euro lights/ecodes

[QSHIPQ at aol.com]

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A couple things dudes...  Having serviced  eurolight installs that used the
jumper post, here's what I see (in the land of salt I might add).  The relays
will be 'very' exposed to the elements, there is no real way to avoid this,
the slightest gap between the connector/s and the relay start corroding (high
temp fluctuation and humidity are incongruous).  I also routinely measure
higher resistance thru the 30/15 circuit when the relay is activated on
"outside installs', which means that the "points" type wear increases when
exposed to the elements.

WRT using the Alternator/Starter/Jumper post...  Any halogen bulb
manufacturer will tell you that bulb life is GREATLY affected by voltage.
Putting a tap from a line that feeds from the starter circuit couldn't put a
higher fluctuation into the supply voltage equation.  If you gander at the
offroad boards (where halogens hang like landing lights), warnings abound
regarding using the alternator line as the supply voltage.  The battery is
your best capacitor wrt voltage flucutations, use it.

If you really want to "kill two birds with one rock" on this list, go to
Mockry's website on the battery "splice" problem.  Instead of "fixing" the
splice, just run a 2 or 4 guage wire to the battery directly from the
alternator, then aft (battery side) of the starter/battery splice,  snip.
Use that mongo wire to feed your relays, already in the pass footwell.  Now
you have fixed the splice problem, and given yourself THE best 12v dedicated
and capacited source for your relays.  AND you can use the "front" end of the
splice as a fish for your relay>light wiring.   All wins.

My .02 arbitraged thru the peso.

Scott Justusson
3 inside relayed quattros

In a message dated 5/28/02 11:10:06 AM Central Daylight Time,
Djdawson2 at aol.com writes:


Another lister has commented concerning the use of the jumpstart post... I
still feel you are good shape using it.  You'd be hard pressed to run your
own wiring to the battery that has equivalent or better current capacity.
Voltage drop (and the resulting decrease in lamp lifespan) shouldn't be a
real issue either (when activating the starter), since the headlight circuit
actually goes dead while starting anyway, and really doesn't subject your
lights to any more grief then turning them on and off, or switching from lows
to highs.  I'm a big fan of short wiring runs, and this method provides you
with the means to minimize.

I'll throw in the disclaimer... this is just my opinion... I don't feel it is
necessarily any better or worse than other's opinions.
HTH,
Dave

Alan C then writes:
In my experience with two cars, the jumper post gives the BEST results
and has had no side effects that I can see. It actually has a couple of
tenths
of a volt extra voltage than the battery, every little bit helps.

Use a 40 or 50 amp fusible link, comes with a lug on it, to tap off the
post.
The relays do get affected by the salt and water, try and enclose them
but do not reduce their ability to keep themselves cool by too much.

Alan