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Sambar headlight bulbs

Discussion in 'Subaru Sambar' started by Vannie, Jun 5, 2019.

  1. Vannie

    Vannie New Member

    im sorry if this is mentioned elsewhere but i cannot locate
    are the headlight lamps H4 fitment as i wish to upgrade mine to low consumption LED alternatives

    mines a 1998 model and hopefully not been modded but who knows ?
     
  2. Ohkei Dohkei

    Ohkei Dohkei Active Member

    If you convert to LED's it probably won't be plug and play. Be prepared to rewire as I believe they are different from American wired headlights. I saw this on Motocheez's channel..
     
  3. Jigs-n-fixtures

    Jigs-n-fixtures Well-Known Member

    Some Japanese manufacturers, use a ground switched scheme for the lights. And, the rest of the world uses a positive lead switched scheme.

    On standard old H4 headlights, there are three terminals: one for ground; and two switched hots, for the high and low beam. The Japanese scheme runs one hot connected to what would normally be the ground, and switches the ground leads, (connected to what is normally the hots terminals) to control which element is on. An incandescent bulb doesnt care which way the current runs, the element gets hot and glows.

    Diodes only allow current to flow in one direction. Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), are diodes, and only work with the current running one way. So, if you install LED headlights in a vehicle which is ground switched (most Japanese vehicles), they don’t work. You need to reverse the polarity of the lights.

    If you have the old style H4 three prong headlights like my 94 Hijet, your easiest solution is to by a conversion relay kit, which is what MotoCheez, did for his conversion on his Hijet. They are available on Amazon, eBay, and some auto parts stores. Search for “H4 headlight relay kit”

    If you have newer headlights which have the separate bulbs, you need to test the wiring with a meter to determine which is the hot lead, and which is the ground. Then if necessary you can remove the terminals from the plastic holder, (you may need a special tools for this), and set the wiring up so the current runs the correct way through the bulb.
     
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  4. Vannie

    Vannie New Member

    great informative reply, many thanks
    i’ll attempt a direct swap first and see

    i had a jap import previously so hopefully as easy as that one was
     
  5. rkrenicki

    rkrenicki Active Member

    I can say for sure that Subaru does use switched grounds. I had to set up a pair of relays per headlight to convert the polarity for my Morimoto Sealed7 LED ver 1.0 headlights..

    That said.. I believe that the newer brand name LED headlights have a built in bridge rectifier in them to work with either switched hots or switched grounds. My understanding is that the ver 2.0 of my headlights would have been plug-and-play.. but they were quite a bit more expensive since the ver 1.0s were on clearance.
     
    Last edited: Jun 10, 2019
  6. Jigs-n-fixtures

    Jigs-n-fixtures Well-Known Member

    I’m not sure how adding a rectifier on a DC line would somehow make the polarity magically reverse.

    I’ll talk to an electrical engineer buddy tomorrow, and see what he says.
     
  7. rkrenicki

    rkrenicki Active Member

    I said a bridge rectifier. They are intended to convert AC to DC.. but it could be used to convert an unknown polarity DC to a known polarity DC.. The only real drawback would be the 0.6v loss on each side.. but LEDs are so efficient that they probably have no problem running at 12.4v instead of 13.8v.
     
  8. Vannie

    Vannie New Member

    My H4 LEDs arrived and just installed
    it was indeed just plug and plug. very Happy with result and these LEDs have a built in heat sink with a working Fan!
     
  9. Ohkei Dohkei

    Ohkei Dohkei Active Member

    That's Great! Post up the info on them. I'm interested!
     
  10. Maximal

    Maximal Active Member

    all my vehicles are converted to LED headlights, its all direct plug n go. Sambar the only thing that kinda sucks is you have to cram the extra connector under the plastic cover for the bulb, otherwise quick install

    [​IMG]
     
    cmoore likes this.
  11. Vannie

    Vannie New Member

  12. Ohkei Dohkei

    Ohkei Dohkei Active Member

    Well I just checked mine since I noticed I have a low beam out, and the wiring is pretty bizzare. with the lights off, I have 12v positive on all 3 wires to ground. when I switch on the lights, I have power to two wires and when I turn on the brights, I have power to two (but not the same two) wires. I just don't have confidence that it will plug and play on mine.
     
  13. Ohkei Dohkei

    Ohkei Dohkei Active Member

    Maximal, those look great. Do you remember which ones you bought? Are they specially designed for JDM wiring?
     
  14. Kody902

    Kody902 Member

    I'd like to know this too whether I can just buy the onew you did and put them in Maximal?
     
