Dim low beams with H13 connectors

atbxc

atbxc

New Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2017
Messages
16
Location
Tomball, TX, United States
I picked up some headlights from a 2015 JK with H13 bulbs included. The adapter I ordered had the female H13 and female H4 so I couldn’t use it. Guys at 4WheelParts suggested I splice in Dorman H13 connectors, which I did. Problem now is the low beams are really dim. High beams look like low beams should. I switched the red and purple wires to see if it made a difference, but it just reversed he problem. Any ideas? This is on a 2000 TJ Sport. Thanks
 
Voltage at the battery with engine off is 11.74v. Voltage at H13 hot wire is 11.33v. Voltage at Jeep hot wire (splice removed) is 11.24v. Doesn’t seem to be the butt connection. I’ll try a jumper.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Imapepper
Voltage at the battery is actually 12.30v, same as the jumpers. Used the jumper to the H13 harness - same issue. Jumper directly to the bulb - same issue. Must be the bulbs? I don’t want to spend $50 to find out.
 
Thanks. That’s what I thought I ordered. I put it on my Watch list. I’m putting the connections back to normal and will only have low beams for now. I’ll order that pigtail and have to reconnect my factory connectors.
 
  • Like
Reactions: The Real Lxxtsy
Imapepper said:
If you have no change in voltage at battery with engine running versus not you may have alternator issues, battery connection problem. Do/did your old lights work properly?
Click to expand...
Old lights worked fine. I jumped the positive and negative directly from the battery and there was no change. Just replaced the battery cable connectors with soldered connections (planned already) that also made no difference. I’m thinking it could be the bulbs but I don’t want to spend $50 to find out.
 
I ordered the adapters. Will plan to install them this weekend (have to solder old connectors back on). If that doesn't work, I'll just put the old headlights back on. I'll report back either way.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chris
Could be the anti-flicker circuit required for JKs but not needed for TJs was integrated into the headlights you installed instead of being external like is used for aftermarket headlights. Perhaps that anti-flicker circuit is causing the problem.

Edit: Nevermind, I just researched what is in an anti-flicker circuit and determined it's nothing more than an electrolytic (polarized) capacitor wired across the + and - leads leading to the headlight. That capacitor gets rid of the pulses that come from the JK's CANBUS databus circuit that runs the headlights. A capacitor like that wouldn't cause a problem on the pure DC voltage provided on a TJ.
 
Last edited:
UPDATE: Soldered stock TJ connectors back on and used the H13 adapters I ordered from Amazon. JK lights working properly. Note to anyone doing this conversion, cannot splice in H13 connectors directly to TJ wiring. I don’t know why, but it didn’t work for me. Thank you to all who chimes in.
 
  • Like
Reactions: The Real Lxxtsy
Jerry Bransford said:
Could be the anti-flicker circuit required for JKs but not needed for TJs was integrated into the headlights you installed instead of being external like is used for aftermarket headlights. Perhaps that anti-flicker circuit is causing the problem.

Edit: Nevermind, I just researched what is in an anti-flicker circuit and determined it's nothing more than an electrolytic (polarized) capacitor wired across the + and - leads leading to the headlight. That capacitor gets rid of the pulses that come from the JK's CANBUS databus circuit that runs the headlights. A capacitor like that wouldn't cause a problem on the pure DC voltage provided on a TJ.
Click to expand...

Before I remove the canbus from my LED headlights on my 2006 TJ, are you saying that that anti-flicker canbus is not needed on my jeep? My low beams, halos, and halo Amber blinker work great, but after putting on the highbeams there’s an extremely long delay for them to dim back to low beams. I’ve tried changing the canbus, but unfortunately the ones I received were defective. So I put the original ones back on, still having the high to low beam issue.
Thank you
EMSquid
 
Top Bottom
Back