S14 Zenki Headlight Q

[fliprayzin240sx]

I know its been a loooooong while since Ive seen it, searched on and off but couldnt find that thread anymore.

But here's the Q, how do you keep the low beam on and not flicker on/off when you switch to high beams? From what I remember, it can be fixed by installing a diode. Just cant remember where in the wiring.

Reason I want/need this done is for HID purposes. Last thing I wanna do is burn out DS2 bulbs quick...

[g6civcx]

This is irrelevant to zenki S14. Disregard.

[fliprayzin240sx]

Hmm...i forgot about that coming from a kouki to a zenki.
My kouki, low beam on, with the fogs on, when i flip the highs, lows stays on but it kills the fogs.
Current Zenki, flip the high with the lows on, it kills the low completely...

The diode thing was for koukis to keep the lows from flickering when it switch over.

[cdlong]

could you just switch to a Kouki combo switch? i want to wire my german glass headlights like that so they both stay on on high.

[murda-c]

When i hit the high beams on my car it keeps the lows on, the low beam bulb is a Hi/lo bulb.

maybe you have the wrong bulb.

[fliprayzin240sx]

When i hit the high beams on my car it keeps the lows on, the low beam bulb is a Hi/lo bulb.

maybe you have the wrong bulb.

Im running OEM Acura HIDs for my lows...

Besides, I was in the impression that the low beams, even tho they are H4 bulbs, does not use the duals on the low beam. Atleast i dont ever remember the low beams staying on when my high beams were on, prior to me retrofitting the HIDs...

[g6civcx]

I've been trying to find a zenki FSM. I thought that zenkis were like S13 but I could be wrong.

[LA_phantom_240]

I've been trying to find a zenki FSM. I thought that zenkis were like S13 but I could be wrong.

My lows stay on when I hit my highs.

You said you're running OEM Acura HIDs... Explain. Did you retrofit a projector? Did you make your own harness? Cause if you did, I can point you to a thread which will show you a schematic of how to make a circuit that won't allow the lows to flicker when switching from low to high.

[g6civcx]

Can you show me the thread?

[murda-c]

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y111/henry517/headlight.jpg

As you can see from the diagram, when the low is switched on, positive current is supplied to the low side of the low bulb only.

When high is on, positive current is supplied to the high bulb, and the high side of the high bulb.

I checked it out on my car, and that means that the middle prong on the headlight plug is hot when the low beams are on, while the other two are grounded.

when the high beams are on, the left side prong is hot, while the middle is grounded, and the right side prong is not used.

[LA_phantom_240]

http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6612

This one is a bit shorter and to the point
http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7857

[g6civcx]

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y111/henry517/headlight.jpg

As you can see from the diagram, when the low is switched on, positive current is supplied to the low side of the low bulb only.

When high is on, positive current is supplied to the high bulb, and the high side of the high bulb.

I checked it out on my car, and that means that the middle prong on the headlight plug is hot when the low beams are on, while the other two are grounded.

when the high beams are on, the left side prong is hot, while the middle is grounded, and the right side prong is not used.


Got pix of the combo switch wiring?

[murda-c]

Got pix of the combo switch wiring?

http://www.media.pa-nissans.com/1995_240SX.rar

you need winrar to open it if you don't have it...everyone should by now tho.

[g6civcx]

Ok I see it. I understand how it works now.

I can do fix it but the way I want to do it probably won't be what you want to do because it's quite involved.

Disregard everything I posted above.


I understand the diode mod but based on how I know the combo light switch works, there will be a momentary flicker when it switches between the low beam and high beam power for the low beam combo bulb.

BTW, these links require a sign in:

http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6612

This one is a bit shorter and to the point
http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7857
Let me think about this for a second.

[LA_phantom_240]

Oh... sorry. Well... Sign up then! Its an awesome place if you're into HID, LED, or even if you just want to upgrade to better halogens.

[g6civcx]

Okay, I've slept on it and this is the best that I can come up.

The problem lies in the light switch. Like said above, the low beam bulb has 2 power wires: one low and one high.

When you toggle the light switch to turn on high beam, there will be a moment when neither wire is getting power because the light switch is moving the contacts from one to the other.

The best solution I've seen so far involves tying both hi and low beam wires together so that the HID will always see current when the low or high beam are activated.

This is an okay solution. The problem is like I said above, there will be a momentary flicker when the switch toggles between the low and high beam contacts, and power will be taken away from the HID for just a moment.

It's acceptable but I'm going to try to do better.


The problem is that there is no easy solution without modifying the combo light switch. I can get the low beam to always draw power without flickering, but there's no clean signal to turn off because as far as the signals coming from the light switch, switching from hi-lo-hi-lo is the same as turning off the headlights altogether.

There isn't a clean signal to tell the headlights to turn off.


The best I've got right now is to tie the headlights in with the ignition. Ignition off = no headlights. Ignition on + low beam = low beam stays on regardless of the light switch position until you turn off the ignition.

Is this acceptable? This is the best I can do if you want to retain the stock light switch.

Perhaps if you can check to see if a kouki light switch swaps in?