[s-cars] E-Code High Beams Stuck On

[weski at verizon.net]

Mike,

My theory on the relay was directly from the company I bought the e-code 
headlights from years ago and it worked - without the license plate 
light the highs would stay on and with it they always turned off when I 
switched them off.  I'm not a EE so didn't know why it worked but it did.

Yes - all new waterproof sealed relayed and sockets.

Paul

On 10/27/2014 3:25 PM, Mike Sylvester wrote:
> Paul,
>
> I'm not understanding your license plate light theory.
> A relay is an electrically operated mechanical switch.
> It shouldn't matter what load is present on the contacts.
> The load from the license plate light should be insignificant compared
> to the load of the high beam lights.
>
> The contacts in a relay will eventually fail. They are a wear out item.
> Every time you open the contacts there is a little spark.
> This can damage the contacts. It can make them have poor contact or they
> can get welded together and not disconnect.
>
> When you redid your wiring, did you replace the relays?
>
>
>
> Mike
>
>> -------- Original Message --------
>> Subject: [s-cars] E-Code High Beams Stuck On
>> From: "weski at verizon.net" <weski at verizon.net>
>> Date: Sun, October 26, 2014 9:19 pm
>> To: S-Car-List at audifans.com
>>
>>
>> Patient is my 95 S6 with e-code headlights.
>>
>>    I've been running the e-codes for over 10 years.  They have always
>> been relayed - one relay for highs, one for lows, and one for fogs.
>>   From the beginning, the high beams would not turn off immediately when
>> I turned them off - some times they would stay on and other times they
>> would turn off after 20-30 seconds.  Needless to say the on-coming
>> traffic was not appreciative.  For a quick fix, I installed a license
>> plate socket under my hood and added it into the passenger high beam
>> circuit.  This worked great by draining off just enough power after I
>> turned the highs off to actually turn them off with less than a 1 second
>> delay.
>>
>> Fast forward 10 years.
>>
>> I've been having trouble this summer with keeping all lights working
>> consistently - highs, lows, and fogs.  The relays and wiring was getting
>> somewhat corroded in places so I redid all the wiring this weekend and
>> also upgrade all the bulbs to Sylvania Osram SilverStar H1, H1, H3 bulbs
>> (I had been running these in my lows and they were noticeably brighter
>> than what ever bulb that came with the headlights and I wanted the same
>> temperature and light level for all lights).  After I was done, once
>> again the highs would not turn off when switched off - even with the
>> extra drain of the little license plate light.
>>
>> Anyone have any ideas as to what I can check next to try to correct
>> these latching high beams?  Do you think the new bulbs draw less current
>> so my original quick fix isn't drawing enough circuit to work any more?
>> The lows are bright enough to get me by at night in the short term and I
>> can flip the lights off and on quickly when I need to turn my high beams
>> off but I don't want to plan to drive it like this into the winter but
>> it's good enough to get me to and from the airport once a week until I
>> figure this out.
>>
>> TIA,
>>
>> Paul Dooley
>> 95 S6 - 256,000 miles and counting
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>
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