For those of you who have retrofitted the 13+ projectors in place of quad lights, I h

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

PartsSlinger

Junior Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2016
Posts
15
Reaction score
7
Ram Year
2011
Engine
5.7L Hemi
Edit: Title should say 'I have a question'. I'm using tapatalk and it must have cut it off.

I just finished swapping my 2011 Sport's quad headlights in favour of a set of oem 13+ projectors using the adapter harnesses from retroshop.us. Everything went great and I had no issues installing them, until I started up the truck to move it out of my backyard. When it is running and I hit the high beams, the solenoid inside the projector vibrates like crazy. I could hear/feel it over the engine running. Only does it when it's running. When it is off I hear the little clunk it makes when switching between high/low beam, but it doesn't vibrate. Its like it is energizing/de-energizing very rapidly when the truck is running. I assume this is not supposed to happen. Everything is plugged in right and properly and all lights work as they should. I mounted the resistors to a metal frame behind/below the headlight, and grounded them to the same mounting screws holding them down. It is a Canadian truck with DRLs, but I don't think that matters because it does it even when they are not active, such as in park or with the ebrake down a click.

Any ideas on what could be wrong? I don't want to ruin these lights.
 

lonestar21

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2014
Posts
719
Reaction score
174
Location
CA
Ram Year
2019 Ram 1500 Big Horn
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Maybe it's the actual headlights itself that don't work.
A harness itself wouldn't create that issue on the headlight
 

quietpeen

Senior Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2010
Posts
25,442
Reaction score
3,905
Ram Year
2021 TRX
Engine
Hellcat
Contact Jeremy. He is your best chance at a solution
 
OP
OP
P

PartsSlinger

Junior Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2016
Posts
15
Reaction score
7
Ram Year
2011
Engine
5.7L Hemi
I'm not suggesting there's a problem with the harnesses, they are quite great actually. Everything works perfect when the motor isn't running. Highs, lows, park, and signals all do what they should. Also, when I'm watching the projector and I get the wife to flip it to highbeam, the shield inside moves properly and it gets brighter. There's just an issue with current flow or something when the truck is actually running, those solenoids don't seem to be getting full power, or maybe too much power, I don't know.

I've been doing some research and I've found that I'm not the only one who has experienced this. Some have said they needed to wire in a relay to the shields, some have said to unplug the shields altogether because they don't do anything (but I'm sure they must because I watched it get significantly brighter).

I will send Jeremy an email through the site. I know he posts here under I believe a string of numbers for a username, so I'm hoping he notices this thread. I'm not unhappy with the adapters at all, just curious about this unexpected issue.
 

quietpeen

Senior Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2010
Posts
25,442
Reaction score
3,905
Ram Year
2021 TRX
Engine
Hellcat
Definitely email him through his site. Best way to get a reply. He will try to get on here tonight also
 

0212353

Vendor
Preferred Vendor
Joined
Jun 29, 2010
Posts
26,467
Reaction score
2,023
Location
Florissant, MO
Ram Year
2019 1500 Laramie Sport Crew, 2019 1500 Big Horn Sport Crew & 2016 Charger SRT Hellcat
Engine
2x 5.7L & 6.2L
DRL........its a fun one.....

the truck is sending 7v to the high beam circuit, which drops the cutoff (via an electric solenoid). But.....its needs 12v to keep the solenoid shut. Its a weird thing only found on the trucks with DRLs on the high beam circuits.....Canadians.......

Will it hurt anything? No. How can it be fixed? 2 options....unplug the high beam solenoid (but, the projector won't act as a high beam then), or a relay harness has to tapped in - though.....its a bit overkill.
 
OP
OP
P

PartsSlinger

Junior Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2016
Posts
15
Reaction score
7
Ram Year
2011
Engine
5.7L Hemi
Thanks for the response. That sucks. I thought that the DRLs wouldn't have anything to do with it because it does it even when they wouldn't normally be active, such as when it's in park, but I don't know nearly as much about the electronics on these trucks as I'm sure you do. They don't come on until the truck is in any gear, this is how they've always worked with the quads. I just tested it with my wife in the truck, motor running, headlights off, and when she put it in gear they started vibrating a little when the actual DRLs came on. However, when the headlights are turned on and highbeam is selected, they vibrate twice as loudly. I would think that when the headlight switch is on the DRLs are no longer in play, because on low beam the highbeam bulb is not on at all (nor do the solenoids chatter), and when highbeam is selected the highs come on at full power, so shouldn't the solenoids be getting full power as well? They also do it when in park and when the ebrake is down a click, both of which normally disables the DRLs.

I work at a dealer and they agreed to switch the DRLs off with their computer after I swapped the lights (and I agree to either always run with parklights on OR get a standalone DRL module to turn the parks on automatically, which is what I'd ideally like to do because I love the parklights on look of the newer trucks). Any idea if disabling them will get rid of this annoyance? You say that it won't hurt anything, but I feel like those solenoids rapidly switching hundreds of times a minute would eventually wear something out. I'm not against doing the relay thing if needed, I'm no stranger to relays, but like you say it seems like overkill.

Anyway, thank you for the help and for the great product you build, I'm 100% happy with the harnesses themselves!
 

iam_canadian22

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2013
Posts
1,563
Reaction score
294
Location
northern ontario
Ram Year
2013
Engine
5.7 hemi
Could also be that they are just real sensitive to the pulsing voltage from the lights canbus system, id try capacitors in line with them, putting a relay would likely result in the relay chattering.
 
Top