  15. Maximal

    Maximal Active Member

    Just basic LED plug n play like in the link, if I recall the only issues I had were the plastic covers for the headlamp bulbs either didn't fully seat because of the size of the heatsink on the bulbs or I just completely left them off, the bulbs were also quite bright, my trucks out of commission but when I get it back on the road I'm going to see if you can aim the headlights on these, they're aimed a bit high stock

    They're just plain H4 bulbs, same as many older North American Vehicles use. No such thing as a JDM plugin, my North American 1979 Toyota Supra uses these bulbs, same as my JDM Toyota crown and my Sambar

    https://www.amazon.ca/Aukee-headlig...82&keywords=h4+led+bulb&qid=1574575870&sr=8-3
     
  16. Reese Allen

    Reese Allen Member

    Resurrecting/hijacking this thread.

    My goal is to set up my lights so that they can only come on when the key is in the ignition.

    I found the same thing you did, Ohkei, as far as voltage measured at the three wires. I'm trying to make sure I'm understanding this right. Since this is a switched-ground system, it selects whether to energize the lo-beam or hi-beam circuit by grounding one or other. Only the wire that's confusingly labeled "ground" is directly connected back to 12 V from the battery -- presumably this was originally designed to go into a positive-switched system, and incandescent bulbs don't care about polarity, so they can be used in either type of system. When the lights are off, you see 12 V at all three wires because neither circuit is complete - neither the "pass" nor "drive" wire is grounded - and so you get 12 V on both sides of each circuit. The 12 V is coming through the bulbs but the bulbs don't light up because there's no current flowing. Turning on lo-beams grounds the "pass" wire, causing current to flow through the lo-beam circuit, and turning on hi-beams grounds the "drive" wire.

    So as far as I can tell, one way to do this (after disconnecting the battery obviously) would be to simply cut the wire connecting to the "ground" terminal, splice a relay in there, and then connect an IGN +12 V wire to control the relay. Unfortunately this would not affect the rear lights or license plate lights. But as the headlights presumably consume a lot more power than the rest of the bulbs, this would at least reduce the risk of the battery dying if I forget to turn off the lights. A more ideal solution would be to find the relay that is grounding the light system and then put another relay on that to prevent it from grounding any of the lights in the absence of ignition power. As all the individual lights around the vehicle are connected to constant 12 V and just waiting to be grounded, an extra relay would be needed, since I can't choose where the 12 V is coming from.

    Where would I look to find that relay? Danko manual is useless as usual.
     
  17. Ohkei Dohkei

    Ohkei Dohkei Active Member

    Personally, I'd avoid the lights only when ignition on scenario. If you break down/conk out in the road and need to be seen, it just might save you. But that's whats great about this country, you can do what you want. Anyway, I bought the reverse ground switch kit with relays for cheaper than I could wire in relays by myself and they work fine. You would just have to change the power supply to an ign on circuit. here's the kit I bought.. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07M6W1PMK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
     
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  18. Reese Allen

    Reese Allen Member

    Good info, thank you. I suppose if I'm gonna mess with it at all, it would make sense to convert it to a circuit that will accept modern LED bulbs while I'm at it. I'd have to find an IGN circuit that can handle the added load of the headlights, or add a third relay to the mix so that I can still draw the power from the battery. Not difficult.

    IGN 12 V is on whenever the key is in the "on" position, right? So if I broke down on the highway, as long as I left the key in and turned to "on," I would still be able to leave the lights on even if the engine wouldn't start. My goal is to make it so that removing the key from the vehicle ensures all exterior lights are disabled. I want to leave the headlight switch in the "on" position permanently like I do in my '02 WRX.
     
  19. Ohkei Dohkei

    Ohkei Dohkei Active Member

    Yep. You can do that. It just uses more battery with ignition on and therefore doesn't last as long. Since you are EFI, you don't need to worry about burning up points either.
     
  20. Reese Allen

    Reese Allen Member

    Where are the relays on these vehicles, anyway? The only one I've found is the AC, which is in its own special box under the glovebox. Does all the power for the lights go directly through the switch on the steering column? Surely there's a relay somewhere...?
     
  21. Ohkei Dohkei

    Ohkei Dohkei Active Member

    I don't think there is. With standard headlights, even with both lights on bright it would only be 10a. I've never had a car (American or other) with a headlight relay from the factory. I would guess there is a horn relay somewhere.
     
  22. rkrenicki

    rkrenicki Active Member

    Every (normal) car I have owned in the past has had a headlight relay or two. I can tell you exactly where they are on all of my cars.

    That said, the Sambar does not. It is 12v constant via a 10A fuse, and switched ground circuits. Here is the appropriate diagram.
     

    Attached Files:

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  23. Ohkei Dohkei

    Ohkei Dohkei Active Member

    I'd bet my newest GM truck has one, but I'm certain none of my older cars/trucks had one until I installed it myself.
     

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