
here is a ROUGH relay logic diagram is that for a single filament bulb in the bottom of the tribar headlights if you want to have parking lights and turn signal lights both thru the same bulb.. if you have a SINGLE filament bulb in the bottom of the tribar headlights..

you will need to figure out what resistor to use going into both relays on the pin 87A to dim the parking lights. one resistor prior to pin 87A will work.. i don't know how hot that resistor will get.. there are many smarter electrical guys here who will know different ways to make this kind of magic..


you may want to carefully examine the headlight switch you use... many have added a jumper so the parking lights come on with the tail lights.. as you really don't need to operate the front parking lights with the headlights on..

just a thought...
 

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#9 ·
After some thinking on this, i am going to get a couple seperate amber lights that i will mount for the parking lights.
I will use this info from your advice on the next build but for now i am going to take the easy way out:)
All the wiring is nice and neat and the dash has been installed, i dont want to take it all apart again.
Thanks guys:)